Occupation: Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners

Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners

IndependenceAchievementWorking Conditions

Repair percussion, stringed, reed, or wind instruments. May specialize in one area, such as piano tuning.

| 49-9063.00 | 29 tasks | 10 job titles

Reported Job Titles

(10)
  • Banjo Repair Person
  • Brass Instrument Repair Technician
  • Fretted String Instrument Repairer
  • Guitar Repairer
  • Instrument Repair Technician
  • Luthier
  • Mandolin Repair Person
  • Piano Technician
  • Piano Tuner
  • Stringed Instrument Repairer

Work Values

Independence Achievement Working Conditions

Work ValueScore
Achievement4.33
Working Conditions3.17
Recognition2.67
Relationships2.67
Support2.67
Independence4.33

Core Tasks

(14)
  • Play instruments to evaluate their sound quality and to locate any defects.
  • Adjust string tensions to tune instruments, using hand tools and electronic tuning devices.
  • Reassemble instruments following repair, using hand tools and power tools and glue, hair, yarn, resin, or clamps, and lubricate instruments as necessary.
  • Disassemble instruments and parts for repair and adjustment.
  • Repair or replace musical instrument parts and components, such as strings, bridges, felts, and keys, using hand and power tools.
  • Inspect instruments to locate defects, and to determine their value or the level of restoration required.
  • Compare instrument pitches with tuning tool pitches to tune instruments.
  • String instruments, and adjust trusses and bridges of instruments to obtain specified string tensions and heights.
  • Polish instruments, using rags and polishing compounds, buffing wheels, or burnishing tools.
  • Repair cracks in wood or metal instruments, using pinning wire, lathes, fillers, clamps, or soldering irons.
  • Mix and measure glue that will be used for instrument repair.
  • Shape old parts and replacement parts to improve tone or intonation, using hand tools, lathes, or soldering irons.
  • Refinish instruments to protect and decorate them, using hand tools, buffing tools, and varnish.
  • Make wood replacement parts, using woodworking machines and hand tools.

Supplemental Tasks

(15)
  • Align pads and keys on reed or wind instruments.
  • Solder posts and parts to hold them in their proper places.
  • Remove dents and burrs from metal instruments, using mallets and burnishing tools.
  • Test tubes and pickups in electronic amplifier units, and solder parts and connections as necessary.
  • Adjust felt hammers on pianos to increase tonal mellowness or brilliance, using sanding paddles, lacquer, or needles.
  • Remove irregularities from tuning pins, strings, and hammers of pianos, using wood blocks or filing tools.
  • Strike wood, fiberglass, or metal bars of instruments, and use tuned blocks, stroboscopes, or electronic tuners to evaluate tones made by instruments.
  • Wash metal instruments in lacquer-stripping and cyanide solutions to remove lacquer and tarnish.
  • Deliver pianos to purchasers or to locations of their use.
  • Remove drumheads by removing tension rods with drum keys and cutting tools.
  • Solder or weld frames of mallet instruments and metal drum parts.
  • Repair breaks in percussion instruments, such as drums and cymbals, using drill presses, power saws, glue, clamps, grinding wheels, or other hand tools.
  • Assemble bars onto percussion instruments.
  • Clean, sand, and paint parts of percussion instruments to maintain their condition.
  • Replace xylophone bars and wheels.

Video

49-9063.00 - Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners