Care and Maintenance may seem like just cleaning instruments, however, there is a world of benefits which underlie our teacher and student workshops. 

Just like cars, string instruments require 6 and 12 month service maintenance to ensure they continue working and moving efficiently and effectively. In conjunction with regular daily care, instrument servicing and health checks are integral to your program’s success across four main areas.

Budget Planning and Forecasting

Maintaining a structured budget year on year is essential to the success of any string program. 

Undertaking Care and Maintenance servicing of instruments will lower your long-term budget spend.  If regular servicing is carried out, with at the end of Term 2 and 4 recommended, this leads to students and teachers being able to assess their instrument for any damage which can’t normally be seen with the naked eye. This will assist in keeping repair costs down over the short term and long term, before a small problem potentially becomes a large problem. 

Learning and Empowerment

As part of students’ and teachers’ normal routines of learning, practising and performing, why not include servicing of instruments into your lesson plans? 

Servicing an instrument isn't generally taught when learning how to play it, often leaving a gap in knowledge from school through to late adult age, hence we have made it our mission to empower students and teachers to become hands-on and independent in servicing their instruments so they can best serve their needs.

Also, we recommend teachers and students service all instruments together - this creates a stronger teacher-student bond through achieving a common goal together, whilst listening to music, chatting or discussing their future goals and dreams for music. 

Empower yourself and your students by learning the skills and products to use to service instruments, and you and they will be set for life!

Some of the products used in our workshops for teachers and students include Old Wood Italian Cream AG+, which is proven to reduce bacteria spread!

Inventory Management

Managing your servicing every 6 - 12 months means managing your instrument store and inventory becomes more simple and more even across the long-term. This also assists with budget forecasting across instrument lifespan expectation, instrument asset replacement, stores cupboard replacement such as spare strings, rosins and bows, and accessories such as shoulder rests, music stands and tutor books. 

Performance

How does servicing your instrument improve performance? 

Carrying out servicing includes ‘deep cleaning’ by removing baked-in rosin build-up on the instrument belly, under the strings between the bridge and fingerboard. This is where the rosin falls from the bow, and becomes stuck in the varnish of the belly when not cleaned properly. This is also in between the f-holes, where the tone of the instrument comes out. If the belly is baked-in with rosin, the tone will be dull and muted. If this area is clean, the tone will soar!

If correct maintenance is carried out on a short and long-term basis, instrument tone will be pleasant and open whilst ensuring the structural integrity of the instrument, delivering a positive experience in both home playing and on the performance stage. 

Want to learn more about Care and Maintenance for Educational Success? Be sure to get in touch with our friendly Education team today on 1300 739 293.