Failed string splicing -- charge for time?

[mccleskey112 at bellsouth.net]

Hey: This has nothing to do with splicing wire but it was a unique way to deal with damper bleed when you can't replace a bass string. This was a long time ago and only on one piano and it was probably a spinet, but someone had replaced several broken unison bass strings with plain wire of a gauge that could be tuned an octave above. I don't know if this was a common practice back then or not but it seemed to work both to hold the wedge in place and to help fortify the single bass string. Has anyone else seen this?
Gerald McCleskey RPT 
----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Porritt, David 
  To: Pianotech List 
  Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2008 12:58 PM
  Subject: RE: Failed string splicing -- charge for time?


  I've been reading this thread on charging for repairs-that-fail with interest.  I don't want to be ridged but in general I've always thought of a repair as a repair.i.e. it's either fixed or not fixed.  If it's not fixed I've not felt that I could charge the customer for not fixing it.  If I've had doubt about a possible fix working, I've explained it to the customer and left it up to them if they want to pay for an attempt at a fix.  If I'm confident I can fix something and I fail, then I don't charge.  I've just never figured out how I'd list it on the invoice.  Something like: "couldn't fix (whatever)...$10.00"  ?!?

   

  dave

   

   

  David M. Porritt, RPT

  dporritt at smu.edu

   

  From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Fenton Murray
  Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2008 12:49 PM
  To: Pianotech List
  Subject: Re: Failed string splicing -- charge for time?

   

  Do you charge for your splicing attempts that fail? :-)

  Any repair that I consider my self an expert at I charge for, if I'm learning or experimenting and it fails, I might eat it.

  Fenton

   

    ----- Original Message ----- 

    From: John Formsma 

    To: Pianotech List 

    Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 3:36 PM

    Subject: Re: Failed string splicing -- charge for time?

     

    On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 9:50 AM, Joe And Penny Goss <imatunr at srvinet.com> wrote:

    Hi John,

    With the concert use and distance. I would not replace the string, but alter the damper head to control sustain.

    I have never been able to splice a Yamaha bass string. The swedge seems to be too close to where the knot is,

    and the string breaks again every time. But still I try to splice.

     

    Joe,

     

    The strange thing about it was that the damper worked without needing any modification.

     

    I should have mentioned before that the splice was above the pressure bar. The string broke at the tuning pin.

     

    Do you charge for your splicing attempts that fail? :-)

     

    -- 
    JF 
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