How to become a Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner 2024

Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner Repair percussion, stringed, reed, or wind instruments. May specialize in one area, such as piano tuning.

Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner is Also Know as

In different settings, Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner is titled as

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

Education and Training of Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner

Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Education Required for Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner

Training Required for Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner in different industries are

What Do Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner 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.
Disassemble instruments and parts for repair and adjustment.
Inspect instruments to locate defects, and to determine their value or the level of restoration required.
Repair cracks in wood or metal instruments, using pinning wire, lathes, fillers, clamps, or soldering irons.
Reassemble instruments following repair, using hand tools and power tools and glue, hair, yarn, resin, or clamps, and lubricate instruments as necessary.
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.
Repair or replace musical instrument parts and components, such as strings, bridges, felts, and keys, using hand and power tools.
Polish instruments, using rags and polishing compounds, buffing wheels, or burnishing tools.
Shape old parts and replacement parts to improve tone or intonation, using hand tools, lathes, or soldering irons.
Make wood replacement parts, using woodworking machines and hand tools.
Mix and measure glue that will be used for instrument repair.
Align pads and keys on reed or wind instruments.
Adjust felt hammers on pianos to increase tonal mellowness or brilliance, using sanding paddles, lacquer, or needles.
Solder posts and parts to hold them in their proper places.
Remove dents and burrs from metal instruments, using mallets and burnishing tools.
Wash metal instruments in lacquer-stripping and cyanide solutions to remove lacquer and tarnish.
Test tubes and pickups in electronic amplifier units, and solder parts and connections as necessary.
Refinish instruments to protect and decorate them, using hand tools, buffing tools, and varnish.
Deliver pianos to purchasers or to locations of their use.
Cut out sections around cracks on percussion instruments to prevent cracks from advancing, using shears or grinding wheels.
Refinish and polish piano cabinets or cases to prepare them for sale.
Solder or weld frames of mallet instruments and metal drum parts.
Remove drumheads by removing tension rods with drum keys and cutting tools.
Assemble bars onto percussion instruments.
Remove irregularities from tuning pins, strings, and hammers of pianos, using wood blocks or filing tools.
Repair breaks in percussion instruments, such as drums and cymbals, using drill presses, power saws, glue, clamps, grinding wheels, or other hand tools.
Clean, sand, and paint parts of percussion instruments to maintain their condition.
Replace xylophone bars and wheels.
Strike wood, fiberglass, or metal bars of instruments, and use tuned blocks, stroboscopes, or electronic tuners to evaluate tones made by instruments.
Place rim hoops back onto drum shells to allow new drumheads to dry and become taut.
Assemble and install new pipe organs and pianos in buildings.
Cut new drumheads from animal skins, using scissors, and soak drumheads in water to make them pliable.
Stretch drumheads over rim hoops and tuck them around and under the hoops, using hand tucking tools.
Remove material from bars of percussion instruments to obtain specified tones, using bandsaws, sanding machines, machine grinders, or hand files and scrapers.
File metal reeds until their pitches correspond with standard tuning bar pitches.

Qualities of Good Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner

Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.

