Best Instrument Repair

Disclaimer — the last time I tried to learn a musical instrument was with a trombone in junior high school in the late 1960s.
Background info — I served in the military and am currently in the American Legion & Veterans of Foreign Wars, participating in funerals for military members who have passed on. A playing of Taps is a necessary and required part of these events, and most veterans groups use bugles or trumpets with powered inserts. I dislike the mechanical sound of these inserts and bought a used Yamaha trumpet YTR-​2320 to learn on & use for events.
I took it to Best Instrument for cleaning & tuning and worked with Ian, the brass instrument guy, Dick having retired last year after 42 years there. Ian can be a bit terse, likely because his workload is huge and he’s backlogged. Dick does come in to visit & help, on occasion. I didn’t give Ian any attitude, just let him know what I needed, and poured on the charm. When I got the trumpet back, it had been polished, valves cleaned and lubed, slides & waterkeys realigned, etc. Full overhaul & it looked & functions flawlessly. Yes, I am trying to learn to play. My lips may never forgive me.
Our Post has a bugle that looks terrible (copper wire and glue holding it together, dents, scrapes, damaged finish, the works, and because of the excellent service & work from Ian & Best, I took it there yesterday (Nov 30^th) and was greeted by Ian at the outside door. He was probably on his way to lunch, but he brought me down to his layout table and we discussed what needed to be done for about 15 minutes and I got an estimated pickup date of Jan 16^th. Yes, a month and a half, mostly due to the holiday season and his backlog. Dick was there and we chatted about riding with PGR, WWP, and folks we both knew.
I’ve read several reviews (Rachel M., Margaret E., Nannette F., I’m talking about you…) about how rude, etc. Ian is. He’s not. He’s honest and a bit abrupt. If he’s anything like me, he’s a bit of a perfectionist and has a mental checklist that he uses to evaluate every instrument he looks at and works on. I judge on results, nothing else. As long as the work he does is excellent, that’s what counts. I’m very happy with the results, so I’ll recommend Ian and Best Instrument as top-​notch.

Brass players, DON’T BOTHER. How I wish I’d listened to the other reviews before I wasted my time with Ian, the venerable Dick Akright’s successor. Ian was dismissive of me in all ways. Didn’t bother to greet me properly. His first words to me upon looking at my horn were «Needs professional cleaning.» No, I came in to get a flange re-​soldered and some dents ironed out, but that wasn’t his main concern, which then turned to criticizing my instrument for having a certain kind of old-​fashioned valve spring, and chiding me for «on purpose» denting the area around the thumb ring. It’s very obvious to me that this person doesn’t play an instrument – this kind of disrespect for my (beautiful and beloved) horn would never come from a musician. He then proposed keeping my horn for two months and charging me $ 150 for the work. By this time I was so weirded out by his behavior that I said, no thanks, packed it up and ran from the shop. I will never go back. The days of fine brass repair work in downtown Oakland are long gone, my friends. The story ends well – a bandmate recommended Joel Ryan at Allegro Music in Fremont. It was worth the trip. Joel cheerfully and competently repaired my horn in half an hour for $ 50.

Took my son here today to have some work done on his trumpet… the repair guy we spoke to was the rudest, most arrogant, condescending jerk I have run across! OMG, they should lock him in the back where a customer will never have contact with him! My son pointed out a dent on his trumpet which he wasn’t sure was fixable and explained he wanted some re– plating done in an area where it had been scraped off. His response was «It needs cleaning and it will be $ 140». I asked what it was for, not sure if he was referring to all the work since he hadn’t said the dent was repairable, hadn’t acknowledged the re-​plating issue… all he had said was it needed cleaning. «It’s for the work». All said with a very sour look on his face and a dismissive attitude. At that point I packed up the trumpet and told him his attitude sucked and I would not give him my business if he was the last repair shop on the planet! I should have checked Unilocal before I went as clearly there are numerous other reviews that reference this guy’s poor treatment of customers.

