The last thorough regulation (grand) I did took me 15 hrs from start to finish, and that was not even counting any repairs needed prior to regulating. TODD PIANO WORKS Matthew Todd, Piano Technician (979) 248-9578 http://www.toddpianoworks.com --- On Fri, 4/23/10, Dean May <deanmay at pianorebuilders.com> wrote: From: Dean May <deanmay at pianorebuilders.com> Subject: Re: [pianotech] YC brackets To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Friday, April 23, 2010, 3:16 PM As others have posted, it really isn’t your problem. You sound like me. I know I get to emotionally involved. I would hate to get an unexpected bill for several hundred dollars. So I want to try to mitigate it to the customer. But then I remind myself I have children to feed. They are stuck. Their $10k piano won’t play and it is getting worse. You are there to help them, not take advantage of them. The trick is to not let the situation take advantage of you in the process. You have to quote the price and be willing to walk away. I’ve had to walk away from an action bracket job only once. But unless you have the resolve to walk away it is somehow communicated to the customer and you won’t be able to get your price. I don’t know how, but it is. It is one of the key secrets to selling: BE WILLING TO WALK AWAY. IT ISN’T YOUR PROBLEM. The other key is to be confident of your professionalism and honesty: what you are quoting is not out of line, it is consistent with the industry and your level of expertise, and that you really are being totally honest and up front. This list has helped my tremendously on this point. On it I find out that other techs encounter the same problems and slog through them substantially like I do, that there isn’t a magic voodoo tech out there that can change these brackets, regulate and put the piano like new for only $49.95. Through this list you are now armed with the information that it is standard industry protocol (because of its necessity) that a very thorough regulation (6-10 hours) is required in replacing these brackets. There are no short cuts. Dean Dean W May (812) 235-5272 PianoRebuilders.com (888) DEAN-MAY Terre Haute IN 47802 From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Matthew Todd Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 10:48 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] YC brackets Hi Dean, How in the heck do you get a customer to pay for a complete regulation in this situation? Young Chang pays you $200, but that is pocket change compared to a complete regulation/repairs, etc. TODD PIANO WORKS Matthew Todd, Piano Technician (979) 248-9578 http://www.toddpianoworks.com --- On Fri, 4/23/10, Dean May <deanmay at pianorebuilders.com> wrote: From: Dean May <deanmay at pianorebuilders.com> Subject: Re: [pianotech] YC brackets To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Friday, April 23, 2010, 12:32 AM Contact person at Young Chang: John Chang, and can be reached at 866-798-6979, ext. 144 Jchang at ycapiano.com All action brackets are dimensionally the same except for the foot length of the middle brackets. The outside brackets are all the same. So measure your middle brackets and count how many you need (some are 2, some are 3). End bracket: a little over 8 inches (205 mm) Long middle bracket: 6 5/8 inches (170 mm) Short middle bracket: 5 3/4 inches (140 mm) Count on doing a completely complete regulation. Young Chang North America 19060 S Dominguez Hills Dr Rancho Dominguez CA 90220 866-798-6979 Dean Dean W May (812) 235-5272 PianoRebuilders.com (888) DEAN-MAY Terre Haute IN 47802 From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of pmc033 at earthlink.net Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 10:06 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] YC brackets Hi, Les: I've done a bunch of these. Be careful getting the action out, since the hammers may be up too high to clear the pinblock. If the drop screws bury into the pinblock, you may have to break/cut the brackets. Usually the glide bolts are set to raise the frame quite a bit, so you may be able to raise the bolts if necessary to release the action. The replacement procedure is pretty easy, but you'll have to set the spread using calipers or whatever. The newer model YC's spread is 113.5mm, but I can't recall which serial #'s those are. You can call the service dept. and ask for their advice. Check your resource guide for their number, as I don't have it handy. You should be able to get the brackets for free, and they will offer some compensation, but it's not much. You'll have to charge the customer for re-regulating the piano, especially if you had to move the glide bolts to get the action out. You'll need some longer screws to mount the stack, since the new bracket feet will be taller than the old ones. Just plug and redrill. Often, a previous technician has adjusted the letoff buttons to compensate for blocking hammers. Most likely you'll be screwing all the letoff dowels back up quite a ways to get the action to work again. It's not hard. If you can regulate an action, it's a piece of cake. Good luck and have fun. Paul McCloud San Diego ----- Original Message ----- From: Leslie Bartlett To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: 04/22/2010 6:09:50 AM Subject: [pianotech] YC brackets I would appreciate hearing from someone with a good bit of experience with YC bracket replacement. I did ONE several years ago, with only modest success. Its been a very long time since I have seen this piano, and am not even sure the action will come out. Im in need of sage advice. Thanks, Les Bartlett -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100423/bea4600b/attachment.htm>
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