In some parts of the country, it’s impossible to find a local repair shop with experience working on vintage synths. If you live in one of these “synth tech deserts,” you may be able to ship your synth to Bell Tone Synth Works for service!  We receive shipped synths from all over the country via UPS.

Important: Restrictions and requirements

Shipping synths is risky, however, and unpacking, packing and coordinating pick-ups and drop-offs can be time consuming for us, so to mitigate these factors for both us and you we have some restrictions and requirements for what we will accept and how.

• We accept shipped synths from within the US only.
• All shipped keyboard synths MUST be shipped in a road case or hardshell case. This case can NOT have crumbling foam inside. You can’t imagine the kind of damage to synths we’ve seen when they were shipped in boxes. You may think your Juno 106 is very well secured and padded in its box, but what if an OB-X in a road case falls off a shelf in the truck and hits corner-first right in the middle of it? Rack units and a few very small synths like the SH-101 can be shipped in boxes.
• We have a $500 labor minimum on all shipped work.
• We insure all return shipments for the full value of the instrument through UPS or via UPS Capital if the value is over $1000. This amount will be included in your invoice.
• You must ship via UPS unless your instrument is small enough to go by USPS Priority Mail. Our building has many shops in it but the UPS drivers know us and where we are in the building and how to reach us. We’ve had FedEx drivers literally leave synths leaning against the outside of our building at 8 PM and leave them in the doorways of other shops in our building. USPS will be way too expensive for anything larger than an SH-101.
• THERE ARE CERTAIN MODELS OF SYNTHS THAT WE DO NOT ACCEPT THROUGH SHIPPING because the way they are constructed internally simply makes them too susceptible to being damaged or disrupted just by jostling, shaking and being turned over. Inquire about your synth and we’ll let you know if we can take it!

If all of the above is OK with you and you’d like to send your synth to us for service, please get in touch with us via email! If you’re wondering whether the shipping cost will be prohibitive, here are some rough estimates for the typical costs of shipping different types of synths based on our past experiences. The costs of ground shipping with UPS are based on the distance of travel and the dimensions of the item, not the weight.

The following shipping rates are approximations and the actual cost may end up being different depending on your location and item’s size. Insurance costs are usually about 0.5% of the instrument’s value.

To California, Oregon, Washington: ~$100-150 each way

To New England or New York City: ~$70-100 each way

To Florida or Georgia: ~$70-100 each way

To the Midwest: ~$90-120 each way

To California, Oregon, Washington: ~$140-180 each way

To New England or New York City: ~$100-140 each way

To Florida or Georgia: ~$100-150 each way

To the Midwest: ~$100-150 each way

To California, Oregon, Washington: ~$60-80 each way

To New England or New York City: ~$30-50 each way

To Florida or Georgia: ~$40-60 each way

To the Midwest: ~$40-70 each way

Smaller units such as SH-101s can usually be sent via USPS to and from anywhere in the country for less than $20 in each direction.