Instrument condition

[ATodd@UH.EDU]

Allen,
   Yes, I do charge extra for strings that break, assuming I have warned the
customer before I started the pitch raise. There might be exceptions, but
generally I do.
   As far as cost for replacing them, I used to charge $25.00 for a bass
string plus the cost of having the string duplicated (I only use Universals
if there is ABSOLUTELY no other way. The wire that runs under the bass strings
I usually charged $15.00 and then $10.00 for the others. Bear in mind though,
that this was in a relatively small town (app. 80,000) in West Texas and I
could get to anywhere in town in about 10 min. or less. In an area like
Houston where I am now, I would probably charge a little more to try to
recover some of my driving costs for going back and retuning the new strings.
   If the piano is out of town a good ways, and you might not be getting back
that way anytime soon, I would mute off the new strings, in most cases, until
I could make it back to that town. I feel that's better than having a note
(or more) sounding like 3.
   Those charges are probably low now in an area like Houston. But where I
was, at that point in time, they were probably higher than most of the other
tuners charged. Of course, so was my tuning fee.
   Hope this helps.

Avery Todd
University of Houston
atodd@uh.edu