Charge more to tune a Steinway?

[Conrad Hoffsommer]

KeyKat88 at aol.com wrote:
> Greetings,
>               They take more time to tune, because the strings are 
> unresponsive to pulling them up or pushing them down, then the 
> strings "jump" over the friction point and the tone changes all at once.
>  
> Julia
> Reading, PA


To look at the flip side, I just finished tuning a B and 2 Ds. The B and 
one of the Ds were fairly normal tunings. The second D, however, wasn't 
much more than a touch-up.

Here at school, I'm salaried, so it all pays the same. If you had a day 
like this in private tunings, would you charge LESS for the one which 
was the touch-up?  After all, it took less time!  Why would I as a 
customer want to pay full price for less time working?

I guess it comes down to how you basically set your tuning rates - 
piecework or hourly.  If I tune in an hour and someone else tunes in two 
hours should I only charge half as much?

I don't think so.


-- 
Conrad Hoffsommer, RPT - Keyboard Technician
Luther College, 700 College Dr., Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045
1-(563)-387-1204 // Fax 1-(563)-387-1076