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.
Note: As of January 2022 we have raised our labor rate from $100 to $150 per hour, a 50% increase. If your project is here now or you have already booked in your project at the previous labor rate, we will of course honor our previous rate of $100 per hour. No action is required on your part.
This increase was decided upon for a number of reasons, including growing inflation and increases in the cost of doing business, including a growing workforce. We still believe we offer the best value for your money considering the quality of our work.

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.

(New rush rates 8/22)
Rush Fees: 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 surcharge added to your bill and due upfront.

The reason for the increase is that too many people are utilizing our rush service to skip the long line. The higher rate seeks to discourage it's use. We do not wish to reject good work but unfortunately if a higher rate does not do the trick, that is next.
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:
Note 2/23:
We are very much hoping that by mid 2023 our backlog will be much smaller and therefor our turnaround much shorter. We are being much more selective with work at the moment to reach that goal.

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. While “first come first serve” would be ideal in a perfect world, it surely doesn’t work for a repair shop with the clients we are so lucky to serve. We have separated our turn around categories into two distinct service levels

Queue Level:
We expect the majority of our current and future clientele utilize this level of service

This is the normal queue system we are now utilizing. Contact us about your repair so we can discuss pricing and availability. We will then send you a deposit invoice for you to pay to reserve your spot in our queue.

This level qualifies for rush rates. If your time-line needs are faster than we can currently accommodate, we can discuss an increased labor rate to help speed it along.

Pro Level:
This clientele level involves leaving a retaining deposit (often multiple thousands of dollars) for future repairs in order to receive the fastest service we can possibly provide (usually completed within days-weeks instead of months). We will then bill against your retainer, which should be refilled once low.

This level of service doesn’t actually cost any more than getting into queue, but the upfront cost is higher. These upfront costs provide security to our operations so that we can afford to stop an expensive restoration job to fix your synth that may only require a few hours to fix.  

We only allow a maximum of 5 pro level clients at any given time. Currently we are not accepting pro level clients.

Warranty & Service Level: No other shop on planet earth offers the generous warranties we provide.
We separate our warranties into 2 different categories. This category is noted on your invoice and described in detail below.

Restoration Level: We define a restoration as any project where we will not only repair present issues, but also preemptively handle all issues that will likely crop up in the future, within reason. In more detail, these jobs involve your synthesizer being completely disassembled and each area being carefully serviced for current and expected future faults. This includes recapping where appropriate, attention to keyboard action, cleaning or rebuilding controls, cosmetic touch ups and cleaning, updating to the latest factory firmwares, checking of all precision parts and replacement of hardware where needed. In other words, doing it our way.

This category qualifies for our lifetime warranty against work related defects. Work related defects mean any process that we were responsible for or “should have caught”. We can offer this type of warranty because we will perform a level of work that results in future works likely being minor in scope. This warranty is not transferable if you sell the synthesizer (unless we sell it for you).
Example #1: We determine your synthesizer requires many wiring harnesses to be replaced. 2 years later an issue crops up that stems from the harnesses we made. We will handle it at no cost.
Example #2: We restore your synthesizer and end up replacing many IC’s. 10 years later, one of the few IC’s we did not change dies. Troubleshooting is short and easy. We will likely change the failing components at no cost.
Example #3: We restore your synthesizer and end up replacing many IC’s. 10 years later, one of the few IC’s we did not change dies. Troubleshooting is complex and generally unrelated to any issues we handled a decade ago. We will likely charge nominally for the work.

Note: We do not include parts in our warranties however we usually will not bother to charge for most low-cost parts. If the part needed is in the hundreds of dollars, most likely a “rare part” so fabled in vintage gear, we require you to cover that cost.

 

Maintenance Level: We define a maintenance level job to be any job where the unit is brought in to have one or more issues repaired and nothing else. Perhaps your synthesizer was previously serviced with decent work done to it and now some issues have occurred.

This category qualifies for a 1 year warranty against work related defects specific to the issues we solved.
Example #1: You bring in your poly synth and one voice will not tune. We identify 2 issues causing one voice not to tune and fix both. 6 months later one of the chips we changed dies. We will change it again. 1 years later another fault happens with the same voice, you will have to pay for the labor.
Example #2: You bring in your new-to-you minimoog you just got online and the keyboard contacts are malfunctioning. The action has been rebuilt with crappy bushings but it feels okay and we can fix the bad contacts. 6 months later the same notes are bad again. We will fix again. 1 year later the same notes are bad again. This time we will suggest that you have us rebuild the action and contacts our way, however at an additional cost.
Example #3: You bring in your poly synth with voice 2 malfunctioning. We repair it. 6 months later, a different voice is malfunctioning in the same way voice 2 was. You must pay for additional labor. 1 year later, another voice goes out. Still have to pay because neither is the first issue you brought it in for.

We reserve the right to cancel any warranty for any reason we see fit, especially if you are keeping your synths exposed to the elements or in a room with heavy smoking action.

Payments: We accept all forms of payment. Our preference is Paypal, Venmo, 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.

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.

Note 2/2022: Space is starting to become a luxory again. If your gear is done, come get it. If you cant and maybe a friend can, have them get it please.

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.

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

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