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Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners

Typical education: Certificate or apprenticeshipLower pressure

What they do

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

Kinds of work

  • Realistic: Hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals, often outdoors.
  • Conventional: Organizing information, following clear procedures and working with data and details.
  • Artistic: Creating, designing and expressing ideas through art, writing, music or performance.

Lower pressure: How much pressure workers in this job report: deadlines, conflict, dealing with upset people, the cost of mistakes, responsibility for others' safety, competition and long hours. It varies a lot from one employer to the next. Source: U.S. Department of Labor worker surveys.

Pay, tasks and more

Salary

United States $46,420 Median per year · $22.32/hr Most earn $31,220–$71,600

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025.

What you might do

  • Strike wood, fiberglass, or metal bars of instruments, and use tuned blocks, stroboscopes, or electronic tuners to evaluate tones made by instruments.
  • Repair or replace musical instrument parts and components, such as strings, bridges, felts, and keys, using hand and power tools.
  • String instruments, and adjust trusses and bridges of instruments to obtain specified string tensions and heights.
  • Refinish and polish piano cabinets or cases to prepare them for sale.
  • Adjust felt hammers on pianos to increase tonal mellowness or brilliance, using sanding paddles, lacquer, or needles.
  • Compare instrument pitches with tuning tool pitches to tune instruments.

Job outlook

United States
2% more jobs by 2035, slower than average · about 600 openings a year

Openings include new jobs and jobs left by workers who retire or change careers. Projections: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Bright Outlook": U.S. Department of Labor.

Where they work

  • Personal and household goods repair and maintenance14.9%
  • Self-employed (their own business)8.4%
  • Colleges, universities, and professional schools4.0%

Share of all workers in this career. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Employment Matrix.

Experience before this job: 1 to 2 years

Some people start through an apprenticeship: paid training on the job, often with classes. Search apprenticeships on Apprenticeship.gov (opens in a new tab) ↗

Career path

How people usually get into this career, from school to their first job and beyond.

Typical education: Certificate or apprenticeshipExperience before this job: 1 to 2 years

This is not usually a job you can start straight out of high school. Most people finish high school, complete a certificate or apprenticeship in instrument repair, and then spend about 1 to 2 years in entry-level repair work before taking on this career on their own.

  1. High school diploma with music and hands-on classes

    4 years

    Building music experience and skills with tools (woodworking, metalwork, electronics) gives you a foundation for the training that comes next.

  2. Instrument repair certificate or apprenticeship

    1-2 years

    Training teaches you to fix and set up percussion, string, reed, or wind instruments, often working under an experienced repairer.

  3. Instrument Repair Apprentice

    1-2 years

    You handle simpler repairs and cleaning while building speed and skill, which prepares you to work independently as a repairer.

  4. Musical Instrument Repairer and Tuner

    Ongoing career

    You diagnose and repair instruments, and you may specialize in an area such as piano tuning or wind instrument repair.

Where it can lead

  1. Lead Instrument Technician

    3-5 years of experience first

    You take on the harder repairs, train newer staff, and handle customer work with less supervision.

  2. Repair Shop Manager or Owner

    5+ years of experience first

    You run the business side of a shop, including staff, scheduling, inventory, and customers, and you may open your own repair business.

What you can do now

Ideas for high school and college students.

In high school

  • Join band, orchestra, or choirPlaying in a group gives you real experience with instruments and shows you how they are supposed to sound and feel.
  • Take shop, woodworking, or metalworking classesThese classes build the careful hand skills and tool knowledge that instrument repair depends on.
  • Take physics or electronics classes if offeredUnderstanding sound, vibration, and simple circuits helps you learn how instruments produce and shape sound.
  • Ask a local music store or repair shop about shadowing or a part-time jobSeeing repairs up close and helping out is one of the best ways to learn the trade and make contacts.
  • Ask the band director about helping with instrument maintenanceHelping keep school instruments clean and working gives you practice with common repairs and tuning.

In college

  • Look into an instrument repair certificate or apprenticeshipCertificate programs and apprenticeships are the usual training route for this career, so finding one early helps you plan.
  • Work part-time at a music store or repair shopPaid experience in a shop builds the skills and references that employers look for when hiring apprentices.
  • Take courses in music theory, acoustics, or electronicsThese classes deepen your understanding of how instruments produce sound and how to tune and adjust them.
  • Keep playing in a campus ensembleRegular playing keeps your ear sharp, which matters for tuning and for judging repair quality.
  • Build a simple portfolio of your workPhotos or notes of repairs you have done, even on school or personal instruments, can help you show skill when applying for apprenticeships.

Tips for getting started

  • Look for part-time or summer work at a music store, school band program, or repair shop. Even sweeping floors and helping with setup teaches you how repair shops work and can lead to an apprenticeship.
  • Get comfortable with tools and small hand work now. Woodworking, electronics, and careful, patient fixing of things all carry over to instrument repair.
  • Learn to play at least one instrument well. Knowing how instruments should sound and feel helps you judge when a repair is right, especially for tuning.

Related jobs that often lead here

Related jobs a step up

Education, experience and related careers: U.S. Department of Labor. The step-by-step path, where it can lead and what you can do now were written by AI as typical examples; many people take other ways.

College majors that lead here

Majors: U.S. Department of Education and BLS (CIP–SOC crosswalk). Earnings and debt: College Scorecard, typical across U.S. colleges.

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