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.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS, Employment Projections) and O*NET, used under CC BY 4.0.