I would disagree--there's still PLENTY of places to get work done at a good rate (in the US at least). You just have to be shrewd about who you send what, kind of like car repair. +1 for Greg M., who does great work, but has a limited range of gear he works on, but what he does work on, he KNOWS. I haven't used him, but Chris Hewitt @ Thisoldsynth seems to do good work on most stuff. Steve (and his new partner) @ Midwest Musich Repair (now part of A Sound Education) in Chicago also does great work, but he won't work on most older Yamahas, and other more esoteric gear. Chicago synth service, on the other hand, is also relatively new and somewhat pricey, but great for ancient Yamahas, and more full-on restoration/mod type stuff. Analogics in NE Ohio has been around for a long time and is very knowledgeable, although can be prone to long delays. Tim @ RetroLinear is also a great option for more Philly-local and straight-forward work, but he is still relatively new, so you might not want to bring him the wacky modular your uncle made in the '70s. Lastly, JL up in Canada is also a major tech, but then you're dealing with primo shipping. I'm sure there's a million more local area guys that people know and trust, but the above are all well-represented on the web.Bitexion wrote:It's a shame that the synth tech business seems to be completely in shambles.
The things that "taint" the repair scene are old repair services like Wine Country/Three Wave that have become part of the repair lexicon based on being THE place to go in the past, but these days don't really offer either reasonable rates, or very decent service anymore. They have been long surpassed by other independent techs.
Then lastly, there is the mom and pop amp repair/home stereo repair guys, which should almost always be avoided. These guys can probably read a schematic and replace a battery and a cap or two, but any technical, detailed work is not worth wasting the time (and it will be long) and money on. And it probably won't be done well.
Buying into vintage gear doesn't require "accepting analog flaws", or pricey repair bills. You just have to be willing to go the extra mile to make sure your beast is taken care of by a pro, and that's almost always going to involve shipping somewhere else. Shipping/packing, you can control, unrelaible techs you can't.
p.s. this should really be put in the tech repair/service thread!