<HTML style="FONT-SIZE: x-small; FONT-FAMILY: MS Sans Serif" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:o = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word"><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content=Word.Document name=ProgId> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2963" name=GENERATOR> <META content="Microsoft Word 9" name=Originator><LINK href="cid:filelist.xml@01C6C317.A894B560" rel=File-List> <STYLE>  </STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY lang=EN-US style="tab-interval: .5in"> <DIV> <DIV>HI, David:</DIV> <DIV>    My first thought is- was it ringing before you tuned it?  I assume you were there to tune the piano.  Did you discuss the repair with the customer?  If not, and you expected the repair to be a "quickie", you just ate it.  Otherwise, I think you would be justified charging whatever you think was fair.  It wouldn't be fair to charge a customer for your learning curve, so I'd figure that into your charges, and adjust accordingly.  </DIV> <DIV>    You know, it brings up a question.  If I'm struggling with a particular problem, and I can't seem to get it fixed right, is it ethical to charge for the mistakes I made in mis-diagnosis of the problem?  Like when you take your car in for repair, and they try this and that, replacing parts until the problem goes away.  And you pay for the whole thing.  It doesn't seem fair to me that way.  </DIV> <DIV>    Better to charge for the job than by the hour.  Knowing what to charge for that job is the critical thing.  </DIV> <DIV>    Food for thought...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>    Paul McCloud</DIV> <DIV>    San Diego</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV></DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=dnereson@4dv.net href="mailto:dnereson@4dv.net">David Nereson</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To: </B><A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">List Pianotech</A></DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> 08/18/2006 10:07:19 PM </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> $65 to adjust one damper?</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=2> <DIV class=Section1> <P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><SPAN class=EmailStyle16><FONT face=Arial color=black size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=EmailStyle16><FONT color=black><SPAN style="mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt">I’m sure something similar has happened to everyone on the list.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I noticed one damper had a long after-ring, so tried to bend it up, down, sideways, etc., to make it contact the strings better.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>No dice.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Had to pull the action.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>This is one of the dampers right against a plate strut, with the long right-angle bend before the damper wire goes down the guide hole.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Anyhow, pulled the damper, made what I thought was the necessary bend, and of course the damper head comes loose from the wire, even though I was holding it tightly in place with parallel pliers.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Had to plug the hole with a toothpick splinter and tap the wire back into the hole with a small punch, then add a drop of CA glue.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Then put the damper back in the underlever, regulated, re-installed the action and tried it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Nope.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Still rings.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>By now probably 15 or 20 minutes have elapsed.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Yes I have the tool that enables bending it side to side with the damper in place.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">   </SPAN>No dice.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Still rings.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Pull the action and damper again, try squeezing the felt to make it settle down farther into the strings, reinstall damper, reinstall action, try again.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Nope, still rings.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>By now about a half hour has elapsed.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Pull action and damper again, try fluffing up the felt with a voicing tool on the one string that still rings.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Reinstall everything and try again.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Better, but now the 7<SUP>th</SUP> partial is too strong.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Try bending forward and back to kill the partial.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>No dice.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>This goes on and on for another half hour before I finally get the damper to satisfactorily dampen that note.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Do I now charge $65 just for adjusting one damper?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>How do I explain this to the customer?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Certainly if I had let it ring, I would have gotten a call-back about it.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><SPAN class=EmailStyle16><FONT face=Arial color=black size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">            </SPAN>--David Nereson, RPT<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=EmailStyle16><FONT color=black size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>