Oʻahu's North Shore · Serving all of Hawaiʻi

Professional flute
and clarinet repair

Because the instrument should never be the limitation.

Muramatsu and Straubinger certified. Nearly twenty years specializing in flute and clarinet repair. Based on Oʻahu, serving musicians throughout Hawaiʻi.

Currently accepting new repair work.

Close detail of a gold flute — keys, posts and tone holes.
Muramatsu Factory certified
Straubinger Certified
Trained Under Paul Rabinov, Joel Straubinger, and Gary Hara
All of Hawaiʻi In person on Oʻahu, mail-in from any island

Two kinds
of work

Most shops call these a COA and an overhaul. I call them Harmonic Alignment and Harmonic Restoration, because what happens at the bench doesn't stop where those words do. Both are available anywhere in Hawaiʻi.

Harmonic Alignment

Clean · Oil · Adjust — a COA, taken further

The instrument comes apart, gets cleaned, gets fresh oil through every hinge tube, and goes back together regulated by hand. Then I play it — because an instrument that measures right and an instrument that answers right are not always the same instrument.

  • Mechanism disassembled, cleaned, and re-oiled
  • Pads checked, shimmed, and seated
  • Key heights and regulation set by hand
  • Play-tested and corrected before it goes back
  • Case cleaned
Schedule Service →

Harmonic Restoration

Full overhaul and repad — by evaluation

Everything comes apart, down to the pins. Tone holes inspected and leveled. New pads throughout. The mechanism refit rather than reassembled, then regulated and played until it settles. How it speaks. How it breathes. How it responds.

  • Complete disassembly, including the pinned mechanism
  • Ultrasonic cleaning and tarnish removal
  • Tone holes inspected and leveled
  • Full repad — seated, shimmed, and glued to hold
  • Mechanism refit, re-oiled, and regulated
  • Headjoint cork replaced; keys hand-polished
  • Extended play-testing before return
Request an Evaluation →

How the work
begins

Pricing follows evaluation. No two instruments need the same work, and I won't quote one as though they do.

01

Reach out

Schedule a time, or send an email. Tell me the instrument, and what it's doing that it shouldn't.

02

Evaluation

I look at the whole instrument, not just the complaint — leaks, regulation, tone hole condition, headjoint fit.

03

Scope and price

You get the work written out and priced before anything comes apart. Nothing proceeds without your word.

04

The work, and the return

It goes back to you play-tested, not just reassembled — in hand on Oʻahu, or packed and shipped home.

Mail-in service is available throughout Hawaiʻi. If you're on Maui, Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi Island, Molokaʻi, or Lānaʻi, you don't need to ship an instrument to the mainland — write to me and I'll tell you exactly how to pack it.

The next chapter

The bench is open.

I'm accepting repair work throughout Hawaiʻi right now — in person on Oʻahu's North Shore, by mail from any island. A dedicated workshop opens October 1, 2026. That's the next chapter, not the beginning.

The Work

Mechanics are the floor,
not the ceiling

Most repair work stops when the pads seal and the action moves freely.

That's where I start.

I work through the mechanism. Then I play it. Listen for what it's trying to do. Bring that into alignment with how it feels under the hands. Care, not force. Presence, not urgency.

When the instrument stops getting in the way, you stop thinking about it. That's the whole job.

Alan Ward, flute and clarinet repair technician.

Oʻahu · North Shore

Nearly two decades
listening to instruments

Started in Texas. Moved to Hawaiʻi, where the islands gave me the foundation this work is built on. Gary Hara's mentorship shaped the last four years of that chapter. Then California — Muramatsu certified under Paul Rabinov, Straubinger certified studying directly with Joel Straubinger.

Now I'm back, on Oʻahu's North Shore, working with players across the islands. I left searching. I came back with something to give.

What clients say

A player, in their own words.

Bring me the instrument.

Schedule a time, or write and tell me what you're hearing. Serving all of Hawaiʻi — in person on Oʻahu's North Shore, by mail from any island.

Schedule Service