I’m so glad I found this place. I live in San Francisco and I used to take my horns into small specialty repair shops in the city and it was always a drag having to leave it there for weeks, whereas I have brought in many minor repairs here and had them done while I wait for typically around $ 20. I’m a multi-​reedplayer and I’ve got flutes, saxes, recorders and a bass clarinet. I’ve had repairs and small adjustments done on all of these and I’ve always been happy with the results and the very reasonable charges. Bob is friendly, competent, attentive and easy to work with, and he’s done most of my repairs.
A while back I dropped my Yamaha alto sax and dented the low C key and threw some other things out of whack. He got it playing again on the spot and said it would need more work, but I didn’t want to leave it, so he let me take it home with no charges and bring it back at a later date to pay for the full extent of necessary repairs (estimated at $ 50 – 75). More recently I decided to get all my woodwinds tuned up and I left a flute and sopranino sax there. Bob fixed them both up in about ten days, got them playing in tip top performance and charged me under $ 100 for both flute and sax combined. So now he’s going to work on my alto flute and alto sax, and when that’s done I’ll drop off my bass clarinet. I love that they have different specialty repair workers for different horns, they do the work in a reasonable amount of time or even on the spot if I’m in a rush and it’s a small job, and they are very fair indeed with the rates they charge. I couldn’t be happier…

While the shop and most of the employees are generally very professional and friendly, I also ran into the unhelpful brass repairman today. He told me that it would take over a month to repair an instrument, although he admitted it was a quick fix. Thank you to the reviewer who recommended Bronstein’s! Was fixed in one day!

One of the last remaining «old school» instrument repair shops around! They are usually really backed up with major repairs since most of the bay area schools use them for repairing their band instruments, but they’ve fit in some quick emergency repairs for me and I am so thankful! I think they usually can rent an instrument to you if the repair will take a few weeks.

Beware. The worst customer service ever!
Brass repair man was rude, arrogant, didn’t listen, reprimanded me, didn’t respond to questions, TERRIBLE PEOPLE SKILLS.
Unless you are a glutton for punishment, find somewhere else to get your horn fixed.
No one should be treated this shabbily.

I sent my Horn in for cleaning. Although I was quoted a reasonable price, I was not giving an expectation of how long it was going to take to get it back. Now it has been a month. I have called twice and asked when to expect it. the manager at the house of woodwinds was supposed to call me back and never has, the repair man at the shop was totally rude to me. I HAVE A CONCERT ON SUNDAY AND NO HORN! NOT A HAPPY CAMPER

Very happy to live nearby Best. I used to travel across the bay to get my horn repaired there. Quality work at a reasonable price. Wouldnt take my trumpet anywhere else.

I took two of my trombones in to the shop here (one with dents in the tuning slide, one that I want to use as a back up that needed the slide/​spit key fixed). I walked in on the recommendation of two of my professors, who raved about the great quality and speedy job. I walked down and one of the repair men came over to help me. He wasn’t very personable (and maybe it was just me but he was a little rude), looked at my horn with the tuning slide dents and said «That’s it?» then looked at the other horn. After taking a look he told me I would have to leave my horns there for a month (even the one with minor dents). Sorry, but I am in multiple ensembles which are a huge factor in my grades, and I play gigs with my band so that was out of the question. I asked about making an appointment for a time when they are less busy, but they don’t take appointments. I ended up leaving my back-​up horn there. After this exchange I called up Bronstein Music in SSF and they said they could take both horns. I went back to get my horn and brought both to South City. They fixed my dented horn in just a few hours for me to pick up the next day!
If you can wait a month to get your horns fixed, A & G is reasonably priced and convenient to get to if you live in the East Bay. If you’re looking for immediate work and great, friendly people, Bronstein’s is the way to go.

I want to like these guys, but I get attitude from them every time I come in. My instruments aren’t pretty enough for them? I’ve gotten work done by them and the work has been good enough. Maybe If I keep the conversation as short as possible? Drop off my instrument and run? I went a few blocks away to Best Instruments on Broadway and I got great service and great work done. Karl at Best Instruments on Broadway is the best! It’s a pleasure to work with him. I dunno maybe R & G has enough overflow to piss people off? Go figure.

Horrible! Do not ever take an instrument there to be repaired. I called to find out how much it would be to set up my upright bass, got a decent quote. Went down there and the guy kept raising the price. I told him to call me if it got over a certain amount, he didn’t call before. Only called when it was done with a ridiculous amount. Might be good if you’re a horn player, but if you play strings, avoid this crook.

I LOVE this place. What a gift and a treasure to muscians and students to have a resource like Best Instrument in the Bay Area.
They’re pleasant, fine craftsmen, and just visiting is an experience. Deadlines are met, prices are reasonable.
You might want to pretend there’s something wrong with your instrument, just to have an excuse to enter their doors.

