lessons learned

[Charles Neuman]

Mike Kurta wrote:
>     Hi Charles:
>     No, No, No, don't say those statements, don't even think that way.
> First and foremost, protect yourself by pre-conditioning the customer by
> educating him or her...

Thanks Mike,

That's just the kind of thing I was looking for. Would you recommend
educating the customer in this way before doing just a tuning? Suppose
nothing is broken (yet), and you fear that some elbows will break during
the tuning.

I have successfully gotten through the "a string failed" speech, and I
purposely gave a low price to replace it to show that I wasn't making it
up. But I think in the future I would consider explaining "a string might
fail" BEFORE doing a large pitch raise. That way, a customer CHOOSES the
pitch raise, fully knowing all the risks. Then I would feel more
comfortable charging a more apropriate rate for a string replacement.

Thanks for the tips. This is really helpful.

Charles Neuman
PTG Assoc, Long Island