Service fees 1947, Howe

[John Musselwhite]

At 09:48 AM 1/10/97 -0500, Wim wrote:

>Thanks for this information. From the looks of these prices, it appears there
>are some customers who haven't had their piano tuned since these prices were
>effect. At least that is how they react when I tell them my fee, especially

That happens here too. I tuned a console not long ago that hadn't been tuned
since it was bought from a department store 30 years earlier. The salesman
had told her it was so well made it would never need tuning (neglecting to
mention it would never need playing either so who would know?).

It was 120 cents flat at A4 and only broke one bass string on the pitch
raise so it wasn't a total loss. I did however, have to Protek every flange
bushing to free it up since it indeed, had hardly ever been played.

>Now, can anyone tell us if our prices have kept up with inflation. Here is my
>comparison.
>
>Tuning,   was $7.50   now $70

Well, in Canada the highest price I've seen is $125 for just a "standard"
tuning. When my father came to Calgary in 1942 it was $5, which he raised to
$7 after the war. That works out to roughly $5/hour I suppose, which was
pretty good back then even for the self-employed. Although I don't charge
anywhere near that price, I think it's justified if "service" is included
with that tuning.

>Grand action regulation  was $24  Now  $700

I suspect that "grand action regulation" meant "making it play better" at
that time rather than anything too serious. It sounds like that is not quite
a day's work from the price. A $700 "grand regulation" had better take two
days to do and be excellent in 1997, otherwise I'd suspect a customer isn't
getting good value for the money. $24 for just over a half-day's work in
1947 seems to be about right (I was -4 at the time so I don't remember).

>Grand refinishing   was $125  now $3700

I've seen a lot of those "refinishes" for that price from that era. There is
no comparison between most of the ugly strip&spray hurry-up jobs of the
post-war era and the hand-rubbed $4K finishes I see today.

Mind you, I still see $125 finishes too, but they charge $1200 for them. I
really wish they'd remove the keyslip and cheekblocks and perhaps mask off
the keys before they spray them.

>Restrining     was $100  now $1200

That's probably in the ballpark too, I think.

>It seems that some prices have gone up more than others.
>Any othere reactions?

I have some, yes. The largest price difference is in refinishing. This can
be accounted for by environmental rules which have changed both the
materials and the methods by which they may be applied. Even the water-clear
lacquer I used to use for juicing hammers is no longer available in Canada.
For those interested I've had good success with Sheffield's Metal Lacquer in
a mix of 1:4 or 1:5 with thinner, but it's very expensive.

As for tuning and solving problems, the piano tuner on average in 1947 was
not nearly as well-trained as the technician of today. While there were
superb technicians at that time, there were also a lot of people tuning
pianos merely because it was an easy way to make money just as it had always
been for the itenerant mountebank "tooners" of a century ago. Many tuners
learned from watching others (if they EVER got that opportunity) or from
reading Braid-White and Howe because that was the only way to learn and as
long as the piano was "better" when they left that was good enough. Their
total investment in tools (including a case!) may have been less than few
tunings.

The technician in 1997 is in a different situation. Technology in all its
forms has caught up to us, and one benefit from that technology is the
wealth of information about the piano we have available to us. The Journal
(and the internet) is an excellent example of that wealth in comparison with
the magazines and myths of 50 years ago. As well, the SAT and now the RCT
bring tuners into the space age just as digital micrometers and robotic
construction methods did to piano construction 20 years ago. This also
involves an investment of 20 or even 40 tunings just to pay for ONE tool let
alone two more for PTG dues and another couple for internet access every year.

No longer can we merely leave a piano better than it was, but we have the
ability to do MUCH better and in some cases, such as the "La Petite"
recently under discussion, gain a better understanding of WHY we can't do
any better.

At least, that's my reaction (other than the pure pleasure of reading the
original message). Keeping up with the state of the art is a lot more
expensive than it used to be while our actual prices appear to be consistant
with inflation.

I look forward to reading more comments on this.


John Musselwhite, RPT
Calgary, Alberta Canada
musselj@cadvision.com