KEPING COSTS LOW

When times are tough, the last thing a band or orchestra director wants for a child to do is avoid music programs because of the money.

The very best situation would be to buy or rent a used instrument. And of these two solutions, paying cash for a used instrument is the very best financial decision you can possibly make.

If you pay, let's say, $400.00 for a used instrument, and your child takes reasonably good care of it, it will probably be worth at least what you paid for it if you decide you must sell it next summer. How can you beat that? Now, if you decide to take it to the pawn shop at Christmas, you are NOT going to get what it is worth. For this to work, you must wait to sell during the early summer. If you can't afford to do that, go with the rental.

Let's say your child has decided to play clarinet. First, look at the list of approved instruments that your director will give you. That list will have very specific brands, models, mouthpieces, and accessories that will ensure success for your blossoming musician. If you stick to the list, you will be OK.

So, you are looking at this list, and it sounds like Greek to you. But, if you stick to exactly what they say, you can find all of this stuff used. Except for the reeds. Buy a whole box of those, you will need them, and most stores discount the box.

On the instruments, the brand will always be stamped or written on it somewhere. For clarinets in particular, the brand of all of the above is usually stamped or etched in gold on each piece of the horn. If the instrument doesn't have a brand, don't even think about buying it.

And by BRAND, I don't mean some generic fluff shipped in here from India for the big box stores. If you buy one of those, don't bother bringing it in to our repair shop when it doesn't work. You can come in if you want, have a cup of coffee, and we will explain to you why you need a good instrument. But we don't work on the toys.

If you see something that looks close, but you are not sure about it, you can call us about it or bring it in, and we will check it out for you for free. We do this all of the time for our customers who are trying to find a certain brand of instrument.

And, be sure and ask your director about other brands they will accept. For instance, with clarinet, let's say you are looking for a Buffet E-11. You can't find one right away, but there is this wonderful (cheap) old Buffet R-13 that you can get from your Aunt Effie. It has been in the closet for a bit, but looks to you like it would play. One question to us or to your director, and you will find that a Buffet R-13 is really a professional horn, much superior to an E-11, and with a complete repad (about $150.00), it would play much better than new.

Or, you decide to look for a Normandy 4. This time Auntie Em has a Leblanc LL that she says was her dead uncle's favorite instrument. Come to find out, the Normandy 4 is the intermediate student-line horn made by Leblanc, and the LL is a very fine professional instrument.

Sometimes the used instruments that you get will already have a very fine selection of accessories, and if you are lucky, the correct mouthpiece.

If you think that your director will not be happy if you get your child a used instrument, think again. An older used instrument, PROPERLY REPAIRED, can sometimes provide the best sound in the section.

Don't wait around until the last minute to get your instrument and get it repaired. You don't want your child to be without an instrument for several weeks, while the other students are learning how to play. Summertime is the very busiest time for instrument repair techs, and if you wait until August to get it to the shop, you will probably not get it back until the last part of September. Really, early spring (NOW) is the best time to start looking for that special instrument, and GET IT TO THE SHOP!!!

Don't think that your director doesn't know what he/she is talking about, even if you were in so-and-so's band back in the 70's. Trust me, they have an interest in making sure that your child succeeds. Successful children equal successful band and orchestra directors. Your director will be up on all the latest and greatest equipment and teaching techniques.

Don't think that you can get by with one of those really cheap new instruments on ebay. Just take my word for it. That cheap instrument will be absolutely worthless in about six weeks. Then you will have totally wasted the money that you spent, and your child will not do well in music. We see them all the time in our shop, and we usually end up selling the parents a new instrument. Because we don't work on the toys. Did I say that before? We don't work on the toys. There, I said it again.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that any old instrument will do. It won't. Before the Internet and discount stores invaded us, there were cheap instruments. They are still around. They sounded bad then, and they still sound bad. Do you want to listen to your child practice on a bad-sounding instrument everyday? You can trust me here, too, they will need all the help they can get to sound good. Don't stack the cards against them before they ever start!

Don't think that you don't have to have your instrument repaired, because the guy where you bought the instrument said that it had just recently been repaired. Have it checked out anyway. It's that card-stacking thing again.

The main thing is to contact us for an estimate. We provide this service for free, and we don't mind a bit. We will make your used instrument look as good as we can, and we can make it play just like a new one. We understand that you just don't know if your child will stick with band, so we try to keep our costs as low as possible.