When that final bell rings on the last day of school, it means one thing to students across the country — FREEDOM! While it’s understandable that you may not want to think about the next school year at the end of this one, we do want to encourage you to take some time to follow through on one thing in preparation for next year’s term…your annual band instrument regulation.
Everything You Need to Know About Band Instrument Regulation
First and most importantly — timing. You want your instrument to be in tip-top shape and ready for the next school year, so it’s important to have it regulated at the beginning of summer. Don’t wait until a few weeks before next term to have this important process completed.
Music repair shops not only get inundated with students who leave this task for the last minute, but they’re also servicing entire fleets of instruments from local schools that need instrument regulation as well. That amounts to hundreds of horns being serviced by just a handful of individual shops. For most of the year, the regulation process typically takes one to two weeks, but if you wait until just before or even after the school year starts, you could find yourself waiting as much as three to six weeks.
We cannot emphasize this enough…call your repair shop early to schedule a time to bring your instrument in!
Just like any other piece of equipment, your band instrument needs an inspection from a qualified CIRT (Certified Instrument Repair Technician) to ensure that it's clean, oiled, and regulated, and that any normal wear and tear issues are addressed before they become major repairs.
There are many reasons why annual instrument cleaning and repair are crucial, including:
- Ensuring quality performances. Having your instrument regulated is just like having a car tuned up. It ensures quality performances over the life of your instrument.
- Avoiding costly repairs. Catching and correcting minor issues now eliminates the chances that they’ll turn into major issues that will require expensive repair work later.
- Extending the lifespan of your instrument. Annual regulation, repair, and maintenance of your instrument will extend its lifespan, thus avoiding the expense of replacing it.
- Maintaining a consistent sound. Uniformity of sound is important in any ensemble. Instruments that are properly regulated ensure the band will deliver quality performances.
- Enhancing the playing experience. When an instrument is regularly maintained, it is easier and more enjoyable for the musician to play it.
- Complying with the instrument’s warranty. If your instrument is under warranty, you may be required to seek regulation to ensure that you’re in compliance with the warranty’s terms.
- Retaining its resale value. At some point in the future, you may decide to purchase an intermediate or professional instrument to replace your current one. Regular cleaning and maintenance will allow you to maximize the price of your instrument when it comes time to sell it.
Fine-Tuning Your Instrument
Our friend Scott Mims, BIRT and Repair Shop Manager of Cadenza Music in St. Paul, MN explains the regulation process for each type of instrument:
Woodwinds
“While there are specific issues that affect each type of woodwind, there are a few universal truths that apply to all.
“An instrument’s pads are the number one reason a woodwind’s playing condition declines. There are two types of pads that cause most of the issues. Both types of pads are made with a disc of cardboard, a layer of felt, and then a wrap of skin or leather:
- Bladder skin pads. These are used in many woodwinds including flutes, clarinets, and double reeds.
- Leather pads. Leather pads are used on saxophones, some clarinets, and double reeds.
“As you play your woodwind you’re blowing warm air into a cooler body. This creates condensation which gets on the pads and causes the felt to expand. If when you’re done playing, you run a swab through your woodwind, you remove much of the condensation, giving the pads a chance to dry and go back to where they were.
“However, over time this cycle of expanding and contracting does not happen uniformly, causing the pads to become thicker in some parts. This results in a pad being unlevel, meaning it doesn’t close all the way around the tone hole and is letting air escape.
“An unlevel pad throws off the regulations that allow one pad to close when another is depressed. As more and more of these tiny leaks appear, it becomes increasingly difficult to play the lower end of the horn.
“When we regulate your woodwind, we examine the horn pad by pad and re-level them, after which we adjust all of the articulations, so they work together perfectly.
“If the leaks are left unattended, a player will tend to squeeze their instrument harder and harder without realizing they are doing it. Eventually, this leads to hand problems. We have seen high schoolers with severe carpel tunnel from playing an instrument that was not properly set up for far too long.
