Cline

[J Patrick Draine]

>Patrick    that bring me to another question  I have always thought it
>imposible to give a estimate without a tuning lots of times I'm ask for one
>with out it inless it is obviously bad like bridges rust soundboard etc.  I
>will tell them without a tuning I can not be sure.  From what I gather from
>you are you sayng don't give one without a tuning period.  Pat Thanks

Well, I was envisioning a fairly pretty looking console with little 
wear to the hammers, about 60-80 cents flat and wildly out of tune. 
If the client is looking to buy the instrument you need to be clear 
with them that if they want to pay you for only your minimum service 
fee you'll only be able to test the torque on maybe 10 out of the 230 
tuning pins, along with inspecting many other aspects of the piano.
A patch of extremely loose tuning pins certainly are a possibility in 
a no name Korean piano, as well as areas of extreme tuning 
instability.
You can give them the option of A) a minimum service fee appraisal or 
B) a tuning which will include a full evaluation of the instrument. 
If they're planning on selling the instrument, it will be much more 
presentable. If they're planning on buying it, the seller ought to be 
pleased that the instrument will be in tune for the next prospect, if 
your client declines the instrument because of defects which you were 
able to discover during your time tuning the piano.

Just some thoughts

Patrick