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Repairs

REPAIRS

Instrument Repairs and Maintenance

Get your instrument in shape! It's no fun to play an instrument that sounds or feels terrible. It definitely affects the learning process and can cause most anyone to quit playing music thinking that it is too hard to learn to play when a quick adjustment may make all the difference.

Guitars

The guitar is one instrument that will fight you back if not set up properly

  • Tuning: You should make sure your guitar is in tune every time you play it. Electronic tuners make this task simple and quick. Most of the broken strings we see here are a result of tuning too high.
  • Restring: Guitar strings should be replaced every 6 to 8 weeks for uncoated strings. Strings will start sounding dead with buildup of corrosion, skin, oils, and dirt. To add life to your strings, wash your hands before playing and wipe off your strings after playing with a micro-fiber cloth. If you don't typically break strings, we recommend using extended life strings like Cleartones. We charge $5 to replace a single string, $25 for six strings, $30 for nylon strings, $40 for 12-strings. In addition to labor the strings will cost between $6 and $20. For those of you taking private lessons, we recommend using a lesson to learn how to change your strings. This is one of those regular maintenance items that all guitarists should know how to do.
  • Truss Rod: Steel string guitars typically have a truss rod that allows the neck to be straightened from a forward or backward bow. This can make a huge difference in the playability of your guitar. If you have to press very hard on the strings to reach the fret, a truss rod adjustment may be able to make it much easier to play. A couple things may affect your guitar necessitating an adjustment: 1) changes in humidity can make the wood on your guitar expand or contract changing the shape of your neck, and 2) changes in guitar string gages will add more or less tension by the strings and therefore change the shape of the neck. We charge $15 for a truss rod adjustment.
  • Output Jack: It seems every electric guitar is plagued with output jacks that need constant tightening. The problem is that when you tighten the nut on the outside, it can spin the wires and their soldered connections inside causing an eventual short. If yours is constantly coming loose, pull the entire jack out including the jack plate, add a drop of Loctite or light strength treadlocker to the threads, and tighten down the output jack nut while holding the jack behind the jack plate. We charge $15 to resolder your output jack connections and $25 to replace the output jack plus parts.
  • Potentiometers: A fancy name for your volume and tone adjustors. "Pots" can get dirty inside and cause stratchy sounds. We charge $15 to clean your pots.
  • Full Set Up: To get your guitar in the best possible playing condition, we charge $90 plus parts. Guitars with Floyd Rose like trems add $40. Full set ups include adjustments to: Truss Rod, Neck and Saddle, String Height, Intonation, Pickup Height, Pots Cleaned, Guitar cleaned and polished, Restring.
  • Fret Jobs, Broken Necks, Neck Resets, Body Damage: For all large repair jobs, we recommend Ross Guitars.

Drums

  • Tuning: Drum tuning is more of an art than a science. Drums are not tuned to specific pitches and can be tuned numerous ways. For a complete course in drum tuning, we highly recommend the Drum Tuning video by Bob Gatzen. We charge $10 to tune each drum (includes top and bottom heads).
  • Head Replacement: For head replacement and tuning we charge $15 per drum plus parts.
  • Hardware Repair: We have very limited parts for drum hardware repair. If you have missing small parts on your drum set, you may be able to find a replacement from West Coast Drum Shop in Bellevue.

Pianos

  • Tuning, Repairs, and Maintenance: We highly recommend Christopher Gross for all your piano tuning and maintenance in the greater Seattle area.

Brass and Woodwinds

  • Flutes, Clarinets, Saxophones, Trumpets, Trombones: Moore Brothers Music is a drop off point for the repair shop at Ted Brown Music in Tacoma. Drop off your brass or woodwind instrument here and they will bring it back to good working order.
  • BandWright Repair in Bellevue 425-270-7059
  • Oberloh Woodwind and Brass Works in Seattle 206-241-5767

Strings - Violins, Violas, Cellos, Double-Bass

  • Moore Brothers Music is a drop off point for the repair shop at Ted Brown Music in Tacoma. Drop off your string instrument here and they will bring it back to good working order.
  • We also recommend Hammond-Ashley in Issaquah for repairs to your string instrument.

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