Randy Graves and Peter Heit-hoff were both working at Central Oregon Music and needed more space to repair all of the musical instruments that were coming in.

Three years ago, they moved into a shop on Greenwood Avenue.

They eventually split from Central Oregon Music and started Bend Instrument Repair.

The pair specialize in fixing woodwind, brass and string instruments.

Focusing on servicing, rather than selling, instruments has helped the pair carve a niche in Bend.

Graves and Heithoff estimate that sales have grown about 20 percent each year.

What kinds of services does your shop offer?

Randy: We do repair of all the musical instruments, I do the woodwind and brass instruments and Peter does all the guitar and string instruments and we pretty much do whatever needs to be done. Everything from minor servicing to major restorations.

Peter: Basically, percussion and keyboard work is the only thing we don’t handle. We do subcontract a couple of things. But, otherwise, the two of us handle almost everything else.

How did you learn to repair instruments?

Randy: Well, I started at a big music store in Salem, out of college, back in 1987. They had a huge band and orchestra department and a major portion of my job was taking rentals out to the schools. I had good mechanical skills and an interest in doing it. Ended up, just a little at a time, picking up all of these skills and talking to the other repair guys in town.

Eventually I developed considerable skills and about seven years later started my own shop.

Peter: I started getting into some musical instrument repair classes at a community college right out of high school in Southern California, got a fair amount of experience. Then I started working for music stores and then worked for some guitar shops, started making instruments. I moved to Colorado and did the same thing, hooked up with a couple of banjo builders, guitar builders making instruments. Then about nine years ago Breedlove guitars in Tumalo was looking for a guy that does the final adjustments. I came out for an interview, got the job and moved out here. Worked with them for about four years. I was always just falling back between making instruments for somebody and repairing them.

Do you have much competition here?

Peter: We’re at a point now where we don’t have a lot of competition, we started at the right time. As far as strings, some of the other music stores do some minor repairs … but there is no official shop that someone can walk in, over the counter and start discussing and instrument with.

Randy: With the band instrument stuff, it’s pretty unusual in this community to have two or three guys that do this. There is another guy in town whose been here for years and years and does it out of his home. He takes in horns for Mountain View Music. It is unusually to have two guys that do good work and then there is a third fella who does repairs and sales out at Central Oregon Music … and he has considerable repair skills. So in this small little area there are three guys, so my competition is a little stiffer.

How many instruments do you fix in a month or a year?

Randy: Probably between 600 and 700 horns a year. But it is pretty seasonal so sometimes its really slow and other times it’s crazy.

Peter: In general, I think there is a lot of little things to do on guitars, but easily anywhere from 40 to 60 instruments a month.

What is the most unusual instrument someone has brought to you?

Randy: Other than an accordion?

Peter: We’ve gotten a lot of nicer, older instruments that they ask if they can be fixed and restored. We get things that are smashed and falling apart that they ask if we can put back together. It’s not unusual to get an instrument that is 100 years old, a guitar or a violin.

What is the price range to get an instrument fixed?

Randy: It’s a huge range. Simple things across the counter we might not even charge for. If we are talking full services most of the jobs are between $75 and $150.

Peter: For the guitars it is probably $20 to $60 for most adjustments and then full restorations can be a couple hundred bucks up to $600.

How do people find out about you?

Randy: Most of the band kids they talk to a band director, they will look in the phone book and a lot will go to the music stores out of default.

Peter: In general musicians talk a lot with each other. It is like a trusted car mechanic that you tell others about.

It sounds like repairs are the majority of your business, but you do have some instruments for sale. What percent of the business is instrument sales?

Randy: Pretty small, most are consignments. Ten percent maybe. If that.

Peter: In general the stuff we stock here is stuff that you repair or improve an instrument with. We don’t try to stock accessories that are in the music stores. It is a really tough business and the mail order has made it really difficult for the music stores. So we don’t try to compete.

Does the Internet play any role in your business?

Peter: It is huge as far as appraisals that we aren’t really familiar with. Before you had to buy a blue book and make a lot of calls to try to find out about an instrument. Now we have high-speed Internet and we will just spend time with someone right when they come in and check and see what they are selling for. It is just good to know what professional consigners are selling for. We use it for ordering things and when you run into something that you don’t know how to do, you get on the Internet and you can always find someone that says, this is how you do this. It’s amazing how much it helps.

How have your sales grown over the years?

Randy: We’ve grown each year. The first year was the toughest. We opened right after the band season had ended and 9/11 had just happened.

Peter: Usually about 20 percent growth a year easily.

Kristy Hessman can be reached at 541-383-0350 or at khessman@bendbulletin.com.