Explore by Career/Installation, Maintenance, and Repair
Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners
Repair percussion, stringed, reed, or wind instruments. May specialize in one area, such as piano tuning.
- Median pay
- $45,320
- per year
- 10-year outlook
- +1.4%
- Stable
- Typical entry
- High school diploma or equivalent
Key skills
- Repairing
- Troubleshooting
- Quality Control Analysis
- Critical Thinking
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Time Management
- Active Listening
- Speaking
What they do
- 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.
Majors that lead here
No mapped majors yet.
Not seeing the majors you expected?
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS, Employment Projections) and O*NET, used under CC BY 4.0.