Music equipment repair software

ServiceCenterSoft is job-tracking software for amp techs and music equipment repair shops. Synthesizers and digital pianos, guitar and bass combos — tube and solid-state — mixing desks, effects pedals, wireless mic and in-ear systems. Due dates the whole bench can see, estimates accepted before work starts, parts with reorder levels. It runs in the browser, on the shop PC and on your phone.

Who it is for

A music repair bench serves several kinds of customer at once. The gigging guitarist whose combo went silent on Wednesday and who plays on Saturday. The keyboard player with a dead key in the middle of the set list. The music school that drops off a dozen digital pianos at the end of term. The backline rental company with a flight case of wireless packs after festival season. The music store passing on returns. And the collector with a vintage analogue synth.

Where it usually goes wrong:

• “ready by Saturday” lived in a text thread, not on the job — and someone remembered on Friday night;
• the synth needed a power supply and a ribbon cable on top of the keybed, and the customer found out at pickup;
• the matched pair of power tubes you counted on is not on the shelf, so the next amp waits a week;
• the school’s bursar asks what they owe for the whole summer, and putting it together takes an afternoon;
• at pickup: “there was a power supply”, “it came with two antennas”, “I definitely left the sustain pedal”;
• a finished combo has been sitting on your shelf for three months while its owner is on tour.

Check-in: the fault in the player’s words, and everything that came with it

Write the fault the way the musician describes it: “low A sticks, plays loud when hit hard”, “gain pot crackles”, “hums with the effects loop engaged”, “wireless drops out past five metres”. It tells the tech where to start, and a year later advanced search in “text” mode will find it again.

Music gear rarely arrives alone. A synth comes in a gig bag with a power supply and pedal. A wireless system is a transmitter, a receiver, a handheld or bodypack, antennas and a cable. A tube combo comes with its footswitch and tubes that are easy to put back in the wrong sockets. The accessories field is filled in with the customer present and printed on the job sheet they sign: “soft case, 12 V PSU, sustain pedal, two-button footswitch — no cable”. The condition field covers scratches, cracked knobs, missing caps, beer on the faders.

Model and serial number are separate fields, and both are searchable. A rental company with ten identical transmitters can tell which one is back, and a repeat repair turns up in seconds.

Due dates that do not move

For a musician the repair is tied to a gig, a session or a tour. Every job has a promised date: once it passes, the row turns red and the “overdue” filter gathers those jobs in one list. “Urgent” is visible at a glance, and the tile above the list shows how many urgent jobs there are right now. If you move a date, the change stays in the job history.

Statuses are a list you control. Add your own with their own colour — “Soak test” for a combo that plays for an hour before it goes back, or “Waiting for player to try it” — and the answer to “where’s my amp?” is right there in the job list.

Vintage and high-value gear: estimate first, soldering iron second

An old analogue synth, a seventies tube amp, a stage piano — rarely just one part: keybed contacts, a power supply rebuild, oscillator calibration, a retube and bias. The owner should see the total before you start, not after.

So: diagnose, write the findings in the work log, and build the estimate line by line — from your labour list or from stock — with quantity and price. A button on the job sends it by email or Telegram. The customer opens the link, sees each line and the total, and presses “I agree” or “I decline”. The answer and the date land in the job history. Find something else once it is open? Add a line and send it again — no surprises at pickup.

If the owner decides it is not worth it, “repair refused” closes the job; if it cannot be saved, “beyond repair”. If you charge for diagnosis, set a diagnostics price for that device type and it sits on the job from day one.

Tubes, pots, jacks and key contacts in stock

An amp repair shop runs on a familiar set of parts: preamp and power tubes, pots in common values, jack and XLR sockets, keyboard contact strips and boards, mixer faders, footswitches, DC sockets. Stock is a movement log: goods in with cost price and supplier, used on a job as an estimate line, returned, adjusted at stock-take. A part picked from stock on an estimate reduces the balance automatically, and its cost shows in the reports.

Each item can have a minimum level, and the “running low” tile tells you to reorder before three combos are queued up waiting for tubes. Quantities are whole numbers, so a matched pair or quad of power tubes works best as its own item. A part for one specific instrument is ordered from the job: the parts request is emailed to the supplier, and the job sits in “waiting for parts”. More on spare parts tracking.

Schools, backline rental, music stores

Customers have a “Company” field: a school, a rental company or a store is one customer, however many different people drop off its gear. The customer record shows every job, the total and the balance owed across unpaid jobs, so answering the bursar takes a minute. Twelve identical digital pianos? Fill in the first job completely, copy it for the rest and type in each serial number.

A job can take several payments — a deposit for tubes at drop-off, the rest at pickup or by bank transfer later. The software shows what is still owed, and the “unpaid” filter gathers jobs handed over but not paid. A transmitter back after your repair gets the “Repeat repair” type, and its serial number brings up the earlier job. The “Recommendations” field is for advice: “don’t leave the combo in a cold van overnight”, “fresh batteries in the bodypack before every show”. It prints on the completion report together with the estimate lines, the work log and the amount due. More on the completion report.

Ready — and the owner is on tour

When the job is done the customer gets an email or a Telegram message (they subscribe with a QR code on the job sheet). Every finished item shows how many days it has been waiting, and once the free storage period from your settings runs out, the counter turns red. More on customer notifications.

What you may do with gear that is never collected depends on your country and on what was agreed at check-in. Put your storage terms on the job sheet, and check the details with a lawyer.

If you also repair home audio — hi-fi amps, receivers, speakers — there is a separate page on audio repair software.

What repairs typically cost

As a rough guide only — prices vary with region, the instrument and the parts: bench fee or diagnosis €30–70, replacing a pot or jack €30–90, keybed repair on a digital piano or synth €80–250, tube combo service with retube and bias €80–250 plus tubes, effects pedal repair €30–120, mixer channel repair or new faders €60–200, wireless system repair €50–180, vintage synth restoration from €300 to €1,500 and more. You set your own prices: per device type and as estimate lines.

What it does not do

• photos, audio clips or file attachments on jobs — keep check-in pictures on your own drive;
• SMS, a mobile app, online payment by the customer;
• supplier integrations or barcodes;
• a loaner pool — lending an instrument during the repair can only be noted on the job.

What it costs

One price for the whole shop — no extra charge for staff or branches.

Off-the-shelf not enough — your own forms, roles, reports or workflow? We will build a program for you. How it works

Try it without signing up in the demo: check in a synth with its case and power supply, set a due date and send the estimate to the customer.

In short

• The fault in the player’s words and every accessory on a job sheet the customer signs.
• Due dates, “urgent” and red overdue jobs — nobody misses the gig because of a forgotten amp.
• An itemised estimate the customer accepts by link before work on expensive gear.
• Tubes, pots, jacks and key contacts in stock with minimum levels.
• Schools, rental companies and stores: company field, copied jobs, balances, deposits, completion report.
• A “days waiting” counter and a storage period.
• €20 a month for the whole shop.