[pianotech] justify pitch raise

[David Love]

After the first tuning, I don't charge pitch correction fees to people who
tune their piano regularly--meaning at least once a year.  Of course, I'm
not dealing with 80% - 20% swings either.  If the piano needs a pitch
correction before I can tune it and if they call me every year or twice a
year I do it as a gesture of appreciation for their regular business.  If it
becomes a real problem or if the swings are too great to really deal with
adequately I will suggest that they humidity control the piano or I might
have to charge additional.  I find that I can do a pitch raise and tuning in
one hour (as you know my method is ETD assisted aural or aural assisted ETD
as you wish) and one hour is what I give them for a basic service
appointment.  Normally I would use that additional time (15 - 20 minutes)
for other work, in this case I don't and I usually let them know that over
time I won't be able to address some of the things I would like to within
the scope of this type of appointment (read "price").  What I meant was that
I don't like to try and hit a decent tuning from 8 cents flat for a private
customer tuning.  Institutional work is a different kettle of fish.  There
was a time when I was more conscious of charging for every little thing but
at this point I find that the ongoing regular relationship is worth more
than couple of extra dollars I could charge for a few extra minutes.  As I
see it, tuning is a good way of keeping the channels open for major work.  

David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 10:19 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] justify pitch raise

David Love wrote:
> I agree, 8 cents is too much to expect that the piano won't have some
> wobblies somewhere.  Three to four cents is my general limit and even then
> that's pushing it (although I have been known to push it on
> occasion...shhh).  Plate flexing makes the most sense otherwise on a board
> where you've pushed the crown through to negative wouldn't letting off the
> tension raise the pitch :-)?  Kidding of course (before anyone takes me
> seriously).
> 
> David Love

Actually, I meant the other way. I don't have a clientèle that 
will tolerate two pitch correction fees a year no matter how 
wretched their climate control is. Schools, churches, or 
individuals, I need to be able to satisfy them (not me, or 
some established testing criteria) in one pass for a standard 
tuning price - or in the case of a couple of universities, a 
reduced price. That means the best shot in one pass in 45 
minutes to 60 minutes for the private tuning, to 35-50 minutes 
for university bulk work. Trying to do concert level work in 
these instances is like doing ice sculpture in a desert 
sandstorm, and these people know this. For the most part, 
they've tried plenty of other tuners, and settled on me 
because I can do what for them is an acceptable (or better) 
tuning in minimum time at a price that's higher than they've 
paid anyone else, when no one else has met the standards at 
any price they've been willing to test. It's value for the 
money. I can't pack sand up the administration's collective, 
uh, canyon, and try to convince them that paying for pitch 
adjustments will net them a significantly better tuning for 
more than the time it takes to flush the excess sand from the 
canyon. They've seen the pianos go out of tune by Tuesday, if 
they ever were in any semblance of tune in the first place, 
and aren't impressed by a dog and pony shows from the other 
guys. If the piano was last tuned at 75%RH, and it's not 
(momentarily) 23%RH, I'll give it my best shot one pass, and 
they'll either understand and appreciate it, or pay me to 
perpetually and futilely do multiple pass pitch corrections. I 
won't do multiple passes without pay for the time and 
equipment wear. So far, they've been *thrilled* with the 
results, for between 10 and 20 years respectively.

A first tuning for a new client, I'll do, and charge for, the 
pitch raise to get the piano into the loop. After that, we'll 
find the balance between climate control, price, and 
performance that works for them.

My world,
Ron N