Pitch raise$ (was close enough)

[A440A@aol.com]

Greetings, 
    Appropos of this discussion, I just returned from a first visit with a 
customer.  She is 74 years old, just diagnosed with emphysema, had quit 
smoking last December, and decided she would go back to playing the piano 
when she wanted a smoke. (the house did still smell). 
   She had a 1961 Steinway M, in walnut, not a scratch on it.  It was last 
tuned in 1979.  It was 35 cents flat over most of the scale. When she called 
last week, I told her that my normal tuning charge was $115, but first time 
visits were usually half again as much, due to the usual need for 
"housekeeping".  Soooo..... 
     I spent 4 minutes tightening all the plate bolts.  The first pass, 
pulling the entire piano up 8 cents sharp of 440, took 14 minutes.  Then 
another 10 minutes to tap the strings at the bridge.  Then another 50 minutes 
to tune the piano in a Coleman 11.  
   
   Total technical time was 78 minutes, there was also about 10 minutes of 
conversation.  The bill was $162 and she was real happy with the way the p
iano sounded. (which amazes me, since she had listened to it in a dreadful 
state for over two decades!!)  
    There was no talk of how much per cent I charged, etc.  It was a simple 
matter to have the details like this covered by the first phone call.  (the 
practise of more expensive first visits also keeps the skin-flints out of my 
clientele,which is worth a lot to me).  I pointed out that there were a few 
sluggish dampers that I thought would loosen up with some play, and that I 
would call again in June to retune and pull the action out to see what was 
happening.  
   An electrician got there at the same time I did.  He  finished right 
before I did.  His bill was $235.  

Ed Foote RPT 
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html