“Another problem we often see are bent keys from improper assembly. If a musician holds the horn incorrectly while assembling it, they can bend the keys which can also throw off articulations and pad leveling.
“Bent keys are common and repaired all the time but if a musician doesn’t learn the proper handling of the instrument, the problem can persist. We encourage students to ask their instructor how to properly assemble their instrument. It’s important to note that if you can’t play your woodwind with a light touch you need to bring it into the shop.”
Brass Instruments
“The most important part of maintaining a brass instrument is cleaning it. Regular cleaning at home is strongly recommended along with occasional cleaning at a repair shop where they have access to tools and chemicals that do a more thorough job.
“When you play a brass instrument, you are blowing warm air into cooler tubes of brass. This forms condensation mostly made up of water, but also anything else that may have been in your mouth prior to playing. It’s always a good idea to rinse your mouth with water before playing or better yet, brush your teeth.
“Over time, the condensation builds up scale and other gunk that will begin eating away at your instrument. This is commonly known as Red Rot.
“As the buildup sits on the wall of the instrument a chemical reaction eats away at the zinc in the brass. Yellow brass (of which many brass instruments are made) or even silver-plated brass instruments are made up of 70% copper and 30% zinc. When zinc is leached away, it weakens the brass to the point where small holes begin to form.
“The first sign of Red Rot is when small red dots appear on the outer surface of the instrument. This usually starts on the leadpipe (the section that starts at the mouthpiece receiver and goes either to the main tuning slide or the valve block) or on the main tuning slide. Since those parts are closer to the mouthpiece, they get the worst of the condensation and experience the most build up.
“At Cadenza Music, we work with an Ultrasonic Cleaner machine that uses alternating high and low frequency sound waves to create tiny bubbles around any buildup, then implodes the bubbles. This causes the buildup to rip away from the brass.
“Additionally, we use a special sulfamic acid solution in the Ultrasonic specifically designed to aid in the cleaning of brass instruments. This is a much milder detergent than the old acid dips, is better for the horn, and is safer for techs to use.
“After cleaning the instrument, we also replace the felts and corks that wear down over time to ensure the pistons are lined up properly, along with applying fresh oil and grease.
“This kind of regular cleaning can add decades to the playable life of the instrument.”
String, Piano, and Percussion Instruments
“As a band instrument repair technician, I am really only qualified to talk about the regulation of brass and woodwind instruments. However, I have picked up a few things about other types of instruments over the course of my 20 years in the field.
“String instruments are generally made of wood so are vulnerable to warping due to temperature and humidity changes. As a result, seams may open up and need to be re-glued, sound posts that sit under the bridge supporting the top may fall over and need to be reset, and fingerboards may start to make a buzzing sound.
“Shells on percussion instruments are made of wood and can also warp. The heads might need to be replaced from time to time, while other parts will wear out as well.
“Pianos also suffer from environmental changes and should be constantly monitored for humidity control. And of course, they need to be tuned regularly.”
Call on the CIRTs at Cadenza
We’re very grateful to Scott for sharing his expertise on band instrument regulation.
If you’d like to see Scott in action, check out this satisfying video of him overhauling a tenor saxophone! You can also like and subscribe to their YouTube Page @CadenzaMusicStP for more music store and repair shop content.
Also, for those in the Minneapolis-St Paul Twin Cities Metro area, when it is time to bring your instrument in for annual maintenance or repair, please visit our friends at Cadenza music. One of the perks of visiting their shop is seeing the original art pieces Scott has created. (Oh yes, he’s an artist too!)
A little sample of his works have been featured throughout this article for your enjoyment.
Don’t Break Your Rhythm This Summer
Looking to keep your chops up over the summer months, want help with marching band music, or just want to jump start lessons before joining band in the fall? Let A Kopp Music help you with that! Summer scheduling is available now!
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