<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <TITLE>Message</TITLE> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16414" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE>@font-face { font-family: Tahoma; } @page Section1 {size: 8.5in 11.0in; margin: 1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; } P.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } LI.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } DIV.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } A:link { COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } SPAN.MsoHyperlink { COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } A:visited { COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } SPAN.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } P { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } SPAN.EmailStyle17 { COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial } DIV.Section1 { page: Section1 } </STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY lang=EN-US vLink=purple link=blue> <DIV><SPAN class=218434106-24072007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>The guy is definitely hard of hearing. Unless he was looking directly at me it appeared as though he couldn't hear me. And yes, I thought that not sharp enough would have been a more believable complaint. </FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=218434106-24072007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=218434106-24072007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Charging him my regular rate for a normal technically correct fine tuning, followed by charging him extra, perhaps hourly, for the personalized "fine" tuning afterwards is an idea worth thinking about. Thanks. </FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=218434106-24072007></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=218434106-24072007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=218434106-24072007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>-- Geoff Sykes</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=218434106-24072007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>-- Los Angeles</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=218434106-24072007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>-- <A href="http://www.ivories52.com">www.ivories52.com</A></FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=218434106-24072007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=218434106-24072007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=218434106-24072007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=218434106-24072007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV></DIV> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>David Love<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, July 23, 2007 11:32 PM<BR><B>To:</B> 'Pianotech List'<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: Defending your tuning<BR><BR></FONT></DIV> <DIV class=Section1> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">First question is how do you know that the tuning two months ago had problems?  Things change in two months, sometimes less.  Or, maybe the requirements of the owner left the previous tuner no choice but to leave the piano in a less than ideal situation as you yourself experienced.  </SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Hearing loss often manifests itself in that area though generally the complaint is that it is not sharp enough.  </SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">If someone wants it stretched more or less I’m happy to accommodate them.  If they want to do a note for note custom tuning I’m not willing.  Life has enough aggravation and is already too short.  If you insist on keeping them as customers, charge double for a custom tuning without guarantees.  </SPAN></FONT></P> <DIV> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy">David Love<BR>davidlovepianos@comcast.net<BR>www.davidlovepianos.com</SPAN></FONT><FONT color=navy><SPAN style="COLOR: navy"> </SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">-----Original Message-----<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">On Behalf Of </SPAN></B>Geoff Sykes<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Monday, July 23, 2007 10:13 PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> Pianotech@Ptg. Org<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Defending your tuning</SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P> <DIV> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Greetings all --</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P></DIV> <DIV> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">This afternoon I did a repair tuning on a Yamaha C3. By repair I mean that the owner of the piano felt that the tuning from the previous tuner, two months ago, left a lot to be desired. Once I checked it out I had to agree. Anyway, I tune the piano up and make it all right again and the owner sits down and plays it a bit when I'm done and complains that the treble, especially the area around sixth octave, is sharp. OK, I pull out my trusty Reyburn Cybertuner and double check the tuning, and it's right on. Just to make sure, I put the ETD away and do aural checks all the way up from about F5. Everything checks out good, but the owner still insists that it's sharp. Since he's not complaining about every single treble note, but just a half dozen or so, I strip mute the treble and work with him on each note that he is unhappy with. Doing a number of checks, including some of his, I get to a point where I just can't make the note any flatter and still claim the piano is in tune. I'm bringing notes down so flat that they are full of fast beats and the octave is just ruined, and he's still complaining that they sound flat. By this time I've disagreed with him enough that he's starting to, (finally), question his own perception. I suggest we leave it where it is and when I come back for the next tuning I will make a point of reducing the amount of stretch in the treble to as close to nothing as I can make it. He says OK.</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P></DIV> <DIV> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Rather than go through this again, as well as learn from the experience, I'm looking for ways to work with a customer who is obviously hearing incorrectly but who I, nevertheless, want to satisfy. Today's question: How do you defend a tuning that you know, and can prove, is correct when the customer says it is not?</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P></DIV> <DIV> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">-- Geoff Sykes</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">-- Los Angeles</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>