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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A href="mailto:pianowrmonroe@hotmail.com"
title=pianowrmonroe@hotmail.com>William R. Monroe</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org"
title=pianotech@ptg.org>Pianotech</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, April 16, 2002 =
6:26
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Charging for Pitch =
Raises</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>I was reading an old essay (PTJ August '90) by Rick Baldassin =
regarding
Piano Tuning Stability. Within that article, Rick writes =
about
tuning for a concert and remarks that after a rehearsal, the treble =
was really
out. 'Why? The treble notes were too far out of tune to =
create a
stable tuning in one pass on the tuning.' He stated that when he =
tuned
the instrument prior to the rehearsal, the 6th and 7th octaves were =
flat,
'maybe as much as four cents.'</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So, in a nutshell, if your piano is four cents flat, your tuning =
will not
be stable (for a concert level tuning). </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My questions:</DIV>
<DIV> 1.) Really? Is four cents flat too much to get a =
stable
concert tuning?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>2.) For our regular clients, when do we begin charging for a =
pitch raise,
5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents? I realize that neither all clients, =
nor
their instruments will require this level tuning, but where do we draw =
the
line and say we must raise pitch to get a stable tuning?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I am very interested to hear as many opinions on this one as
possible.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thank you,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>William R. Monroe<BR>PTG Associate<BR>Salt Lake City, UT</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Yes, 4 cents flat is probably too flat to get =
a stable
concert tuning in one pass. Back when people referred to beats =
per
second (at A 49) more often than cents, someone at a seminar said that =
anything more than 2 beats per second flat would require a pitch raise =
to be
stable in one pass. I find (in the home, not concert tunings) =
that
that's about right most of the time. </DIV>
<DIV> For clients, whether regular or not, I suppose =
you
should charge extra for any tuning that requires more passes to
stabilize than one on a piano that's already =
at pitch. I
don't think I've ever done a "one-pass tuning". It's always once =
through
to do the initial tuning, then another time through to re-tune =
the ones
that slipped, then I take out the ear plugs and go through again for a =
final
touch-up. The second two "passes" are very quick and are =
considered part
of the tuning. </DIV>
<DIV> If I had even a nickel for every free pitch =
raise I've
done, I could probably buy a new couch or something. Sometimes I =
just
don't want to go drag the customer away from what they're doing to =
tell them
there's going to be an extra charge. Sometimes I charge and =
sometimes I
don't -- I know, that's inconsistent, but since the pitch raise takes =
only 10
or 15 minutes, I usually just quickly bang it out rather than go get =
them to
give 'em the lecture about tension, humidity, dryness, string =
stretching,
tuning every 6 months, etc. Even if I do, it doesn't do any =
good.
They still wait 2 to10 years before they get it tuned again, even if I =
leave
literature about it. I've almost given up on explaining about =
and
charging for pitch raises. Almost all pianos I tune need one, =
except
those that get tuned every year (schools, piano teachers), and even =
some of
those need a "quickie raise or lower" in the middle, depending what =
season it
was when they were last tuned. </DIV>
<DIV> I dunno, for me it's easier =
to have
the charge for a pitch raise figured in to the "regular" base fee, and =
if it
doesn't need a p.r., give them a $10 or $15 discount. =
--David Nereson, RPT, Denver</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>