Last week we discussed why instruments need daily maintenance. Today, I’d like to discuss the importance of having professional maintenance periodically on an instrument.
The biggest difference between professional maintenance and personal maintenance is that professionals study how an instrument was built and designed and can make adjustments or change out damaged parts. We look for nuances in your pads in the way the tubes are sealed and the way the keys align together. Over time parts of your instrument will breakdown. Organic and/or synthetic materials are used in the function of instruments and these materials breakdown and need replacing. Metals in instruments may also start to show wear. Metal on metal contact over a prolonged period wear down on each other creating gaps and such that we don’t want. Metal also requires the use of oil to prevent rust development and smooth out the action of the parts. Changing the oil in an instrument, while it can equate somewhat to a car’s oil change, requires a lot more work than just pulling a drain plug and topping off. Instruments like the flute, clarinet & saxophone are not the simplest to disassemble completely.
Some see the costs of a repair like a clean oil adjust or an overhaul and try to save the money by doing the work themselves. However, I don’t advise anyone to start learning on the instrument the rely on. There are anywhere from 25 to 250+ different pieces an instrument may disassemble into. Not only that they interact with each other in different ways depending on what is trying to be accomplished. Knowing the proper techniques and sourcing the materials needed as well as the tools required is not cheap or simple. (Though, I will not stop anyone who wants to try. But if an instrument arrives at the shop fully disassembled, I don't offer discounts.)
I’d be glad to speak to anyone interested in learning any/all the skills & I even have access to online classes taught by myself and others where we go into detail working with people entering the industry. (Link here) However, classes are not cheap, and you will still have to buy all the tools and supplies that go with it. It is much easier for a musician who just wants to make music and enjoy sharing that music with others to hire professional when needed.
How do you know when you need a professional?
First and foremost, does your instrument play easily, does it respond to tuning & dynamics easily? If you said no, then getting an estimate is generally free of charge with any shop. Keep in mind not every professional works on every single instrument. There's a lot of instrument types out there. Essentially, every technician in the field is a specialist in one way or another. We have specialists who work on pianos, organ specialists, brass specialists, woodwind specialists, etc. Many shops hire people technicians who specialize on in different instruments so they can offer the widest array of services to their clientele. They may still limit what they do to a specific type of musical instrument, like wind ensemble instruments or string instruments.
But back to the question at hand how do you know if you need a professional? Well, when was the last time your instrument was taken to a professional? If your answer is more than 1 or 2 years ago and we're not talking about something like a piano, then I would suggest you start looking for or talking to a local technician. If you're not playing your instrument regularly you may be able to go two years and your instrument played just fine but if you play every day, every other day, every week, etc., then you could be pushing through a lot of issues that you didn't know were there. The human mind adjusts to small changes over a long period of time and compensates for issues in your life without you realizing it. In woodwinds specifically, these issues can be as simple as a key isn't closing properly and so you're pressing harder on that key just to make sound come out. Over time this can add up to five or more keys. Eventually you'll get to a point where it's difficult to play anything without pressing hard to close your keys. So, check to see if after you practice for a little bit if you feel your hands are getting tense, is your embouchure tense while you play, or does it sound like you are losing air while you play? Sometimes an outward observer like a private instructor or a fellow musician who's listening to you one-on-one can be handy to help notice if there's any kind of sound issues, as well if it’s caused by something you do vs the instrument.
Another thing to look for is if you're consistently playing flat/ sharp all the way through your instrument. Of course, this could be due to mouthpiece placement, head joint placement etc., but if this is a consistent issue and it's getting harder to adjust for tuning with your mouthpiece or head joint, then you probably need something replaced or looked at. Instruments that leak will tend to play flat, and I mean all the way through the instrument from top to bottom.
Another reason to get your instrument professionally looked at is if you have something important coming up in the next couple of months. Juries, contests, senior recitals, or major concerts often lead to last minute emergencies when the instrument isn't working properly. If you know you have something big coming up it doesn't hurt to just have a technician look at your instrument a few weeks ahead of time just to give you some added confidence in your practice and performance.
So, what is the optimal situation for your professional maintenance routine.?
Honestly, the preference varies with the technician & the store, as well as the type of player you are. But what usually works out the best for me and my clients is when I see them at least twice a year. Once a year I like to do a full/partial COA. That's a clean, oil, & adjust. In a COA the instrument is fully disassembled, and everything is cleaned by hand. Then any issues found during the cleaning are taken care of. Things like corks that have fallen off, pads that need to be changed, keys that need to be straightened, or dents that need to be removed. Finally, we finish with the full reassembly, final adjustment, playtest it, and get it ready for the player. Then anywhere from 6 to 8 months later or whenever they know they have something coming up that they're preparing for, we can do some smaller fine tune adjustments with what I call an Adjust & Regulate. This is a job I do where I only disassemble the parts of the instrument that are absolutely necessary, and my main goal is to just fix minor issues. If the player is proactive about their daily maintenance as well as scheduling as COA once a year and an adjust and regulate as needed there might be a year where instead of doing one COA and one adjust and regulate we might do 2 adjusted regulates or only a partial COA. What I mean is that potentially, well maintained instruments may only need to be fully disassembled every couple of years. However, many clients only seek professional repairs either when as COA is obviously needed or when a repair such as a bent key or something similar needs to be fixed.
Another type of repair that can be done on woodwinds or brass instruments is the overhaul. Now every store can have a slightly different definition of an overhaul or a different name or a couple different names. In my store I offer 3 types of overhauls. Each Overhaul also includes a 90-day adjustment for after the overhauls have been completed. This is to adjust for the settling of the new pads after the player has been using the instrument for a time.
The Economy Overhaul.
An economy overhaul in my store means that I will be taking that instrument and attempting to get it back to the base factory standards for playability. For a woodwind this may look like a full disassembly, fresh oil, new key corks, new pads, and any work the instrument needs that affects the playability such as crack repair, solder points, and tenon corks.
The Mechanical Overhaul
The next type of overhaul I do includes everything previously listed but the additional goal is to make the instrument play better than it did coming out of the factory. In this process we work to make the metal mechanics of the instrument work to its highest potential. This is not us saying that the factory didn't do the same mechanics of the keys but that overtime the metal may have worn down to where the mechanics in the actual key setup is loose and needs some attention. A lot of modern-day instruments have better mechanical systems than many of the older counterparts.
The Straubinger Overhaul
Lastly, and this is specifically for flutes, I also offer Straubinger overhauls. There are very specific requirements that a flute needs to meet in order to have a Straubinger overhaul done to it. This is a specialized service that I offer only to those who want it or need it. Generally, this is for flutes that are handmade (professional level) as it is the installation of the Straubinger pads.
I hope you have enjoyed this article and maybe learn something or had something confirmed that you already knew. And if you would like to book a free estimate to go over the needs of your instrument, I offer free estimates in-house or over zoom and appointments can be booked at this link or over the phone.
Merry Christmas!
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