Rates & Policies

Thanks for your interest in our company. We wanted to consolidate all pertinent info about our various services into one page, so this page is quite long. Please use the links below to navigate down to your service of interest.

Repair Rates & Policies
Sales & Consignment Policies
Rental Rates & Policies
Studio Rates & Policies
Web-store Info & Policies

 

Repair & Restoration Ship Rates & Policies

(Updated: 8/24)

Shop Rate: $150 per hour, one hour ($150) minimum bench fee per item. Some exceptions are made for certain very small jobs, such as battery changes in certain units. The bench charge is applied towards the final invoice. Time is billed in 15 minute increments.

Estimates: Many routine repair jobs can be completed in 1-3.5 hours or so. Less routine repairs can take longer. Restorations can take weeks of time. Due to the nature of vintage synthesizer repair, there is factually no way that we can know how much your bill will be (billed by the hour) until it’s finished. When you inquire about your project, we will send you a password protected webpage with the most common synthesizers we take in and their associated estimates. We are very careful about sticking to estimates and not surprising our customers with a huge bill.

Parts: Parts are not free. Parts are never included in our estimates unless it’s explicitly noted. Repair parts (this is different from accessories) provided by customer must be approved and arranged before hand and provided with unit on drop off. In the case of retrofits and the like, it’s of course fine to provide that with your unit. We stock over 2000 parts, rare and common, and price them fairly considering we are able to test them for their authenticity. Yes, some specific integrated circuits can be quite expensive. We assure you our $80 chip will work and that the $15 one on eBay is very likely to be a fake.

Communication: As of January 2021 all jobs must use email as the primary method of communication. This is *critical* for the simple reason that we cannot spend all day on the phone and we need the paper trail to make sure each process is documented and we (and you) have something to look back on. Emails are answered within a couple of business days of receipt.

Rush Fees: 
Note 1/24: We are not offering rush service until 5/24. The below rates should still be accurate at that time.

We are able to offer rush services on routine work that we assume will not involve days of troubleshooting. Our rush rate is $250 per hour plus a $500-2000 surcharge added to your bill and due upfront.

We also want to clarify that while yes, money does talk, we take little pride in the "pay-to-play" aspect of this business. Unfortunately, the ever growing demand for our services has forced our hand in implementing these policies.

3rd party billing is not an option for rush orders. The invoice must be paid on completion.

Turnaround Times:
We know this is one of the most important factors before choosing a shop to work on your gear. We are blessed to be entrusted by thousands locally and worldwide to provide top notch service, and with that has come great trial and error to solve the issue of turn around.

At this time, because we are very backed up, we have erased this section of the page as we are not currently accepting new jobs and anything that slips through that crack will certainly have it's own unique turn around circumstances discussed with the client

Warranty & Service Level:
No other shop on planet earth offers the generous warranties we provide.

Unless otherwise specified, we offer a lifetime warranty on all items we sell or service. A lifetime warranty is a not a blank-check type offering that entitles you bring in your instrument we serviced in any condition for a free fix.

What the warranty specifically covers is work related defects. A work related defect means one of the following:

  1. A problem with the work we performed. i.e, we made a new cable harness and one wire in the harness becomes faulty prematurely. In this case, we will replace the harness at no cost to you.
  2. An issue/defect we should have found. i.e we did not change a jumpy trim pot even though we didn't have an issue with it to begin with. In this case we will change said trim pot and recalibrate the function at no cost to you.

One challenging aspect to this warranty is that it is only valid with us as your service center. If we ship the unit to you and there are problems down the line, you must choose to either send it back to us as your cost (which we can help make enconical), accept the repair as something you will do yourself, or pay your tech to repair the unit in which we will supply the parts and information needed. We will under almost no circumstance pay your technician to repair a unit we sold under the guise of this warranty, especially without our express consent.

How to invalidate this warranty:
1. Have another technician work on the unit without our consent. This can be as basic as another tech installing a midi kit without our approval. Worse if you have another tech fix an issue with the unit without our input. We don't add a warranty seal, but believe me, we will know.
2. Expose the units to the elements or excessive smoke
3. Expose the unit to excessive travel (touring for example)
4. Be a jerk. Yes, we will refuse working with you if you are unpleasant to deal with.

