Musical-instrument makers and tuners make, assemble, repair, adjust, restore musical instruments and tune them to the required pitch with hand or power tools. They usually specialize in one type of instrument, such as string instruments, brass instruments pianos, reed instruments or percussion instruments.
Skill level:
Semi-skilled
Check your Wage
- Salary range for the majority of workers in Musical instrument makers and tuners - from $1,777 to $4,308 per month - 2024.
- A Musical instrument makers and tuners typically earns between $1,777 and $2,862 gross per month at the start of the job.
- After 5 years of service, this is between $1,881 and $3,317 per month for a working week of 40 hours.
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Tasks and duties
- Fabricating and assembling musical instruments and instrument parts of wood, ebonite, metal, leather and other materials
- Repairing or replacing musical instrument parts and components, such as strings, bridges, felts, and keys, using hand and power tools
- Playing and inspecting instruments to evaluate their sound quality and to locate any defects
- Adjusting string tensions to achieve proper tone or pitch of stringed instruments
- Adjusting lips, reeds, or toe holes of organ pipes, using hand tools, to regulate airflow and loudness of sound
- Tuning and servicing pipe organs by adjusting pitch of organ pipes to conform with pitch of the tuning fork and adjusting pitch of other pipes with reference to pitch of tuned pipes
- Installing new drumheads in percussion instruments
- Tuning accordions by aurally comparing pitch of reeds with master reeds and filing reeds to obtain standard pitch
- Aligning pads and keys on reed or wind instruments
- Tuning percussion instruments to required pitch by tightening or loosening cords holding leather pieces fixed atop or at both ends of the instrument
- Assembling and installing new pipe organs and pianos in buildings
