Pitch raising

[Clyde Hollinger]

Wim and everybody,

My comment on paragraph 1:
     I agree with you that a string will likely break at a certain tension
whether done in small increments or "one swell foop."  If a technician is of the
opinion that every piano *has* to be tuned to A440, may as well do it fast.
     But I am not of that opinion.  For example, a client I first tuned for in
1995 has an old Foster upright, didn't want to pay for a pitchraise, but has had
the piano tuned every year since.  It is now up from 100 cents flat to 45 cents
flat.  Last year it tore a low bass string and this year two treble strings.  I'm
not taking it any farther up.  What would have happened if she had permitted me
to raise it right away?  Broken strings all over the place, I reckon.  As you may
remember I have a mild paranoia about breaking strings.
     I don't see this as an ethical question.  It's just that different people do
things different ways.  I'm getting paid for what I do, we're both happy, and the
piano is closer to pitch than it's been in decades.

My comment on paragraph 2:
     You wrote that it is cheating the customer to charge extra depending on how
low the piano is.  That depends.  The way I do pitchraises, one pass will be
sufficient up to 50c flat; between 50-100 cents I do the treble twice, and more
than 100c I do the whole piano twice, in general.  Consequently I charge 50% more
than the "base" pitchraise charge for 50-100 cents change, and double for more
than 100 cents.  I think that is fair, and the customers seem to agree with me.
     On the other hand, I know of a tuner who reportedly charges double his
normal tuning rate to include a 50c pitchraise, and double *again* for 100c
pitchraise and tuning.  If he would charge $70 for a regular tuning, a 50c
pitchraise and tuning would be $140, whereas a 100c pitchraise and tuning would
be $280.
     Now *that* I have a problem with, and if the rumors are correct, so do some
of his clients.  I'm not sure what the reasoning is.  Perhaps that he is
recouping some of the income that would have been his had the customer paid for
regular tunings over the years, or maybe to punish the client for neglecting the
piano for so long.

Regards,
Clyde

Wimblees@AOL.COM wrote:

> To go one step further in this, for those who think doing it slowly will keep
> a string from breaking, I have this observation. A string is going to break
> at a certain tension, whether the string reaches that tension in small
> increment of 15 or 20 cents at a time, or all 100 cents in one swell foop, as
> Jim suggests. It's kind like the weakest link in a chain theory.
>
> On another part of this pitch raise thingee. There are some tuners who charge
> extra depending on low the piano is. ($10 extra for a piano that is 10 cents
> low, $20 for a piano that is 20 cents low, etc.)  I think that is cheating
> the customer. If the pitch is raised in one swell foop, there should be no
> need to charge extra. It doesn't take any more energy, nor time, to pull a
> string up 10 cents as it does to pull up a string 100 cents. In fact, it is
> probably harder to do 10 cents that to do 100 cents, since you have to have
> more control for 10 cents than for 100 cents. I charge a set fee for a pitch
> raise and a tuning, whether that pitch raise is 25 cents or 250 cents.
>
> Willem