Musical Instrument Repair, $95 Setups in Brooklyn: Tone Wolf

Tone Wolf, at 67 35th Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, is a guitar shop and repair bench on the fifth floor of Building 5 in the Industry City complex. It posts open hours of Tuesday to Friday, 12 pm to 5 pm, with other times by appointment, and it publishes a full repair price list, which is still unusual among New York guitar techs. Assessments are free, a standard electric, acoustic or bass setup is $95 before strings, and the bench rate is $100 an hour.

Finding the shop is the first small puzzle. The directions page sends you to Industry City, Building 5, on 35th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, then up the elevator to the fifth floor and Suite C530. The complex is a run of former warehouse buildings converted into studios, food halls and workshops, so the corridor outside feels more like a design office than a music store. Inside, the shop doubles as a retail room for new and used guitars, with fresh arrivals listed online through October 2026.

The setup is the job most people walk in with, and Tone Wolf charges one flat price across the three common types: $95 for an electric guitar, $95 for an acoustic and $95 for a bass. A guitar with a Floyd Rose tremolo costs $110 because the floating bridge needs balancing against its springs, and a 12-string setup is $120. The price list notes that strings are not included, so bring the gauge you like or buy a set at the counter. The repair page says basic setups can be finished in a matter of days.

Fret work is where a printed price list saves an awkward conversation. Filing sharp fret ends, the fix for a neck that has dried out and left the wire poking past the edge, costs $60. A full fret leveling on a guitar is $180 and on a bass $220. A refret on an unbound guitar neck is $350 and on an unbound bass $400. Add $50 for a finished or maple fingerboard, $100 for a bound neck, and another $50 for a bass with five or more strings. Bigger jobs like these can take a few weeks.

Electronics get the longest section of the list. Installing a pickup in a solid-body guitar costs $40 each, or $60 each in an ES-style or hollowbody, where the work goes in through the f-holes. A new input jack is $25, a replacement pot $30 and a switch $45. Drop-in pre-wired kits cost $80 to install in a Les Paul and $60 in a Strat or Tele. For players chasing a cleaner signal, a hand-wired harness upgrade is $200 on a solid body and $300 on an ES or hollowbody. Routing a body for a new pickup is $60 a cavity.

Bone is the shop's material of choice for contact points. A bone nut costs $130, a bone saddle $130, and both together $165. On a 12-string the bone nut is $150. Wood repairs move to hourly billing, so acoustic body cracks and loose bracing are charged at $100 an hour, the same as the bench rate. Smaller hardware jobs round out the list: new tuners are $65, a replacement pickguard $45, an archtop pickguard $90, and an acoustic strap button installed for $25. Anything not on the list is quoted at the bench rate.

The repair page promises free assessments for all work with no commitment, which makes a first visit low stakes. You can email the repair inbox, call, or simply stop by during open hours, though the shop says it prefers that you set a time that suits your schedule, since the four afternoons are short. Same-day work is not guaranteed, so plan on leaving the instrument. Questions about a specific job go to the dedicated repair inbox, and photos of a crack or a lifting bridge sent ahead of time make the free assessment quicker once the instrument is on the bench.

The about page says Tone Wolf was founded in 2023 by Garrett Hess, a musical instrument industry veteran, and that the online store launched in March 2024. That makes it one of the younger repair benches in the city, and it shows in the format: prices published openly, an email inbox dedicated to repairs, and a retail stock of used and new guitars that changes week to week. The site footer is dated 2026, and new listings, including a Fender Reclaimed Eastern Pine Stratocaster, went up in October 2026.

Industry City is a good place to kill an hour while a guitar is being looked over. Japan Village, the Japanese food hall and grocery on 3rd Avenue, sits a short walk from the shop and is the obvious lunch stop on the block. Brooklyn Kura, a sake brewery with a taproom on 34th Street, pours its own sake on Thursday and Friday evenings and weekend afternoons. Between them, the courtyards connecting the Industry City buildings hold seating and a mix of shops and studios, so it is easy to fill an afternoon on foot.

The closest subway stop is 36th Street on the D, N and R lines, a short walk east of the complex. Two bus routes run close by, the B37 along 3rd Avenue and the B70 along 36th Street. Carrying a guitar on the subway is easy at midday, when the shop's hours fall well outside rush hour. If you are bringing a hard case, the building's elevator takes you straight up to the fifth floor, so there are no stairs to manage once you are inside Building 5.

Address: Tone Wolf, 67 35th Street, Suite C530, Building 5, Brooklyn, NY 11232. Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 12 pm to 5 pm, with other times by appointment. Phone: (917) 524-6462. Repair email: repair@tonewolf.com. Prices from the published list: setups $95, Floyd Rose setup $110, 12-string setup $120, fret leveling $180, unbound guitar refret $350, bone nut $130, bench rate $100 an hour. Assessments are free. Strings are extra on setups. Transit: D, N or R to 36th Street, or the B37 and B70 buses. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for food nearby once the guitar is dropped off.