Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners
Repair percussion, stringed, reed, or wind instruments. May specialize in one area, such as piano tuning.
Most important skills
- Quality Control Analysis
- Troubleshooting
- Repairing
- Critical Thinking
- Service Orientation
- Complex Problem Solving
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Reading Comprehension
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Mechanical
- Fine Arts
- English Language
- Administration and Management
- Sales and Marketing
- Engineering and Technology
- Physics
What the work involves
- 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.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Post-Secondary Certificate (54.6% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (31.8%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (40.9%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 98% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Occasional contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 65% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 99% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 92% of occupations compared | 77% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 50% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 94% of occupations compared | 73% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 83% of occupations compared | 71% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 70% of occupations compared | 29% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 33.33%
- Contact with others about half the time: 33.33%
- Contact with others most of the time: 14.29%
- Constant contact with others: 19.05%
n = 21, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 9.52%
- Fairly important: 9.52%
- Important: 14.29%
- Very important: 23.81%
- Extremely important: 42.86%
n = 21, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 40%
- Fairly important: 30%
- Important: 10%
- Very important: 15%
- Extremely important: 5%
n = 20, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 4.55%
- Some freedom: 18.18%
- A lot of freedom: 77.27%
n = 22, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 13.64%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 9.09%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 54.55%
- Every day: 22.73%
n = 22, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Conflict situations
- Never: 13.64%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 72.73%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 13.64%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0%
- Every day: 0%
n = 22, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 4.76%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 71.43%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 19.05%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 4.76%
- Every day: 0%
n = 21, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 23.81%
- Fairly serious: 28.57%
- Serious: 28.57%
- Very serious: 4.76%
- Extremely serious: 14.29%
n = 21, Occupational Expert 08/2025
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O*NET-SOC 49-9063.00 · SOC 49-9063 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8