SPINET OUT OF CONTROL

[James Grebe]

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> From: james allen bickerton <"jbickerton@abraxis.com"@abraxis.com>
> To: pianotech@byu.edu
> Subject: SPINET OUT OF CONTROL
> Date: Sunday, March 23, 1997 6:26 PM
>
> I performed a Pitch Raise/Tuning on an old Wurlitzer Spinet (1969).  It
> took about 3 hours and was difficult at best because the piano was very
> unstable (probably due to not being tuned in years), and when trying to
> fine tune a string, it would jump from sharp to flat (i.e. the tuning
> pins were sloppy).
>   Satisfied that I had performed the tuning to the best of my ability, I
> promptly wrote out my standard Pitch Raise bill ($90.00), when the owner
> informed me that "one of the keys was sticking."  Sure enough, one of
> the keys was sluggish (something I didn't notice during the tuning."
>   While peering through the action at the offensive key, I notice that
> the jack was offset, and while playing the key, I realized that the
> broken/misplaced jack was the culprit.
>   Then I did something REALLY STUPID.  I took the action out of the
> piano.  Sure enough, the pin holding the jack in the whippen had come
> loose, and securing the pin was easy.  What wasn't easy was putting the
> action back in, and REGULATING IT!  Two days later, and a broken key
> (from screwing down a sticker screw too tight), I finally had the piano
> adjusted close enough to where it played as well as it did before.
>   MY QUESTION IS THIS - when working on a piano that is worth $200 tops,
> where do you draw the line when it comes to repair work?  I mean, it
> seems to me that there is an element of risk involved when working on a
> piano that is close to junk quality.
>   In time and money, I lost big time on this one!!!
Here is how I treat these:
I charge the same initial amount for a pitch raise as a regular tuning B U
T the customer will follow these guidelines or I do not raise the pitch.
If the piano is over 25% low I make the appointment for the second tuning
in 2 weeks. I spend the normal time (1 hour) explaining that the piano will
be moving around in this 2 weeks and for them not to be alarmed as they
hear it go out of tune.  After that I retune again in 3 months with each
tuning the normal fee.  On pianos between 20% & 25% I insist on tuning
again in 1 month.  Between 10% and 20% in 2 months with again each tuning
normal price.  I make a big deal out of explaining first the chance of
string breakage and who is financialy responsible for it if it happens (the
client).
When another problem is apparent I give the client an educated guess on
what is causing the problem and how much I (estimate)  I will charge if it
goes according to plan.  As to how much, I pro-rate it on the amount of
time it takes from start to finish and multiply that by my tuning rate as
my hourly fee.  Tuning fees do not include repair work unless it is
something mighty simple.  This is how I do it and I hope it helps you
James Grebe from St. Louis
pianoman@inlink.com