[pianotech] Pitch raise criteria

[Ron Nossaman]

Mark Potter wrote:
> John -
> 
> I concur.  Except in performance and recording situations, and for my 
> most discerning clients, I feel that charging for a pitch raise of less 
> than 10-12 cents would not be serving my customer's best interests.  

I agree. For the most part, my people aren't rich or gullible 
enough to be sold pitch corrections with every tuning, and I'm 
not mercenary enough to try to sell them something they know 
they don't need. The more stable climate environments tend to 
be in private homes, so the piano both stays closer to pitch, 
and isn't usually required to be concert level. The worst are 
schools and churches, where relative humidity changes 50%+ 
between tunings, and they are tuning for some specific event, 
but they aren't about to pay for a pitch adjustment when the 
thing was "just tuned" not five months ago! Case in point. 
Friday, I had three pianos on the list for one of my churches. 
I had an 8:30 appointment elsewhere, and got to the church 
about 9:45. Which pianos? The old Yamaha G7 in the choir room, 
the CFIII in the sanctuary, and the piano the movers promised 
would be in by 10:00. By 10:00? Which movers? It'll be a 
miracle if it's here before 1:00.

I tuned the G7 in the basement choir room first. Poor old 
nasty thing, still badly in need of rebuilding, and 8-16 cents 
sharp through most of it. RH 66%, last tuned at 26%. Moved the 
half ton of junk off the top (lid organizational filing 
systems are forfeit), and did one pass.

The CFIII, still all alone on stage, was not quite as sharp 
(RH% 59%. last tuned at 35%), but was still something like 
8-12 cents sharp through most of it. It also, as usual, got 
one pass. As I was doing a last unison check, I was informed 
that I was right (uh oh), the piano would be picked up at 
12:30. It was just before noon now, so she asked if I'd come 
back for the third one. Swell. I told her I'd long ago sworn a 
solemn oath to never again absorb the cost of this mover's 
scheduling, and there'd be a trip charge. No problem there, so 
I asked if she's call me when they wheeled it in the door, and 
I'd head back when I got the call. So that's what we did. At 
1:45, I tuned a white Yamaha C3 (with a nasty killer octave) 
sitting next to the CFIII (good match). It was roughly as 
sharp as the CFIII had been - one pass.

So what's the criteria for pitch adjustment? You have to 
decide for yourself according to circumstance. If you have the 
luxury of someone willing to pay for a pitch adjustment with 
each tuning, take the money and be amazed. Otherwise, find the 
practical balance between cost, time, and performance 
requirements that works for both you, and your customer. Pick two.
Ron N