We reserve the right to cancel any warranty for any reason we see fit

Real talk:
We truly are dedicated to you being happy with what you received from us and want your repeat business. 9 out of 10 times we will handle future issues with anything we sold or serviced regardless of the above info. The above info represents the "official" rules in case it ever matters.

Payments: We accept all forms of payment. Our preference is Paypal or Bank Wire. We do accept credit card, however in rare circumstances we may apply a 3.4% fee to your invoice in order to pay by CC.

Invoices must be paid on completion, not pickup. On pickup, you are of course welcome to try the gear and any issues would be treated as warranty fixes.

Pickup: Once you’re notified that your gear is finished, you should pick it up as soon as possible. Any equipment left over 2 weeks past completion will incur a $10 a day storage fee. If you don’t think you can pay right away or pick up right away, just let us know so we can adjust our schedule accordingly.

Scary words: It’s really easy to have a straightforward and pleasant experience having your gear repaired. While most of the above and below is standard info, some specific things were added probably because of one person who decided to be a pest. This is not a corporate entity where our customers and clients are only numbers. We are real people doing hard and good work, and deserve to be treated as if you’re dealing with real people. A positive experience is as easy as being a reasonable person.
 

Sales & Consignment Info & Policies

Updated 8/24

Rosen Sound is the premier option for purchasing high end vintage synthesizer gear. With that distinction comes very specific terms & conditions that are lend themselves to the reality of operating a niche business. While we wish we could be like a big box store that has the item you want new in the box ready to leave after transacting, the realities of vintage synth work & procurement necessitate a specific and often unorthodox mode of transacting.

Sales

Terms:

  • All sales are final unless otherwise agreed upon.
  • Once an item is sold and you requests modifications or upgrades beyond the scope of restoration, you are then entering into a separate transaction schedule and are especially expected to be patient and reasonable.
  • The sale may be cancelled at any time by Rosen Sound with you or your party receiving a refund within 30 business days of notice of sale cancellation.

Condition:

Unless otherwise stated, we categorize our gear according to the following terminology and descriptions in regards to the cosmetic condition exclusively (more about the inside later). Additionally, we may often assign a hyphen to gear such as Great-Mint depending on certain factors:

Mint: This means the gear appears to be visually near perfect. The reality here is that the gear we stock is of course very old, so there will surely always be something visual somewhere. It’s extremely rare to find truly new and mint gear. When we list something as mint, we assure you it exceeds the condition of other “mint” gear we’ve had come through our door. Mint gear will always command a premium in price.

Great: This means the gear is in overall great condition with minimal signs of wear in respects to its age. This is also circumstantial in consideration of how the gear was produced & otherwise made. There is usually no premium on great condition gear.

Good: This means the gear has signs of wear and use and travel. This is also circumstantial in consideration of how the gear was produced & otherwise made. An example is the fake wood cabinets on old Japanese synthesizers which chip easily. Good condition would imply there could be some visible chips or de-lamination of these sides.

Fair: This means the gear has moderate-heavy signs of wear, use, and travel or has been re-housed in a way we find… not amazing. The prices on fair gear will usually be lower than market value. We stress to you that our best deals are on fair condition gear as you are getting the same sound and functionality for less. You can not hear the aesthetic condition of gear on a recording, we promise.

Functional condition:

All gear we sell, unless expressly stated, is functionally free from defects and has been restored according to our experience with each model and what each model requires to function as well as possible. Some synthesizers are built in a way where they operate in a non-ideal way, and in many cases this is improved upon, and also in many cases it is left as it is. These circumstances are always stated to the buyer before money is exchanged. An example of this would be buttons on a Waldorf Wave are usually finicky and the textured overlay is impossible to dust off, both of which are left alone.

The restoration process 9/10 times will happen after the item is sold.

How & Why Do You Sell Gear & Then Fix It?

This is by far the most important thing to understand about buying synths from Rosen Sound.

90% of the gear we sell is what we call restored-to-order. We clearly state this in all of our sale listings and make an even bolder note if it’s ready-to-go as it’s less common.

