Daily care and maintenance of your instrument is very important to how well your instrument performs. Watch this quick video below for a few, quick tips on caring for your trombone.
Congratulations to Ben Brummer! He has successfully completed training to become a certified Straubinger Pad Technician. These pads are specifically designed to be used in higher end professional flutes and require specialized training. THE STRAUBINGER PAD CERTIFICATION TRAINING is an intensive three-day course, designed specifically to cover the concepts, methods of application, and procedures required to install Straubinger™ Pads correctly. This very specific training is designed exclusively for experienced repairmen.
Daily care and maintenance of your instrument is very important to how well your instrument performs. Watch this quick video below for a few, quick tips on caring for your clarinet.
Today’s blog refers back to a previous blog about cold weather tips for string instruments from December of 2014. Walking through the shop one day last week I noticed all these instruments in clamps due to loose seams and/or cracks. Mostly caused by the bad cold weather spell we had recently. So as a reminder here is a repeat of that blog and some pictures of cause and effect. Winter is here with its cold temps, snow, and low humidity. This scares the bejabbers out of any self-respecting stringed instrument. Can’t you just see or hear wood shrinking, pegs loosening, cracks splitting a top rib in two … These are sights and sounds that one might think would bring a smile to a repairman’s face. Winter time does create special problems for the violin family instruments, but good common sense care will reduce the number of unnecessary repairs.
Tenon rings on woodwind instruments are not there just for decoration. They help support the thinness of the wood in the tenon socket itself. During our dry winter weather it is important to make sure they are on tight and not loose and falling off. If they are loose it can lead to cracks in the wood or even breaking the socket while assembling/disassembling your instrument. If you find that the tenon rings on your instrument are loose, please make sure and send your instrument in to have them refit. This can help prevent a more costly repair down the road. If you’d like to read some more cold weather tips, you can read the article below: https://island.news.paigesmusic.com/be-prepared-for-cold-weather-and-contest-season/
Next month we are sending two Technicians out to Yamaha’s facility for some specialized “Shokunin” training. In March we are sending a Technician out for certification on installing Straubinger flute pads. And in April we will be sending four of our technicians to the yearly convention of the National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians (NAPBIRT) to attend multiple seminars and training sessions. We aren’t required to do this. We choose to regularly send our technicians out to training seminars throughout the year to keep up on the latest and greatest techniques, tools and new materials that may well improve the services we provide on maintaining your instruments. We constantly better ourselves and our methods to pass them on to you, our customers, for a better, more comprehensive repair. We believe that this approach aligns with our vision as a company; Our vision is for every student to reach his or her potential through the positive, life-changing power of making music. We believe in that vision so strongly that we devote all of our energy, passion and resources to serving and strengthening music education across Indiana. If we rest on our laurels and depend on “the way we’ve always
Daily care and maintenance of your instrument is very important to how well your instrument performs. Watch this quick video below for a few, quick tips on caring for your flute.
That your valves need oil is not in question. If it moves, it should be lubricated. Today we’re talking about piston valves (like on a trumpet) and the different types of valve oils. Let’s get started. There are hundreds of brands of valve oil available. Some are synthetic others are petroleum based and each has its own advantages. For many years petroleum based oils were the standard. They smelled bad and stained your clothing, but worked fine. Some were more refined than others and some had added smells – everything from chocolate to cinnamon! Some even had additives to make them smoother and slicker. However, all petroleum based oils have a tendency to dry out and leave the additives behind to foul your valves. For the majority of our school music instrument repairs we have chosen to use a synthetic oil. It does not smell, does not stain your clothing, is long lasting and works fine. Unlike petroleum products, it comes in thin (for new valves) regular (for student instruments) and heavy for instruments that have worn valves). We think for most players and students that synthetic oil is the best choice. We use Hetman and Accent oils in the
We originally posted this article back in November of 2015. It remains to be good advice to revisit as cold weather approaches. Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenpete/5522933139 In case you haven’t noticed it’s here again. COLD WEATHER! Just a reminder that leaving your instrument out in the cold weather can lead to serious repair problems. Especially with woodwind instruments like wooden clarinets, oboes, bassoons and more. If the temperature gets too low it can actually freeze the moisture in the wood and cause it to crack. When a cold instrument is taken inside it should not be put together and played right away. A rapid rise in the temperature can cause the wood to crack also. It needs to acclimate to the inside temperature. The body on the instrument should be held in your hands and blow some warm air through the bore for a few minutes before putting it together to play. Like we mentioned this time last year, string instruments are subject to the same conditions. Cold freezing temperatures can cause the wood to crack and also cause the seams where they are glued together to come apart. Just like the woodwind instruments when taken inside after being out in the
Daily care and maintenance of your instrument is very important to how well your instrument performs. Watch this quick video below for a few, quick tips on caring for your saxophone. You can find more care and maintenance videos for saxophone by clicking here.
