Recs for TX based restoration shops

[popvulture]

Hello!

First of all, I'm new here — thanks for having me. This seems like the place to post this topic, but if it's not, please let me know!

I live in Austin and have a Mk1 73 Stage that I've had for over 20 years. It's in need of a tune up, if not a total restoration. There's a synth shop here in town that takes Rhodes to a repair person in Louisiana — I've always been impressed with the feel/action of the pianos they've serviced, but the shop is not at all transparent about how much it's going to cost (this applies to their synth repairs as well). You just drop it off, and when it's ready, you pay what they say. As I'm sure anyone would think, that's not a great system, so I'm looking for recommendations for a situation where I might get... a diagnosis of what's going on and what it'd cost to get it sorted.

Anyone have suggestions for an experienced Rhodes tech in Texas, or better yet, here in Austin? I'd greatly appreciate any stories, experiences, and insight y'all have. Thanks a ton!

[jimmymio]

I couldn't imagine giving a stranger a blank check to adjust your KB. However, I will say from experience that... by this day and age, these pianos are getting old and you never know what you are going to run into until you actually start doing the work. For instance, I can only give a very rough estimate of how many tines are bad, (and they can sound bad without being broken) until I actually start doing the work. And we know how expensive tines are.

I would think there should be some middle ground where they could spend 15 or 20 minutes poking around and be able to give you a range of possible scenarios and costs. If you decline to have them service it for you, of course you should expect to compensate them, and probably the person who transported it, for their time.

Obviously it would be preferable if you could find someone local but obviously you wouldn't want that to be your main factor in selecting someone. Good luck.

[popvulture]

What you're describing is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for — I realize they have to get in there and make an assessment, and I'd just like to get a call with even just a rough diagnosis / estimate before starting.

I don't mean to talk trash about the synth shop — they do good work, but the policies are weird. I once brought a Roland Juno in there and was like "hey, I need a three prong chord installed, and while you're at it maybe just have a look and see if there's anything it needs." About a month later they called me saying it was ready and the total came to around $300. They'd replaced chips etc, which granted it needed, but I wasn't exactly flush with cash at the time and would've really appreciated the heads up. I've asked them with subsequent jobs to just charge me a bench fee and call me with an estimate, and they've said no. Shrug.