Job Profile:      Accordion Repairer


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

49-9063
Job Information
   
   
31,050 39,270 62,770

Select Tasks
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. Repair or replace musical instrument parts and components, such as strings, bridges, felts, and keys, using hand and power tools. Polish instruments, using rags and polishing compounds, buffing wheels, or burnishing tools.
Shape old parts and replacement parts to improve tone or intonation, using hand tools, lathes, or soldering irons. Make wood replacement parts, using woodworking machines and hand tools. Mix and measure glue that will be used for instrument repair.
Align pads and keys on reed or wind instruments. Adjust felt hammers on pianos to increase tonal mellowness or brilliance, using sanding paddles, lacquer, or needles. Solder posts and parts to hold them in their proper places.
Remove dents and burrs from metal instruments, using mallets and burnishing tools. Wash metal instruments in lacquer-stripping and cyanide solutions to remove lacquer and tarnish. Test tubes and pickups in electronic amplifier units, and solder parts and connections as necessary.
Refinish instruments to protect and decorate them, using hand tools, buffing tools, and varnish. Deliver pianos to purchasers or to locations of their use. Cut out sections around cracks on percussion instruments to prevent cracks from advancing, using shears or grinding wheels.
Refinish and polish piano cabinets or cases to prepare them for sale. Solder or weld frames of mallet instruments and metal drum parts. Remove drumheads by removing tension rods with drum keys and cutting tools.
Assemble bars onto percussion instruments. Remove irregularities from tuning pins, strings, and hammers of pianos, using wood blocks or filing tools. Repair breaks in percussion instruments, such as drums and cymbals, using drill presses, power saws, glue, clamps, grinding wheels, or other hand tools.
Clean, sand, and paint parts of percussion instruments to maintain their condition. Replace xylophone bars and wheels. Strike wood, fiberglass, or metal bars of instruments, and use tuned blocks, stroboscopes, or electronic tuners to evaluate tones made by instruments.
Place rim hoops back onto drum shells to allow new drumheads to dry and become taut. Assemble and install new pipe organs and pianos in buildings. Cut new drumheads from animal skins, using scissors, and soak drumheads in water to make them pliable.
Stretch drumheads over rim hoops and tuck them around and under the hoops, using hand tucking tools. Remove material from bars of percussion instruments to obtain specified tones, using bandsaws, sanding machines, machine grinders, or hand files and scrapers. File metal reeds until their pitches correspond with standard tuning bar pitches.





Select Abilities
The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity). The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem. The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense. The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events). The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways. The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem. The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures. The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns. The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object. The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you. The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted. The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources). The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects. The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects. The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion. The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part. The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears. The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists. The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects. The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object. The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without 'giving out' or fatiguing. The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath. The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs. The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion. The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer). The ability to see details at a distance. The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
The ability to see under low light conditions. The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead. The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
The ability to see objects in the presence of glare or bright lighting. The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness. The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated. The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person. The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.




Tools Used
Adjustable C clamps Adjustable fret slotting saws Agraffe removers
Air dusting guns Air hoses Alcohol lamps
Alignment jigs Allen wrenches Alligator forceps
Arbors Arch punches Automated sprayers
Ball-end hex keys Band clamps Barrel reamers
Belt sanders Bench anvils Bench blocks
Bench brushes Bench grinders Bench lathes
Bench motors Bench oilers Bending irons
Blow torches Blowpipes Bore cleaning brushes
Bore tools Bracket hex wrenches Brass mouthpiece brushes
Bridge pin hole slotting saws Broaches Buffing machines
Bunsen burners Burnishing rings Bushing inserters
Butane heaters Butt plate inserters Calipers
Cam clamps Capstan regulators Capstan screw wrenches
Center pin punches Chain nose pliers Chamfer tools
Chemical dip tanks Clarinet pad leveling tools Coil makers
Cold chisels Countersinks Cross lock tweezers
Cross-cut saws Curved nose forceps Curved nose pliers
Curved nose scissors Damper regulators Damper rod hooks
Damper spoon benders Deep throat C clamps Dent hammers
Dent machines Diagonal cutters Dial calipers
Die stocks Digital humidity gauges Digital tuners
Disc sanders Dollies Drill gauges
Drill presses Duck bill pliers Edging clamps
Electronic tuners End cut nippers Endpin jack wrenches
Feeler gauge holders Feeler gauges Felt cutters
Felt cutting knives File cleaners Fingerboard band clamps
Fingerboard levelers Flange bushing reamers Flange screwdrivers
Flat nose pliers Fluorescent lamps Flute body mandrels
Flute gauges Flute head mandrels Flute key leveling tools
Flute pad irons Fret dressing sticks Fret end dressing files
Fret files Fret rockers Fret slot depth gauges
Gauged saws Glue brushes Glue guns
Glue pots Gram tension gauges Gram weights
Grand piano jacks Grand screwdrivers Gripper truss rod wrenches
Guitar humidifiers Hacksaws Hammer angle gauges
Hammer angle protractors Hammer butt spacers Hammer head borers
Hammer head reamers Hammer shank reducers Hammers
Hand burnishers Hand drills Hand planers
Hand planes Hand sprayers Hart spring tools
Heat control units Heat guns Heat staking tools
Height measurement gauges Hex drivers Incandescent lamps
Inspection mirrors Jack screw regulators Jack spring hole reamers
Japanese fret saws Jaw pliers Key bushing tighteners
Key button jigs Key dip blocks Key easing tools
Leak lights Long flat nose pliers Looping machines
Lost motion regulators Loupes Mag machines
Magnetic scribers Magnetizers Magnifiers
Mallets Micrometers Multimeters
Music wire gauges Neck jigs Neck relief gauges
Needle files Nut drivers Nut files
Nut slotting gauges Oilers Output jack wrenches
Pad cup heaters Pearl cutting saws Pencil magnets
Pencil torches Piano key spacers Piano leveling devices
Piano regulators Piano stringing hooks Piano tuning pin cranks
Piano tuning pin extractors Piano tuning pin punches Pin hole reamers
Pin vises Pocket truss rod wrenches Pointed awls
Portable band saws Post drilling jigs Power buffers
Power drills Power sanders Precision oilers
Precision spray guns Punches Punching lifters
Purfling cutters Radius gauges Rat tail files
Razor files Refret saws Regulating gauges
Regulating screwdrivers Rip saws Routers
Rulers Saddle locating jigs Sand blasters
Scissor jacks Scraper burnishers Screw extractors
Screw gauges Screw pitch thread gauges Screw slotters
Screwdrivers Seam separation knives Sharp leveling and key-dip devices
Slotted screwdrivers Socket reamers Soldering clamps
Soldering clips Soldering irons Soldering jigs
Soundhole clamps Spark lighters Spool clamps
Sprayer compressors Spring cutters Spring punches
String action gauges String height gauges String hooks
String lifters String spacing rules Surface thermometers
Tap wrenches Telescoping gauges Telescoping magnetic pickup tools
Tenon expanders Thread cutting tools Tinners snips
Tone hole cutters Top deflection gauges Torque wrenches
Torx drivers Tubing shrinkers Tuning forks
Tuning hammers Tuning levers Tuning pin bushing punches
Tuning pin gauges Tuning pin setters Tuning pins
Tuning wrenches Tweezers Understring radius gauges
Valve brushes Valve lapping machines Valve mirrors
Violin clamps Vise grip pliers Wax spoons
Wire cutters Wire drill gauges Wood chisels

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