[pianotech] PR follow up

[Ken & Pat Gerler]

I also always give the customer the information about pitch raise. In my 36+ years of tuning after a Bachelors' Degree in Music, I always promote ear training and a piano not to standard pitch will not do that.  If I am called on a piano that I have never tuned, a large percentage of the time I will find them at least 30c flat. If the new owner or situation says the piano is going to see lots of use "now", I will recommend a follow up tuning is a few weeks.  

Just after I started tuning in St. Louis (around '77/'78) I had a situation where the piano was purchased for the child at age 7, took lessons for a little while and then quit. Now the child was a Senior in High School and begged the mother to tune the piano. Situation above. Two weeks later I went back; the piano had dropped a couple of cents and the mother said now she had to chase the child away from the piano.

I have also had the opportunity to go back to a piano I tuned some 18 to 20 earlier with no one else called to tune the piano in the mean time and found them only 10 to 15 cents low. So I know a lot of the pianos I find way out were never brought to pitch when tuned. BUT, to counter that I have also had some PSOs that every 6 months would be either 50c sharp or 50c flat as the seasons changed.

Enough Saturday Morning chatter.

Ken Gerler RPT 631
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: wimblees at aol.com 
  To: Pianotech at PTG.org 
  Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 2:33 PM
  Subject: [pianotech] PR follow up


  I just received a private post from a non-member who agrees with me that a pitch raise and fine tuning can be done in one sitting, followed with a return visit 6 months, or even a year later. He thinks that scheduling a follow up visit 2 weeks later is not necessary, and borders on being unethical. While I don't necessarily think it is unethical, I do agree that there is no need to come back in 2 weeks, if the pr and fine tuning were done right. To be sure, if this piano is being used for a concert, and it was indeed 10 or 15 cents low, then the return visit is necessary, but only because a return visit for a concert is SOP in the first place. But other than that, it is not necessary.  And here's why. 

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