The last several years has seen steady growth in our volume and demand for quality string repair. Up to now our string repair crew occupied a small corner in our main repair shop. This is tough to do when you have a couple of basses to repair at the same time! To remedy that situation we have moved our string repair crew into their very own space. This provides more elbow room with enough space to work on three or four basses if needed! All to meet the growing needs of our string customers and offering quality repairs. Here’s a little peek at our new string shop! Quick Look Around 360 Video Works great with Chrome and Firefox
This week in the repair shop we had a saxophone that came in with a severely bent neck. While we can usually straighten a bent neck this one is bent so badly it will need to be replaced. This can be a fairly expensive repair if not covered by our service plan. Some necks can cost $300-400 or more.
We’d like to talk about the basics of tuning your woodwind instrument. While this may seem oversimplified there are some important details about the different families and the instruments within that are important to know. All brass and woodwind instruments are designed around the A440/A442 pitch and can be adjusted higher (sharper) or lower (flatter) to a certain extent. Adjusting too far either way will affect the scale of the instrument and can actually cause playing problems. On this blog we will start with the woodwinds. Flute/Piccolo-Where the head joint tenon fits into the receiver at the top of the main body tube is where the tuning is done. You would normally start by inserting the tenon all the way in and then pulling it out about 1/8-3/16 inch to start tuning. Then you would push in more to raise the pitch or pull it out to lower. Never use the head crown assembly for general tuning. For more info about the head crown assembly see our post titled "There’s A Cork In My Flute. What Does It Do?". Bb-Eb Clarinets-Where the barrel fits onto the top of the upper joint is where the primary tuning is done. After
Position: Repair Department Office Assistant Start Date: June 2017 Training or Education: Saint Joseph’s College- Bachelor of Arts in Music Education Where are you from originally: Indianapolis, IN What instruments do you play: Clarinet, Saxophone, Ukulele What groups do/did you play with: Indianapolis Symphonic Band What do you enjoy most about working in the shop: I enjoy being able to help customers who want to give their student a rewarding experience through music. I also think that some of the repairs my coworkers do are amazing and it’s impressive how talented they are at their craft. What is your most memorable musical experience: When I was at St. Joe our choir was invited to tour in Rome, Italy and sing at many different churches. One of those included St. Peters Basilica where we sang for the Pope. My favorite band memory would be playing the Star Spangled Banner at ISSMA Marching Band State finals with a brass choir from St. Joe.
We’re very excited to introduce you to the latest addition to our string technician staff in our repair shop, Ben Parrott. Learn more about him by reading our quick Q&A with him below! Position: String Instrument Technician Start Date: June 2017 Training or Education: Graduated from Indiana University School of Music in 1999 with an A.S. in String Instrument Technology. Worked in Philadelphia at Paul Stevens Violins until 2000. Worked for Casa Del Sol Violins until I started working for myself as a full time violin maker in 2001. Where are you from originally: Franklin, IN What instruments do you play: Classical guitar, violin and a small amount of cello. What do you enjoy most about being a technician: I enjoy helping an instrument play to its full potential which also helps the player reach their musical goals. What is the most unusual repair you’ve had to deal with: Most unusual would have to be the 18th century violin that had the top crushed from a falling bottle of water. What is your most memorable musical experience: Listening to, and talking with Janos Starker about his cello in the shop. He also mentioned his classical guitar to me several times that was
Daily care and maintenance of your instrument is very important to how well your instrument performs. Watch this quick video below for a few, quick tips on caring for your trumpet.
With schools out and possibly no summer program going on it can be difficult to get your instrument in to the shop when you live a distance away. Here are a couple of tips for those of you this effects. Brass instruments – At the very least make sure you grease up the tuning slides and move them in and out a few times to spread the grease around. Keep the valves oiled and make sure you get the instrument out from time to time to move the valves and slides around. Clean your mouthpiece out! Woodwind instruments – On reed instruments make sure you take the reed off the mouthpiece and clean it out with some mild liquid detergent soap and lukewarm water (not hot!). On flutes you can also clean out the headjoint (not the main body) with some mild liquid detergent soap and lukewarm water (not hot!). Be careful to not move the head crown assembly or it will have to be reset. String instruments – Make sure and let the tension off on the bow to keep the hair from stretching. Use a soft cloth and wipe the rosin off the top. Do not try and use
Has it been a while since your instrument was in for a check-up? If summer is a down time for you and your playing time, then you should send your instrument in for a check-up. We recommend two visits each year to help keep your instrument in proper playing condition and the summer is the perfect time. In fact, schools across the state will be sending in all kinds of school-owned instruments this summer to be cleaned, repaired, and refurbished so that they are ready to go for the next school year. The best way to get your horn serviced during the summer is to bring it to the store. Our District Managers are visiting some schools during the summer, but not all schools and not every week. It’s very sporadic. The safe thing to do is call us first to see if arrangements can be made to drop off a loaner and pick up your instrument. You can call us at 1-800-337-0471. Have a great rest of your summer and don’t forget to practice!
A couple of months ago we talked about how we’re always learning in our repair shop to keep up with the latest trends and techniques in instrument repair. In late April, I was able to attend yet another key event in the life of a repair technician. This year the annual NAPBIRT (National Association of Professional Band Instrument Technicians) finds us in Albuquerque NM. There are almost 300 technicians attending this year in order to learn about new techniques, methods and materials used in the repair of your instruments.
Daily care and maintenance of your instrument is very important to how well your instrument performs. Watch this quick video below for a few, quick tips on caring for your Euphonium.
