too picky about tuning

[John Ross]

Sounds that you are not educating your customers. :-)

I make it a point to inform them about the effects of humidity on the  
longevity of the tunings.

I also make a point of writing the temperature and humidity at the  
time of tuning, on the bill.

I am not saying that I have never had call backs, but for the most  
part, that was early on
in my  career.

I also inform them about anything that might affect the tuning. i.e.  
loosish pins,
expected changes in weather, (like coming in to Summer), inexpensive  
spinet, with bad scaling.

The positive effects of Dampp-Chaser systems are also pointed out.

Every piano is different, it is up to us to inform the customer.


On 2-Jun-08, at 6:34 AM, David wrote:

>     Some customers are too picky about tuning, in my opinion.  As  
> soon as one unison develops the least little "slow roll," they'll  
> call up and say, "My piano has gone horribly out of tune."  I get  
> there, and, yes, it needs a little touch-up, but it's by no stretch  
> of the imagination "horribly out of tune."
>     There was a pamphlet published by PTG years ago, the aim of  
> which was to get people to tune their pianos at least twice a year,  
> if not four.  It started out with a quote something along the lines  
> of  "There is no such thing as a piano standing in perfect tune for  
> weeks or months on end.  In fact, within 24 hours of being tuned,  
> some strings will have slipped a bit out of tune."  It then went on  
> to recommend tuning more frequently than most people have it done.
>     There was another pamphlet, or maybe it was the same one, with  
> quotes and recommendations by official representatives or even  
> presidents of many piano manufacturers.  Almost all of them,  
> including Steinway, agreed that, in order to keep a piano in good  
> tune most of the time, it would have to be tuned 3 or 4 times a  
> year.  Not one manufacturer recommended less frequently than twice a  
> year, if I remember correctly.
>     I wish this pamphlet could be issued again by the Home Office as  
> a handout to customers.  If piano owners could see that the  
> manufacturers don't expect a tuning to last longer than a few  
> months, then certainly customers can't hold their tuners in a bad  
> light if their tunings don't stay perfectly dead on for a whole year  
> (which some customers seem to expect).
>     Of course, the owner's manuals that come with new pianos almost  
> all recommend at least twice-yearly tuning, nobody reads them.  And  
> tuning twice a year means spending $200 or so on your piano yearly,  
> never mind tuning 3 or 4 times a year.  Most people just will not  
> spend that much on their piano, even it it's a high-quality grand.
>     My gripe is that too many clients expect tunings to last a whole  
> year.  Now, some pianos admittedly stay in pretty good tune and up  
> to pitch for even 5 or 10 years, but those are the rare exceptions.   
> If piano owners expect to have their pianos tuned only once a year,  
> then they should learn to live with a little out-of-tuneness.  I  
> do.  My piano can get quite bad before I say, "OK, I really gotta  
> tune this thing."
>     Sometimes they'll request a tuning at the tail end of winter,  
> right before the spring rains come.  I try to tell them it'll need  
> tuning again shortly because of higher humidity on the way.  Same  
> thing at the end of August, or even into September or October.   
> After the heat comes on, it's gonna dry out and go flat.  Then they  
> think you can't tune to make it last, and wonder why they should pay  
> for another tuning.  I've explained the humidity change effect each  
> and every year to some school music teachers and it goes in one ear  
> and out the other.  They still want the pianos tuned at the end of  
> August for the new school year, and expect not to have to tune them  
> again until the Christmas program or even not until the spring high  
> school musical production!
>     Yes, you can leave brochures, technical bulletins, etc., but  
> they don't read them.  Or they read and forget.   It gets  
> exasperating.
>     --David Nereson, RPT
>
>

John Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada





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