How:

We can sell gear in a restored-to-order fashion because of our years of experience restoring customer gear & our access to almost every part needed for what we choose to sell in this manor located in-house. Before we offer gear for sale, we always do a preliminary check to make sure the gear is first of all complete and the revision we expect based on the serial number. If needed, we do a preliminary service to the PSU or other areas we see fail often and then do a functional test. Once we determine the gear can be totally restored using parts we have on hand or can easily obtain, we offer the gear on restored-to-order terms.

Remember, we are, to use one of my favorite analogies, the farm, the processing house, and the supermarket. Other dealers are usually only the supermarket and want to pay their processing house as little as possible to maximize their profit margin. Because our farming and processing fees (so to speak) are built in to our businesses, we are focused only on the quality of delivered product and can keep our pricing fair because simply put, we don’t have to pay a tech $150 an hour to restore it or cut corners to save money and regain margin.

Why:

The “why” for this mode of transacting is a few simple facts:

  1. Our repair queue is so long that slipping for-sale items through the line without any guarantee that the item will sell in a reasonable amount of time is not compatible with the cash flow needs of a business that supports many employees. It’s also unfair to repair customers who have been waiting.
  2. Once gear is restored & cleaned up, it does it no good to then sit on a shelf collecting dust.

Turn Around:
Sales turn around is treated like a rush-service from our repair shop. Once a bench is cleared from a restoration project, a sales item is then restored for delivery. We try to get to it ASAP but please know delays do happen and any turn around is just an estimate. However, we try our best to state these estimates accurately and we are usually gracious with things like loaners from our rental fleet if you need what you’re buying sooner for a session.

Pricing:
Generally speaking we offer synths at market value. Some synthesizers will have a “premium” added to the price in respects to getting it from us. These premiums were put together after many years of seeing customers buy “fully restored” gear from other sellers that were far from restored and costed them thousands to get them fixed. Therefor, we charge a premium in respects to the work we put in before delivery so that our customers can be assured they are receiving top shelf product.

You can expect to see a premium on synths like the Oberheim OB-X, FVS, TVS, & OB-Xa, Rhodes Chroma, ARP 2600’s, Yamaha CS-80, Moog Memorymoogs, and some others, surely.

Warranty:
Like our restorations, all of course sales items are warrantied against work related defects. We are always happy to help with anything we have sold to you. However, please understand there is a limit to what is covered under warranty and we reserve the right to change and cancel your warranty at any time and for any reason we see fit.

Some great ways to lose your warranty:

  • Have another tech work on your synth without our express consent
  • Keep your synth outdoors, exposed to the elements, or in a room that allows smoking
  • Keeping your synths on overnight especially without air conditioning

We do not warrant synths that are toured with but again, we are always happy to help.

We occasionally will not offer a warranty on certain synths, such as the Waldorf Wave, Voyetra 8, ARP Quadra, or other cumbersome synths that can be a bit haphazard

Our warranty is also not a blank-check for you to treat the synth however you want and expect us to fix it and it is also not a savings account that will make us refund your purchase if something fails in a few years.

Where Do These Synths Come From?

We often say we don’t find synths, they find us! And it’s true. Most of the gear we sell is gear that is offered to us by both local parties who are always hunting gear (which LA is famous for) and also by partners around the country and planet who can count on us to buy synthesizers that meet our criteria for purchases. We are also trusted by many artist to consign their collections with or without their name attached to it.

What we don’t do:

  • We do not import gear from Japan or the EU on a regular basis as many other sellers do. We will of course occasionally purchase gear that was originally sold in the US and then exported to Japan or the EU but we are not one of the many regular importers who are selling Japanese/EU spec’d gear in the US to make a buck off the exchange rates. Simply put our market share in the LA area is big enough to never really have to import gear.
  • We do not “flip” gear in that we buy something, test it, see its working, and then sell it immediately. Everything we sell is worked on before delivery. Pretty much the only time we will sell something without doing anything to it is if we already worked on it before and it’s in our inventory again for whatever reason.
  • We don’t take the sellers word for it. We will never tell you “oh the person who sold it to us said it was worked on by X” because the buck stops with us. This is why we have a turn around for almost everything we sell… to ensure everything we sell has been properly serviced and worthy of our lifetime warranty.

