PTG standards for pitch raises.

BSimon1234@AOL.COM BSimon1234@AOL.COM
Wed, 25 Nov 1998 00:26:15 EST


James Grebe wrote:

<<A normal tuning to me is change of 10c or less.....I write and publish my
own brochures.....one being just on pitch raising. This brochure states:

changing pitch between 10 and 20 c tune again in 2 months. etc >>

You have your particular method, which probably works well for you, and your
customers are well informed. I do think there are tuners on this list for whom
a normal tuning is a change of 3 cents or less.  For a ten cent raise, well,
that is another 1/2 fee!

I still think that it would be useful for the PTG to publish its own brochures
on the subject, defining pitch raises, and giving advice re;  retuning,
stability, cost, etc. 

The pitch raise part should be a definable quantity, so that a customer
doesn't get "cheated" paying for a 1 cent pitch raise. It is of course
arbitrary where the bar is set, or what ranges exist, but isn't that
definition or standardization of these things just what the PTG should be
doing?

My point originally was that the lack of standards allows for flim-flam, which
is not "professional" behavior. It may not be worth defining,  because I have
yet to meet the customer that informs me his piano is 8 cents flat in the
center, and 14 cents low in the treble. 

On the other hand, when a car mechanic says I need new brake shoes because I
am down to 3/32", or whatever spec., - he is at least working to a standard.
Every mechanic that sees those shoes should tell me the same thing, like a
professional person practicing their craft.

With pitch raises, the lack of definition seems to be a profitable situation
to many on this list.

If PTG cannot be the standard bearer, then there will be no standards. With no
standards there can be no consistency, and with no consistency, there is no
"professionalism". QED.

Read the list. Technicians are proudly dropping all sorts of untried and
unresearched chemicals onto pinblocks noe to get the pins to hold, and
whatever squirt products are on the counter at AutoZone to lubricate centers.
This behavior is non-professional.

Bill Simon
Phoenix







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