Pitch Raise Fee Structure

[Joe & Penny Goss]

Hi Terry,
My rate is 100% x fee for a pitch raise to be followed in a month with a
string seating and fine tune after a month. This amounts to two tunings and
I feel leaves the piano much more stable and will hold for regular yearly
tunings.
A pitch raise, for me can be one or two passes depending on the piano and
how far off the piano is off with itself. And how good I out guess the
situation with my SATlll.
Many times I will return to the instrument to find that the bass is dead on,
the tenor 2 to 5 cents off and the upper treble 15c flat after string
seating.
Joe Goss
imatunr@primenet.com
http://www.primenet.com/~imatunr/

----- Original Message -----
From: Farrell <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2000 9:08 AM
Subject: Pitch Raise Fee Structure


> Hi List Again! How do you folks charge for pitch raising? - Per pass? Per
> amount flat? One flat (no pun intended) fee?
>
> I have been charging half my tuning fee per pass required. That is, a 30
> cent pitch raise would be one pass and total charge for pitch raise would
be
> 0.5 x tuning fee. A 100 cent pitch raise on a 50 year old piano might be
two
> passes on bass and tenor and three passes on treble for a total of 2-1/2
> pitch raises and a fee of 1.25 x tuning fee.
>
> The trouble with this structure is that it can be somewhat subjective as
to
> how many passes is required for any given piano, and I can't really state
a
> firm fee over the phone, i.e. "lady, if your piano is a quarter step flat
it
> will cost $X" - I have to go into this protracted explanation about piano
> age, string corrosion, etc.
>
> I have thought it might be better to just state "I charge $X per cent
flat."
> For me in my local and situation, $1 per cent would work well. It would
> cover me for the nasty pianos - the older ones with corroded strings. I
> would likely give a little discount for a newer piano - for instance, one
> that was 60 cents flat - it would likely only require one pass and I would
> only charge my old one-pass fee.
>
> The problem I see with this system is again the phone thing. Me: "I charge
> $1 per cent flat". Customer: "What is a cent". Sounds like a can of worms
to
> me.
>
> Waddayoufolksdo?
>
> Terry Farrell
> Piano Tuning & Service
> Tampa, Florida
> mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
>
>