    Consignment:

    Our consignment terms generally differ from customer-customer and item to item. Some things to remember:

    • You should consider consigning through us because your gear will actually sell, not because we will give you the most money (though thats often true, too).
    • We pay our consignees by PayPal or Wire. Depending on the item, we may pay after the gear is delivered to the new owner.
    • Once something is consigned with us, we begin our preliminary checks to make sure it meets our criteria. Once we begin that process, there may be a small fee to re-obtain your gear if you choose to cancel the sale.
    • We do not want you cross posting the gear on various places.
    • We will not add your item to our list unless it is physically in our shop. We are not drop shippers.
    • We don’t care who worked on your synth and what they claim they did. If it’s not to our spec, we have to consider the work we have to do into our consignment rate.

Rental Rates & Policies

(Updated: 5/23)

Renting synths is one of the most exciting parts of our business. With that excitement comes numerous frequently asked questions you can find answers for below.

How much does it cost?
That depends on the synth! However, as a general set of guidelines:
Most synths that are valued less than $10k are between $1-150 per day
Most Expensive, usually polyphonic synthesizers are slightly less than $200 per day.
Most very expensive synthesizers (CS-80, OB Eight Voice, etc) are much more expensive per day due to their market value and in consideration the manpower required before, during and after your rental.

Do you offer multi day discounts?
Like all LA rental houses, we bill daily or weekly based on a four day week. So if you pay for 4 days, you can keep it for 7. Some ask if there is a discount if they actually only need it for 4 days, and the answer is no.
Similarly, if you pay for 3x 4 day weeks, you can keep the synth for one calendar month.

Note: In order to get the multi week discount, it must be discussed at the onset of the rental.

When does a day start, exactly?
Exactly? We don’t know. This is where reason comes in. If you call us at 4pm to book your rental same day, we will count that day as your first day. Similarly, if you book it for the following morning but really need a “setup day” the day before, and we can more or less verify that its actually a setup day and not a use day, the first “use” day is the morning you booked for and the setup day is given as a courtesy.

A little more specifically, we count a day of “use” as any day, after 12pm, that someone else couldn’t retrieve the same synthesizer for their own rental use. So say you picked up a drum machine Monday at 5pm and returned it Wednesday at 5 pm. That is a 3 day rental even if you technically only had it for 48 hours. In that same scenario, if you returned it wednesday before noon, it would be a 2 day rental.

Can anyone rent from you?
The short answer is yes. The long answer is that the first time you rent from us we will require that we deliver the rentals to you and we may also put a hold on your credit card for the value of the gear. There is a vetting process.

I'm not in LA.. Do you ship out rentals?
We consider ship-outs on a case by case basis. We will consider it if the session/event is backed by a major label or corporation for a major artist or film production. Please note that if your ship-out is approved, there is a 2-week minimum charge for each instrument, even if your need is only for half a day. We also require that the shipping be done through our cargo service. If that's not possible, UPS or FEDEX overnight is possible at your expense.

If you're not one of the above types of entities, you may consider saving substantial costs by just renting our studio. A roundtrip plane ticket, lodging, and studio time is probably cheaper.

Studio Rates, & Policies

(Updated: 1/24)

Our studio features a complete and carefully curated collection of the finest vintage synthesizer gear available. While the synths are the main draw, we can’t stress it enough that the studio is fully configured to professional standards.

How much is it per hour?
We do not rent the studio "by the hour". We rent the synth cabin by the full and half day.

How much is it per day?
Without engineer:
A full 8 hour day in the synth cabin is $800 and $150 per hour after.
A half day (4 hours) in the cabin is $450 and $150 per hour after.

We allow 30 minutes of setup time before your session at no cost. If you do not hire our engineer, this 30 minutes includes the rundown on how to operate the room.

The rate increases by $250 (half-day) or $500 (full-day) if you need an engineer. Our engineer also will help you program sounds.

An 8+ hour session must start before noon.

Elaborating the engineer pricing structure:
Without engineer: This means you are self sufficient and will not require someone to be in the room full time with you to hit the record button, or you're bringing your own engineer. We will still be available to you to help patch things, configure things, and help out in general.

With engineer/programmer: This means our engineer will be in the room with you full time helping you out with recording, patching, and helping you use and program the synthesizers. We can't stress enough that our engineers are very capable with sound design!