I wish I could give it NO stars!!! Nothing about this place deserves your buisness! They are extremely rude and unhelpful. Some of the most useless human beings I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting in my entire life. Never EVER go there. They are rude, useless, and just all around terrible people. When I showed the guy my insturment, the IDIOT tried to push on the hole in my cello to fix it. Nice try IF YOU WANT TO BRAKE IT SOME MORE MISTER! Oh and also, Sir, next time I call on the phone, DONT tell me you fix Cellos just so that I can waste my life driving 2 hours to your terrible shop to tell me OTHERWISE!!!
Like I said, TAKE YOUR BUISNESS ELSE WHERE… I dont want you to have to suffer through what I did.
They dont deserve any of your buisness.
I hope my review was helpful. :)
Have a nice day

Let me take time from my busy schedule as a computer engineer and musician to just say that Dick and Best have been a haven for me and my Band over the years.
As a long-​time tubist for the SF Lesbian/​Gay Freedom Band (I joined the Band in 1987), I am so impressed with the value and great work that we all have had from the company from even my early days looking for a horn to my most recent bent-​valve fix.
It’s not often you find a place that delivers such consistent quality without spending much time in tooting their own horn (puns just HAVE to be intended here lol). Best has been our mainstay for repairs great and small, and the wizards there definitely keep the essential old-​school knowledge alive. Only speaking for the work just in our Tuba section, I have had so many times when I needed something done and it’s happened right there while I waited. Often free, always fairly-​priced. Even if it takes a day or two or even a week (usually involving parts not on hand), I’m always pleased with the results and the ‘Best’ prices. :) Trust me, I have heard horror stories from elsewhere, and we are very lucky to have this level of customer commitment and excellence available to us here in the Bay Area.
They have always been willing and able to work with me to find a solution we were happy with, whether it’s trying to reconstruct an old dented banger horn or some delicate work on a nearly new one. I’ve often sent colleagues this way looking for their answers too, and I’ve always heard positive comments coming back.
When you just can’t envision how it might possibly be able to be accomplished, Best will come through for you. I hope they continue to keep this quality of service going, and we’ll be with them for as long as they do. Appraisals, repairs, cases, horns new and used — it’s an amazing place, and as has been said before, fun to visit as well, if like me you enjoy a look into how those metal tubes and valves and things get turned into the magic of music.
Kudos to Best, and may you have many more successful years. I look forward to being here to enjoy them with you backing me up.

We were told to go to Dick… and it looks like we would have loved him. Unfortunately he’s not around right now.
Took in son’s trombone for cleaning and a couple of dings. Dropped off and had a perfectly pleasant experience-​chatted with the guy, all was good.
Picking up was different. I’m sure the work is wonderful — time will tell — but I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t be based on word of mouth from music teachers, musicians, etc. However, when we picked up and son was questioning some of the differences he felt in the t-​bone now, he was looked at as though he had two heads. They made us feel unbelievably uncomfortable for asking the questions about why the slide might be playing in a different position, etc… or it didn’t latch like it used to. The guy who repaired it wasn’t around right then so no one could really imagine why it was happening. When the repair guy did finally come up to the front, he grabbed the slide from my son and said «you just have to squeeze it to close it.» Uh, okay… then he explained that he had replaced cork which was part of the servicing. Oh, well perhaps someone could have taken us through those things… I may not even have been perturbed by this except that we had serviced my daughter’s flute the previous week at that «other» music repair place a few blocks away and the man kindly went through every detail of what he had done and what to expect BEFORE my daughter started playing it.
Sorry…but they just felt very full of themselves and I don’t need the ‘tude.

Dick Akright and the people who work with him in this repiar shop are the best. They do fantastic work. They’re on time and have reasonable prices.
Mr. Akright repaired my trumpet piston when I had accidentally dropped it and bent it. Perfect repair.
He also designed and installed a 3^rd slide trigger on my flugelhorn that works fantastic. He did an amazing job. This place is the best.

Best Instrument Repair fixed my trombone slide for a great price ($ 55 for a «slide job»), and now it works just like new. Evan repaired my horn, but I also got a chance to talk with Dick, which is an experience in itself.
Union Music Company in San Francisco sends all of their brass repairs here, but I visited the shop to discuss my repair concerns. It is just a few blocks away from the 12^th St. BART station in Oakland.

Dick is the bomb.
They should stay open later than 5:30 — but theyre open Saturday, too.

Great musical instrument repair at fair prices. They also have a great stock of well set-​up double basses at really good prices.
They have amazing old-​style customer service.
Not to be confused with Best Music on Broadway.