[pianotech] rock solid for how long?

[Kerry]

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

From: Gerald Groot [mailto:tunerboy3 at comcast.net] 

Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 1:02 PM

To: pianotech at ptg.org

Subject: Re: [pianotech] rock solid for how long?

 

True Kerry, 

 

But, tuning is considerably different that repairing or plumbing work.  If

it is indeed the fault of the technician, faulty pin setting for example,

then by all means, it should be fixed for nothing.  Within a short

reasonable amount of time that is.  Not months or even a year later. 

As I said, within a week or so. Anything that could reasonably be construed
as a flaw in tuning technique should actually show up much sooner than that
but in my mind, it's a question of keeping the customer happy within reason,
not standing on some absolute principle. And I don't see how that's
different from any other service business.

 

If it is a piano where the tuning creeps, if it has pins that jump, like

Some Steinway verticals do, then that is another matter.  It becomes utterly

impossible to keep some of these pianos in tune if they refuse to cooperate.

We cannot be held accountable for this type of problem or weather changes.

We can only do the best that we can do with it explaining this to the

customer. 

If you recall, I was talking about pianos that I tune regularly; in that
case you should be aware of that kind of difficulty, and I suggest you
explain that you will do your best but cannot guarantee the tuning, and if
that's not satisfactory, they need to find someone else. 

 

 

I've never once had a complaint that the piano went out of tune that was due

to being my fault.  In fact, it is almost always something else such as a

sticking key, a pencil that managed to miraculously appear inside of it or

it was a voicing issue or a couple of months or more had passed in which

case the tuning will have changed to some degree or another anyway.

Customers must be made aware of these facts.  If they are not taught the

causes of pianos going out of tune, they will never know it. 

 

Yep, my experience is pretty much the same, and usually when they call after
two months and find out it's going to cost them, I never hear from them
again (and it's never my regulars). My only point was that it's important to
oblige clients within reason (they're not always right, but they are always
the customer ;-). Beyond educating them, I try to meet them at least
half-way and if they won't come that far, I don't want them anyway.

 

 

 

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

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf

Of Kerry 

Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 9:48 AM 

To: pianotech at ptg.org 

Subject: Re: [pianotech] rock solid for how long? 

 

It seems to me we need to apply some common sense to what amounts to a 

balancing act between what we know as technicians and what we can get our 

clients to understand and accept. I apply a kind of sliding time scale to 

this kind of callback, meaning that if it's a piano I tune regularly and 

something slips within a week or so (not the slow roll that's been referred 

to but really out), I'll take direct responsibility, make a free touch-up 

visit and try to use the opportunity to explain something about the number 

and complexity of the factors that affect the tuning (and maybe try to sell 

them on humidity control). When it's been a longer period of time, or the 

piano had not been tuned regularly, I'll try to make them understand why it 

may have gone out but hold firm in charging for a service call. This doesn't

 

apply to performance work, where the expectations are higher and the time 

frame shorter. 

 

I guess the bottom line is, put yourself in your client's shoes. When 

something goes wrong with some service person's work shortly after they 

leave, and they refuse to make it right for free, no amount of explanation 

or rationalization would make me feel like I haven't been cheated. Emphasis 

here is on defining "shortly" for yourself. 

 

 

Kerry Kean 

www.ohiopianotuner.com 

 

 

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

From: David Nereson [mailto:da88ve at gmail.com] 

Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 2:07 AM 

To: pianotech at ptg.org 

Subject: Re: [pianotech] rock solid for how long? 

 

 > We cannot be held responsible for what happens to the piano 

itself once we 

> leave the premises.  Many factors must be taken into account 

> including 

> humidity flucuations. 

> 

> Jer 

 

    I think this gets to the root of what I was actually 

concerned with.  I get the attitude or expectation or impression 

from many clients than I AM responsible for that tuning holding 

for a reasonable amount of time -- at least 4 months or so, or 

even a year or two, in some people's minds.  I remember many 

call-backs in the past (and occasional ones even now) where a 

string slipped within a few days of the tuning.  The customer 

always feels that's the tuner's fault, since they think a tuning 

should last at least a year.  In fact, when they were growing 

up, their mom only tuned the piano every 5 years or so, and it 

sounded fine (they think).  So if my tuning doesn't last that 

long, I must not be very good, or else I did something wrong, or 

am getting old and can't hear, or was in a hurry or whatever. 

    But more to the point of rock-solidness, how do you know, 

other than by using the forearm test or pounding the heck out of 

each and every unison, that that tuning will stay absolutely 

stable?  Do you go thru and tap every pin with the flat end of 

your tuning hammer's head to see if any pins move, then go thru 

and touch them up?  And after you do, how do you know those 

touch-ups are stable?  You don't.  And, yes, at concerts, 

sometimes tuners come out at intermission to touch-up a few 

strings.  And this is understandable to the layperson because a 

concert artist was thrashing out a heavy piano concerto.  But 

their home piano should stay in tune for at least a year since 

it's only used by light-handed, casual players.  (Or some 

similar train of thought.) 

    I still experience some guilt if I charge full fare, then 

get a call-back because a unison or a few slip(s) within the 

next few weeks. 

    --David Nereson, RPT 

 

 

 

 

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