Our engineer’s are very talented, and you may be tempted to have them perform on your recordings. You will have to discuss a co-write situation with them which is handled external to our business and does not change the studio rates, even if they are now your collaborator.

Can I lock out the room for multiple days, weeks, or months? Does the price go down?
Yes to all. We would structure a deal with you depending on the length of time.

Can I bring all my friends?
We ask that you limit the amount of entourage, friends, significant others, barbers, etc for your session. Of course it’s fine if you have a few roll through, but the room just isn’t big enough for 15 people who aren’t doing anything. Please don’t have your haircut here.

Can I host my birthday party there?
At this time, we are not booking events in the studio.

Is the studio 420 friendly?
Yes! Our studio is 4/20 friendly. However, we have a total ban on ciggarettes and nicotine in general.

My sessions usually start at 1am, is that cool?
The short answer is no. The long answer is that if you’re willing to pay for it, we can host night-owl sessions.

Web Store Policies

The Rosen Sound web store is not your average place to buy parts for your synthesizers.

First, our webstore is geared towards professional technicians or synth owners who are buying parts for their tech to install. Some products come with limited instructions as they're meant to be installed by skilled and experienced technicians.

Most parts ship same or next day if it’s a standard stocked part. Any part or kit that requires assembly or part-gathering will likely not ship so fast. You will be contacted with the lead time if it’s more than a few days. If your order is urgent, please communicate that.

Return policy:
We do not accept returns unless the parts delivered were somehow defective. Even in those cases, our preference is to replace the defective part. If you are unhappy with this policy and choose to open a PayPal case or issue a CC chargeback, you will be banned from our web store and services for life.

If the event we do accept a return, a 25% restocking fee will be deducted.

I ordered a kit that is incompatible with my synthesizer. Can I return it?
This is handled on a case by case basis. If your kit required special configuration, it’s probably going to be a no. If you need component or two exchanged or further help with your specific situation, we’re happy to help at a reasonable cost. We’re here to help!

You may consider reselling your kit on reverb.com or eBay. If you’re a tech, you might consider holding onto it for a future job.

I’m not a tech… can I install your parts?
Our parts are generally meant to be installed by qualified technicians. You may find it difficult to install some of our kits unless you’re very well versed with electronics. We’re not responsible for any damage you may cause nor are we likely to help you if you don’t know much about electronics.

If you need a recommendation near you, email us.

If you’re the end user who “knows just enough to be dangerous” you may have luck installing our kits yourself. Please reach out if you have questions.

I never received my package. Can I have another for free or cheaper?
This policy has been added after a couple of people put in the wrong address and the packages were delivered but they never got their parts. Sorry, there’s just nothing we can do, especially if you for some reason want to blame it on us. You’re welcome to purchase another.

In some instances, a package will be returned to us by the courier. Unfortunately, this can often take some time. If this happens, we will of course re-send it to you wherever you might be. Just give us the right address this time!

Finally, our policy is that once it’s out of our doors, it’s no longer our responsibility. The buck stops with the courier.

Will you lie on customs forms for me or ship to x so I can avoid import fees?
No. Stop asking. If you don’t like your government’s import fees, you might consider moving or writing your local law makers.

I live in Canada/elsewhere and your shipping is expensive to ship to countries outside the US. Can you send it somehow slower and cheaper?
No. For two reasons… For one, that’s actually how much the shipping costs. Actually, sometimes we lose a bit on the shipping charges. For two, shipping it slower requires more effort and you’re probably going to complain about the shipping time anyway even though you asked for it. If you don’t want to pay for shipping to your country for synthesizers worth a lot of money, you can’t be helped.

Can I burden you with my companies invoice structure and get a specific quote to ship to xxx?
NO!! Please just add what you want to the cart and buy it!

I don't see the part I need listed... might you have it?
It's possible we have parts you're looking for that are not listed as stocked products on our webstore. Cotact us via our "contact us" page and check the "parts inquiries" box so that your message goes to the right place. As a rule of thumb, we do not have whatever odd ball board you might need for some random 90's digital keyboard. We also generally will not sell ASIC's used in vintage Roland and Yamaha synthesizers as we must keep these in stock for our restoration customers.

Who should I contact about my order?
Our web store is managed by the brilliant Stephi. She can be contacted via email addressed to stephi (at) rosensound.com