On 1/6/2011 9:35 AM, Conrad Hoffsommer wrote: > In the case of someone wanting > serious work done on a less-than-stellar instrument, the biggest problem > could be in thoroughly correlating expectations with possibilities. At last, the real dilemma. The return on the investment is too low. It costs about the same in parts and time to do major work on a bigger nicer instrument as on a small cheap one (more on the small cheap one, actually), but the result is considerably different. The answer, from the customers perspective, is that you should do the same work for half the price on the little piano because it never will be great anyway. In other words, you should work for little to nothing because the piano isn't a concert instrument, and they aren't concert pianists. It's just what they want, and you're expected to indulge them at your expense. But then, you aren't really out anything, because you draw a salary just like they do, and make the same whatever you do. The concept of earning by the hours spent on the job in order to eat rarely crosses their mind, because they have likely never done it. It's a rare thing to find someone who understands this, understands that the money spent will far exceed what the piano is worth, and in spite of your best efforts will not end up as one of your portfolio jobs. Those few are universally thrilled with the results, when they have the work done, but you don't get many of them in a lifetime. This is why working on the low end stuff is such a curse. You can't do it right and not starve to death, and you can't patch and fake it without feeling like you're stealing from them and misrepresenting what you did. Victimless repairs become less and less possible in the lower quality instruments. Ron N
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