diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/timidity/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/timidity/default.nix
index a624efc23759..c139d741fab2 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/timidity/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/timidity/default.nix
@@ -114,9 +114,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     cp ${./timidity.cfg} $out/share/timidity/timidity.cfg
     substituteAllInPlace $out/share/timidity/timidity.cfg
     tar --strip-components=1 -xf $instruments -C $out/share/timidity/
+    # All but one of the symlinks in the instruments tarball have their permissions set to 0000.
+    # This causes problems on systems like Darwin that actually use symlink permissions.
+    chmod -Rh u+rwX $out/share/timidity/
   '';
-  # This fixup step is unnecessary and fails on Darwin
-  dontRewriteSymlinks = stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin;
 
   passthru.tests = nixosTests.timidity;