Tools Used by Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner

Action regulators
Adjustable C clamps
Adjustable fret slotting saws
Agraffe removers
Air dusting guns
Air hoses
Alcohol lamps
Alignment jigs
Allen wrenches
Alligator forceps
Arbors
Arch punches
Automated sprayers
Ball-end hex keys
Band clamps
Barrel reamers
Belt sanders
Bench anvils
Bench blocks
Bench brushes
Bench grinders
Bench lathes
Bench motors
Bench oilers
Bending irons
Blow torches
Blowpipes
Bore cleaning brushes
Bore tools
Bracket hex wrenches
Brass mouthpiece brushes
Bridge pin hole slotting saws
Broaches
Buffing machines
Bunsen burners
Burnishing rings
Bushing inserters
Butane heaters
Butt plate inserters
Calipers
Cam clamps
Capstan regulators
Capstan screw wrenches
Center pin punches
Chain nose pliers
Chamfer tools
Chemical dip tanks
Clarinet pad leveling tools
Coil makers
Cold chisels
Countersinks
Cross lock tweezers
Cross-cut saws
Curved nose forceps
Curved nose pliers
Curved nose scissors
Damper regulators
Damper rod hooks
Damper spoon benders
Deep throat C clamps
Dent hammers
Dent machines
Diagonal cutters
Dial calipers
Die stocks
Digital humidity gauges
Digital tuners
Disc sanders
Dollies
Drill gauges
Drill presses
Duck bill pliers
Edging clamps
Electronic tuners
End cut nippers
Endpin jack wrenches
Feeler gauge holders
Feeler gauges
Felt cutters
Felt cutting knives
File cleaners
Fingerboard band clamps
Fingerboard levelers
Flange bushing reamers
Flange screwdrivers
Flat nose pliers
Fluorescent lamps
Flute body mandrels
Flute gauges
Flute head mandrels
Flute key leveling tools
Flute pad irons
Fret dressing sticks
Fret end dressing files
Fret files
Fret rockers
Fret slot depth gauges
Gauged saws
Glue brushes
Glue guns
Glue pots
Gram tension gauges
Gram weights
Grand piano jacks
Grand screwdrivers
Gripper truss rod wrenches
Guitar humidifiers
Hacksaws
Hammer angle gauges
Hammer angle protractors
Hammer butt spacers
Hammer head borers
Hammer head reamers
Hammer shank reducers
Hammers
Hand burnishers
Hand drills
Hand planers
Hand planes
Hand sprayers
Hart spring tools
Heat control units
Heat guns
Heat staking tools
Height measurement gauges
Hex drivers
Incandescent lamps
Inspection mirrors
Jack screw regulators
Jack spring hole reamers
Japanese fret saws
Jaw pliers
Key bushing tighteners
Key button jigs
Key dip blocks
Key easing tools
Leak lights
Long flat nose pliers
Looping machines
Lost motion regulators
Loupes
Mag machines
Magnetic scribers
Magnetizers
Magnifiers
Mallets
Micrometers
Multimeters
Music wire gauges
Neck jigs
Neck relief gauges
Needle files
Nut drivers
Nut files
Nut slotting gauges
Oilers
Output jack wrenches
Pad cup heaters
Pearl cutting saws
Pencil magnets
Pencil torches
Piano key spacers
Piano leveling devices
Piano regulators
Piano stringing hooks
Piano tuning pin cranks
Piano tuning pin extractors
Piano tuning pin punches
Pin hole reamers
Pin vises
Pocket truss rod wrenches
Pointed awls
Portable band saws
Post drilling jigs
Power buffers
Power drills
Power sanders
Precision oilers
Precision spray guns
Punches
Punching lifters
Purfling cutters
Radius gauges
Rat tail files
Razor files
Refret saws
Regulating gauges
Regulating screwdrivers
Rip saws
Routers
Rulers
Saddle locating jigs
Sand blasters
Scissor jacks
Scraper burnishers
Screw extractors
Screw gauges
Screw pitch thread gauges
Screw slotters
Screwdrivers
Seam separation knives
Sharp leveling and key-dip devices
Slotted screwdrivers
Socket reamers
Soldering clamps
Soldering clips
Soldering irons
Soldering jigs
Soundhole clamps
Spark lighters
Spool clamps
Sprayer compressors
Spring cutters
Spring punches
String action gauges
String height gauges
String hooks
String lifters
String spacing rules
Surface thermometers
Tap wrenches
Telescoping gauges
Telescoping magnetic pickup tools
Tenon expanders
Thread cutting tools
Tinners snips
Tone hole cutters
Top deflection gauges
Torque wrenches
Torx drivers
Tubing shrinkers
Tuning forks
Tuning hammers
Tuning levers
Tuning pin bushing punches
Tuning pin gauges
Tuning pin setters
Tuning pins
Tuning wrenches
Tweezers
Understring radius gauges
Valve brushes
Valve lapping machines
Valve mirrors
Violin clamps
Vise grip pliers
Wax spoons
Wire cutters
Wire drill gauges
Wood chisels

Technology Skills required for Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner

Katsura Shareware KS Strobe Tuner
Katsura Shareware ProLevel
Katsura Shareware SoundFrames
Mensurix Audio
Reyburn CyberTuner
TuneLab
Tunic OnlyPure
Veritune Verituner

US Universities

How to become Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuner in 2024