Another thing to consider. Part of the time, people aren't always truthful about the last tuning. Like, they can fool us or something? I've been told many times over the years that the piano has been tuned yearly only to find that C-4 was B-3 or Bb-3 and horribly out of tune with no tuning records in the piano at all. Generally, if people tell me it's been 4 years, I double it. That's usually closer to being correct. -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Duaine & Laura Hechler Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2009 12:31 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Pitch raise criteria Rob, et al, Some of you may never have witnessed a "real" pitch raise - meaning 5 - 40 cents flat is nothing. I build in a little extra charge (pitch raise charge, if you must label it) for all of my first time customers because they have rarely been tuned in the last, say 5 to 25 years. Most of my first time'rs are anywhere from 50 to 120 cents flat. I even had one customer tell me it's never been tuned except when it left the showroom floor. Plus, I always ask my customers when was it last tuned - their answer then tells me what I'm going to charge for the first time. If they don't know, I tell them a range and determine what the charge is when I get there by depending how far out of tune it is. The Cybertuner allows for three setting of pitch raises (1) 0 to 60 cents flat (2) 60 to 100 cents flat and (3) over 100 cents flat. (I think these are right) This gives me the opportunity to do a pretty damn good job in one pass. (Of course, its not going to be too stable, but at least its going to be in tune). I - always - tell them that because it was so flat that it's going to need a tuning in a month or so. When they call back to schedule another tuning I charge my standard rate. That is my criteria, Duaine Rob McCall wrote: > Greetings list, > > I just tuned a Samick JS-118 upright yesterday that hadn't been tuned > in 7 years (It had 1 tuning right after they bought it brand new and > that was it!). It was flat by about 73 cents below the break, and > about 45 cents flat above the break. Pretty consistent throughout. > All in all, it turned out very well after a pitch raise and then a > fine tune. > > My question to all of you... What do you use as your criteria for > charging extra for pitch raises? When is it a "pitch raise" to you? > This particular piano was pretty clear cut, but do you have a point of > no return? 20-25 cents? Less or more? > > I use a SAT IV along with some aural checks to back the machine up... > > I'm still earning my wings in this industry and I'm trying to get an > idea of what is considered normal (if there is such a thing!). Thanks > in advance. > > Regards, > > Rob McCall > Murrieta, CA > -- Duaine Hechler Piano, Player Piano, Pump Organ Tuning, Servicing & Rebuilding Reed Organ Society Member Florissant, MO 63034 (314) 838-5587 dahechler at att.net www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com -- Home & Business user of Linux - 10 years _____ avast! Antivirus <http://www.avast.com> : Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 090801-0, 08/01/2009 Tested on: 8/2/2009 11:16:44 AM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2009 ALWIL Software.
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