Toronto Synth Repair Stats – 2022

Image of a Minimoog and dog lying under it

2022 was a big year for synthesizer repair in Toronto.

With 539 repair requests that came through the shop this year, we’ve serviced over 345 instruments since January – almost one per day. In spite of this, we still have over 150 instruments in the waitlist at any given time. In any given week, our four techs have their hands in over 15 instruments.

We’re not sure where you’re all storing these instruments, but we love that vintage (and newer) synths are alive and well in the Toronto music scene.

Expanding the team 

Trying to keep up with all these requests, we’ve expanded the shop. This past year, we went from a one-and-a-half man shop to five people strong.

With Jay heading up complex repairs and Darrell supporting more in-demand instruments like 106’s, we brought on Lori to create some policies and processes. If you’ve been a customer of the shop for a while, you’ve probably noticed a big difference between the way we used to do things, and the way we do them now. It’s all thanks to Lori.

Within three months of her coming on to run finance and operations, we were able to bring on our next hire, Sam, who has become our in-house expert on Rhodes and Wurlitzers. More recently, this fall we added Evan, who provides much needed modular and logic experience to complement the team. 

So what synths did Toronto need repaired this year?

Synth repair trends can be fun stats to dig out, and we thought you might be curious too. Here are some of the instruments we saw a lot of this year:

  • 35 Juno 106’s – including over 70 voice chips
  • 10 Minimoogs – including changing over 600 bushings
  • Notable mentions include: Juno 60, DX7, SP-12/1200, Polysix, Jupiter 6

Overall, we saw over 100+ Roland boards come through, with Korg and Yamaha strong runners up. 

Some notable repairs included a CS-80, having three Prophet 5’s in the shop at the same time, and a major restoration on a Polymoog (with another in the works).

What’s next for the shop

We’ve got more big plans for 2023. With two of our techs coming on full time, we’re expecting to see wait times reduce, be able to serve more instruments, and get through some longer projects and restorations.

On top of being a repair partner for Rossum Electro and Teenage Engineering, we’ve become a warranty partner for SOMA Synths and have another limited partnership in the works for the spring (details to come!).

We’re so grateful to everyone for supporting the shop and trusting us with your repairs. We’re looking forward to being able to help you even more next year – and if you have any repairs in mind, drop them in our list to reserve your spot.

Thanks – from everyone at the shop. 

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