How to Know when It's Time to Clean Your Musical Instrument or COA
Take care of your instrument., Pay attention to your instrument when you are playing it., Get an idea of your instrument's general outside appearance., Take a look at the pads and check to see if they're leaking., Check the instrument's mechanism...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Take care of your instrument.
While this should be obvious, it's good to be in the habit of being careful.
Don't drop it, use the case as a footrest, hold it in a way that can damage the keys, skip swabbing it, etc.
Taking care of your instrument can save you a lot of time at the repair shop and a good bit of money. -
Step 2: Pay attention to your instrument when you are playing it.
If you are alert and familiar with your instrument, you should notice almost immediately when something isn't working right.
However, there are some things that you may not notice when playing, so every so often, sit down and take a really good look at your instrument. , The "C" part of COA covers both cleaning the inside and cleaning the outside.
While the outside appearance of your instrument doesn't really affect your playing, most musicians want to keep their instruments looking nice, and if you try to sell it in the future, you'll be glad that you kept up its appearance.
Examine the keys of the instrument.
Are they in serious need of polishing? Is the plating coming off? You may want to see about having your instrument re-keyed or re-plated, if they look bad enough.
People with wooden instruments
- Is the wood cracked or badly scratched? Cracked wood can affect playing, and some scratches can be smoothed off.
Saxophone players
- What does the body of your sax look like? If it hasn't been polished in a while, it may look kind of dull and smudgy. , Take a look at the color and condition of the pads.
Color doesn't always affect playing ability, but if the pads are cracked, swollen, or growing mold, it might be time to replace them.
It may be that only some of the pads are in bad condition, in which case you can just get your instrument partially re-padded.
Check for leaks.
For most woodwinds, this can be done by taking each individual section of your instrument, covering all the holes with one hand, covering one end of the section with the palm of the other, and blowing into the open end.
You should not feel or hear any air escaping.
For saxophones, find a relatively small but high-powered flashlight, take your instrument into the dark, and either shine the flashlight through the top (without the neck), or lower it into the instrument on a swab string (if it's very small), and check to see if there's any light escaping.
Where there's light, there's a leak.
You may want to have someone else hold the flashlight for this.
This method can also work on some other woodwinds, but the flashlight will need to be a lot smaller, and you'll have to be very careful. , There may be bent rods, missing screws, badly oiled joints, or any number of things that you may not have noticed.
Play through the range of the instrument.
See if any notes are unusually hard to get out or are woefully out of tune.
This can indicate an issue with the keys, or it may be the pads again.
Make note if any of the keys are too hard or too easy to move
- you should be able to make a key move fairly easily, but there should be enough resistance that you can feel what you're doing.
Check carefully for bent rods or missing screws.
You may first be alerted if you notice that some keys "wiggle" when they shouldn't.
You may want to have a friend who plays the same instrument, a conductor, or a director take a second look, to see if you missed anything. , No section of the cork should be missing, spit shouldn't leak out between the sections, and the instrument should not fall apart or wiggle where the sections meet.
If you are experiencing any of these problems, get your instrument re-corked, or at least fix the cork(s) that are giving you trouble. , You may decide that it would be easier to play certain notes if a certain key was tightened or loosened slightly, you want your keys silver-plated instead of nickel-plated (since you've already decided to have it re-keyed), or things of that nature. , Ask how much it'll cost, and when you can pick your instrument up.
If not much is wrong, you may be able to walk out with in in a matter of minutes, or an hour or so.
If it's having anything major replaced (corks, keys, pads, etc.), you may be looking at a few days to a week. , -
Step 3: Get an idea of your instrument's general outside appearance.
-
Step 4: Take a look at the pads and check to see if they're leaking.
-
Step 5: Check the instrument's mechanism.
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Step 6: Make sure your corks are in good condition.
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Step 7: Decide if there's anything you want adjusted
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Step 8: even if it's not really something "wrong" with the instrument.
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Step 9: Take your instrument (and mental/written list of things to be done) down to the music store
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Step 10: and ask for a COA.
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Step 11: When the repair work is done
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Step 12: play-test your instrument
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Step 13: take it home
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Step 14: and enjoy it
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Step 15: now that it looks and plays its best.
Detailed Guide
While this should be obvious, it's good to be in the habit of being careful.
Don't drop it, use the case as a footrest, hold it in a way that can damage the keys, skip swabbing it, etc.
Taking care of your instrument can save you a lot of time at the repair shop and a good bit of money.
If you are alert and familiar with your instrument, you should notice almost immediately when something isn't working right.
However, there are some things that you may not notice when playing, so every so often, sit down and take a really good look at your instrument. , The "C" part of COA covers both cleaning the inside and cleaning the outside.
While the outside appearance of your instrument doesn't really affect your playing, most musicians want to keep their instruments looking nice, and if you try to sell it in the future, you'll be glad that you kept up its appearance.
Examine the keys of the instrument.
Are they in serious need of polishing? Is the plating coming off? You may want to see about having your instrument re-keyed or re-plated, if they look bad enough.
People with wooden instruments
- Is the wood cracked or badly scratched? Cracked wood can affect playing, and some scratches can be smoothed off.
Saxophone players
- What does the body of your sax look like? If it hasn't been polished in a while, it may look kind of dull and smudgy. , Take a look at the color and condition of the pads.
Color doesn't always affect playing ability, but if the pads are cracked, swollen, or growing mold, it might be time to replace them.
It may be that only some of the pads are in bad condition, in which case you can just get your instrument partially re-padded.
Check for leaks.
For most woodwinds, this can be done by taking each individual section of your instrument, covering all the holes with one hand, covering one end of the section with the palm of the other, and blowing into the open end.
You should not feel or hear any air escaping.
For saxophones, find a relatively small but high-powered flashlight, take your instrument into the dark, and either shine the flashlight through the top (without the neck), or lower it into the instrument on a swab string (if it's very small), and check to see if there's any light escaping.
Where there's light, there's a leak.
You may want to have someone else hold the flashlight for this.
This method can also work on some other woodwinds, but the flashlight will need to be a lot smaller, and you'll have to be very careful. , There may be bent rods, missing screws, badly oiled joints, or any number of things that you may not have noticed.
Play through the range of the instrument.
See if any notes are unusually hard to get out or are woefully out of tune.
This can indicate an issue with the keys, or it may be the pads again.
Make note if any of the keys are too hard or too easy to move
- you should be able to make a key move fairly easily, but there should be enough resistance that you can feel what you're doing.
Check carefully for bent rods or missing screws.
You may first be alerted if you notice that some keys "wiggle" when they shouldn't.
You may want to have a friend who plays the same instrument, a conductor, or a director take a second look, to see if you missed anything. , No section of the cork should be missing, spit shouldn't leak out between the sections, and the instrument should not fall apart or wiggle where the sections meet.
If you are experiencing any of these problems, get your instrument re-corked, or at least fix the cork(s) that are giving you trouble. , You may decide that it would be easier to play certain notes if a certain key was tightened or loosened slightly, you want your keys silver-plated instead of nickel-plated (since you've already decided to have it re-keyed), or things of that nature. , Ask how much it'll cost, and when you can pick your instrument up.
If not much is wrong, you may be able to walk out with in in a matter of minutes, or an hour or so.
If it's having anything major replaced (corks, keys, pads, etc.), you may be looking at a few days to a week. ,
About the Author
Deborah Brooks
Enthusiastic about teaching practical skills techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.
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