> David Nerenson wrote:
>
> Say the pitch raise took 1/2 hr, and the final tuning an hour. That's an hour an a half. How do I now justify charging extra for the pitch raise when a "plain vanilla" tuning also takes an hour and a half and I only charge $X for it?
Hi David,
I don't justify my fee in terms of tuning time to the customer - it can make them wonder about the appropriateness of the hourly fee I'm charging (which may be more than they make per hour in some cases, and perhaps they are a trauma nurse helping to save lives everyday).
Instead, I just give them the total before I start without reference to any time comparison (whether it is a normal tuning or a more expensive pitch raise). If it is a pitch raise, I tell them that the cost ("cost," not "expense" or "price" or, heaven forbid, "damage") is greater because it is more work. Or, as one of my friends puts it, "there are only so many tunings left in my hand/arm/shoulder, and we're using up about two of them today," or something to that effect.
And that's accurate, I believe. Ask yourself how you feel after a day on which you happened to do three pitch raises in a row as compared to a day on which you did three single-pass tunings.
Joe DeFazio
Pittsburgh
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