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Boston Career Explorer

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.

Also called: Brass Instrument Repair Technician (Brass Instrument Repair Tech), Fretted String Instrument Repairer, Guitar Repairer, Instrument Repair Technician (Instrument Repair Tech), Luthier, Musical Instrument Repair Technician (Musical Instrument Repair Tech)

Median pay in Greater Boston
$50,090
$24.08/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
70
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+2.8%
10 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
High school diploma or equivalent
plus Apprenticeship

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$36,300$39,570$50,090$64,980$73,440

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Adjust string tensions to tune instruments, using hand tools and electronic tuning devices.
  • Compare instrument pitches with tuning tool pitches to tune instruments.
  • Play instruments to evaluate their sound quality and to locate any defects.
  • 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.
  • Reassemble instruments following repair, using hand tools and power tools and glue, hair, yarn, resin, or clamps, and lubricate instruments as necessary.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Lower exposure22 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 32
  • Language-model AIOE 30
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 3

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for this job is lower, and observed AI use is little or none. AI tools might help with tuning aids or looking up repair information. Listening to an instrument, finding defects, and repairing parts by hand are skilled tasks that stay with the repairer.

Likely to change

  • Electronic tuning and pitch comparison
  • Looking up repair information

Still relies on people

  • Playing and listening to judge sound quality
  • Repairing and replacing parts by hand

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

2 programs near Boston

Related occupations

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