Here comes the pitch

[Ron Nossaman]

> I have a tuner in my area who does the same exact thing.  I have been 
> observing this for over 23years now. This tuner does not tell the 
> customer that the piano will not be at proper pitch and they then 
> believe that the job was done correctly.  The problem is that the 
> customers will tell me that the piano was just tuned a few months ago 
> and I look bad when I try to explain that it needs a pitch raise and 
> tuning which costs more.  

Yes, there it is. Even pre-screening on the initial call 
doesn't head this off when it was tuned just last year, or 
could you do the neighbor's while you're here. You look like a 
crook when the real problem has walked away to set you up for 
any number of future repeats.


>I sometimes tuned a piano at a lower pitch for 
> a variety of reasons, but the customer always gets a full explaination 
> and is given a choice after explaining the risks, if any.  I never raise 
> the pitch on a piano that is showing obvious sign of self-destruction.  
> I have raised the pitch successfully on literally dozens of my 
> competetor's former customer's pianos over the years and have never 
> found one that I couldn't raise without a problem.  

Yes, yes, and yes. Wouldn't (or shouldn't) this be in the "We 
hold these truths to be self evident" category? I'd consider 
this to be minimal acceptable standard.


>Unfortunately, he's a Guild member. Oh, well.  I'm glad that the RPT examinations are more 
> challenging now than they used to be.   

Yes, he often is. And yes, they are - which ultimately means 
essentially nothing in the world we do business in to survive.

Ron N