too picky about tuning

[Dean May]

I'd probably do the same, Terry, but be sure to educate the customer at the
end. Tell them if there is a problem with the tuning they need to call you
right away, not wait six months. Perhaps add some of what I say below. 

 

David, what I do is compliment the customer on their very discerning ear and
tell them they are blessed with a curse. I tell them that most of my
customers frankly can't really tell when a piano is out of tune. Pianos
start going out of tune as soon as I am done tuning them. Concert pianos are
tuned before every performance and touched up at intermission. Some of my
customers who are really picky have their pianos tuned every 3-4 months, a
very few as often as once a month. It's not unusual for unisons to go out
slightly after a month or two, especially on pianos that are regularly
played, especially if they have no climate control system. If that out of
tuneness bothers them enough then really the only thing to do is get the
humidity stabilized and then put the piano on a more aggressive tuning
schedule. 

 

Dean

Dean May             cell 812.239.3359 

PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272 

Terre Haute IN  47802

 

  _____  

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Farrell
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 8:00 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: too picky about tuning

 

Interesting and timely post David. I'm off to an appointment this morning to
look at my second complaint in ten years about my tuning. The first one was
about five years ago and the lady was a looney. I wonder how this one will
shake out - it's been six months, but she said it "went out" right away
after I tuned it. I know I shouldn't do anything for her at no charge, but I
likely will - largely because of low number of complaints I've had. 

 

I just went biking with a guy the other day who is a colal-rectal surgeon.
He told me about all the lawsuits and whatnot that his fellow doctors
endure. I guess maybe I feel lucky and like I ought to just eat this one if
I only get one every five years......

 

Dunno.

 

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 

From: David Nereson <mailto:dnereson at 4dv.net>  

To: Pianotech List <mailto:pianotech at ptg.org>  

Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 5:34 AM

Subject: too picky about tuning

 

    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 

     

         

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