On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 6:27 PM, Rob McCall <rob at mccallpiano.com> 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 > Hi Rob, I don't do a pitch raise and finish tune in one sitting on the same day. In my experience and the way I was taught you don't get a good finish tune that way. If a piano has been left at 50c flat or more for several years regardless of it's age, it should be treated similarly to a newly strung piano. When you do the initial pitch raise to pitch w/some overpull you are adding roughly 5 tons of pull back into the piano, each string is now stretching, the soundboard has renewed tension, etc. To immedietly begin again and call that a finish tune has always made me wonder how long that finish tune lasts. I have acquired many customers over the years from those who have used this practice, the customers tell me "he was here for 2 or 3 hours & charged a lot and 6 weeks later the piano sounded terrible"! I do a pitch raise and a second pass using the smart tune feature on my Cyber tuner, now, I did it for almost forty years by ear before this year. I then make a second appointment for 3 or 4 weeks later to return for the finish tune. After that tuning I make certain that we tune again before 6 months or following the next season change whichever occurs first. I then tell them they have "righted" the ignored piano and can return to their usual schedule of once or twice a year whichever is their preference. I charge a little more for my time on the first appointment only if it takes longer than the time I had allotted for the appointment, I charge my regular rate for the other appointments. With a few exceptions, my customers are my friends, not my enemies and I treat them as such. Mike -- I intend to live forever. So far, so good. Steven Wright Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 www.IFixPianos.com email mike at ifixpianos.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090803/4f0b58a0/attachment.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC