How to Keep your School-owned Instruments in Top Condition

As a band director, you know that having quality instruments can make a huge difference in the success of students in your program. Keeping school-owned instruments in top condition can be a challenge.

This article is about how the school can do its part to keep school-owned instruments in top condition. You can find the link to the follow-up article (getting students to do their part) at the bottom of the page.

1. Educate students and parents about the financial investment the school district makes in the band program and how much work is involved in overhauling and repairing instruments. Watch this video and consider showing it to your students and parents.

2. Have instruments repaired and overhauled on a consistent basis. In order to extend instrument life as far as possible, instruments should have consistent maintenance and overhauls.

According to the NAMM Foundation, a sample schedule might be:

Instrument: Should have a complete overhaul every:

Flute 4 years
Oboe/Bassoon 5 years
Clarinet 4 years
Bass Clarinet 5 years
Saxophone 5 years
Cornet/Trumpet 10 years
French Horn 10 years
Trombone 10 years
Baritone 10 years
Tuba/Sousaphone 10 years
Drums 10 years

This is obviously a general guideline and will vary greatly depending on the quality, care and use of the instruments. This link from the NAMM website provides access to a download of a guide that contains the above chart and other useful information.

3. Work with your administration to develop a long term plan for instrument replacement. All band programs should have a plan in place for how often instruments are replaced. Instruments are not made to last forever. Purchasing good quality instruments to start with and taking care of them can greatly extend their life, but they will eventually need to be replaced. Here’s a link on the NAMM foundation website that gives information about Preparing an Instrument Replacement Plan.

4. Partner with an excellent quality repair facility for overhauls to be sure your investment in your instruments is maintained at the highest level. Questions to ask a repair facility would be:
– What kind of experience do your technicians have?
– Do you have an apprenticeship system in place to train new technicians?
– Do you use special techniques that set you apart?
– Do you have a satisfaction guarantee?
– How do I receive an estimate?
– Have you received any recognitions that set you apart?
– Do you have references I can contact to verify the quality of your work?
– Many repair facilities outsource overhauls to China which can greatly increase repair time and decrease quality. Ask if overhauls are done completely in house.

You can find the link to the follow-up article (getting students to do their part) HERE.
An article on storing school instruments correctly in the summer can be found HERE.

Special thanks to N-Tune Music & Sound, a nationally recognized instrument repair facility with 4 locations in west Texas and the Metroplex, for providing this article. N-Tune Music & Sound is a business partner for BandDirectorsTalkShop.com and supports music education and band directors in many ways. Their dedication to student musicians and music educators is unmatched, as is their instrument repair quality and customer service.

At N-Tune Music and Sound we have over 200 years of hands on experience with a crew of young technicians learning from the master technicians everyday.

There are many shops that perform some degree of service that they call an overhaul. But N-Tune Music and Sound is the only shop that we know of that understands the proper application of lacquer and the use of an oven to cure the lacquer correctly on brass instruments. N-Tune Music and Sound utilizes dust proof rooms and specialized spray guns for application before the oven.

N-Tune Music and Sound stands behind every instrument we overhaul. Ultimately, we aren’t finished with an instrument until the school or individual having the instrument overhauled or serviced is satisfied. Talk with anyone who has had instruments overhauled at our facility about the amount of budget money saved on overhauls versus the cost of new instruments. (We are happy to provide references upon request.) Our reputation has been forged over years of doing overhauls the right way and standing behind each instrument. N-Tune Music and Sound has been a NAMM Top 100 Dealer for five consecutive years.

N-Tune Music and Sound has a published retail overhaul price list. Directors, administrators or dealers interested in overhaul service should contact N-Tune Music and Sound at repair@ntunemusic.com. We also have a booth each year at the Texas Music Educators Association convention in San Antonio, Texas.