Lesson learned.  when approaching a newly aquired piano, you HAVE TO tell them before even looking at it that it may need more than one tuning.  I learned the hard way too.  Tuning  an old thing is a hard thing to deal with to begin with.  You never know what you are getting into. I now approach this kind of thing giving them all the variables that come with a newly aquired instrument.  You never know what you're going to get! They don't either!! All they see is a free piano, or one for very little monies. It probably drifted out of tune no matter how well you tuned it. Sounds like a negleted instrument somebody gave to the school thinking it was nice and got a tax write-off.  Chruches get these all the time! UGH! Get them to admit they didn't know what they got, or buckle your bootstraps, tune it again for free to keep the account, and let them know what they have and it will need further servicing.  Who knows how long it was since last tuned? How often? Climate differences? Who played in the past? who plays now?  Too many variables to just go in and tune it once and call it good. The condition of the piano also plays in. Is it toast? needing lots of work? How did the move affect it? Climate changes?  etc. etc.  Visiting the piano and carefully looking at it before even tuning it the first time might have been the best route.  Only you can determine this part. Get ALL information possible before even looking at it. That will save you a lot of time and miles spent driving, etc.... And old Japanese saying I learned from my best man at my wedding:  Cover your ass before you cover your face! (safe for me...we've been married 18 years and still going strong!!) Good luck my friend! Paul <table width=100%> <tr valign=top> <td>From: <td>Marshall Gisondi <pianotune05@hotmail.com> <tr valign=top> <td>To: <td><pianotech@ptg.org> <tr valign=top> <td>Date: <td>01/10/2012 03:37 PM <tr valign=top> <td>Subject: <td>[pianotech] tuning stability or the piano</table> <hr noshade> Hi everyone, I tune pianos for two school districts, and the one is a new one I acquired this past fall.  I tuned a Henry F Miller grand an oldie for their middle school back in December.  I received a call that the piano sounded out of tune or the tuning was off. The secretary of course couldn't go into detail because this information was second hand.  I didn't speak with the music teacher directly who brought this to her attention.   So here's my dilema.  I can go back and check it out and retune it if in fact it needs it, but the secretary informed me that they wouldn't pay for an additional tuning.  So I either have to save my reputation and do it for nothing if in fact it needs a tuning, or tell them no I won't tune it for free. So has this hapened to anyone, a piano's tuning drifting in such a short time?  Is it me or this old piano?  How does one truly know who's at fault, and how do you convince a school that it's the piano and not me. I told the secretary that this is something unusual, and that I typically get compliments on how long my tunings stay.  I have this overwhelming need to save my hide/reputation, and I feel worried that my career is being hurt.  How do you guys handle this flood of emotional uncertainity when y our skills are being challenged?  I know I was trained well.  I know I pour a lot into every piano I tune.  How can I be assured that it's the piano in this case?  Thanks Marshall Marshall Gisondi Piano Technician Marshall's Piano Service pianotune05@hotmail.com 215-510-9400 <a href=http://www.phillytuner.com/ target=_blank>www.phillytuner.com</a> Graduate of The School of Piano Technology for the Blind <a href=http://www.pianotuningschool.org/ target=_blank>www.pianotuningschool.org</a> Vancouver, WA