How does "Cleaning Day" work?

Our "Make it Work" Service for your woodwinds & brass but including cleaning/sterilization, done assembly-line style and at your school. We're happy to include your Staff, Student or Parent volunteers who want to learn & participate, which lowers your time & cost. 

• requires access to a sink, at least (2) 15A outlets on different circuits, and several tables
• flat rate of $25/hour per Tech, plus parts for any instruments serviced at your location
• we bring the tools and equipment so that most instruments can be cleaned & adjusted onsite, eliminating cartage fees
• any instruments needing more work brought back to our shop and returned by a mutually agreed-upon date
• percussion repairs/adjustments available, as well as drum/tympani/drumline tuning (inquire for details)

1. I come  to your school & do a quick survey with you, and look at everything.  This can be before the end of the school year.
2. We then schedule 1 or 2 days for the cleaning/Make It Work service, based upon the number & condition of the instruments. This would ideally be after whenever your last day of school/parades/etc. is - no point in cleaning something that's still going to be played and then stored for the summer with new Monster/Takis/ McDonald's blown into it; if a kid is going to be playing all summer using the same instrument that's fine.
3. Prep on your end – for the cleaning day(s) I'll need access to the      rooms/lockers/instruments, a sink with water, power, and some tables for layout and working.  If anyone else is helping clean, they'll need space too. Plastic folding tables are fine and clean up easily – I need (3) decent tables plus more for “helpers.”
4. Prep on my end - I bring all of the tools/supplies needed for the cleaning days - including scrub tubs and a chem dip - and an assortment of small parts for quick fixes.
5. On "cleaning day," we go thru each instrument - inspect, do a quick play-test to find obvious problems, quickly wipe down/blow out/vacuum/de-scent the case, and then clean the instrument if the horn is OK. Mouthpieces go in the dip and then get      scrubbed/buffed/de-dented, brass is disassembled and scrubbed/de-limed/flushed, woodwinds get a chem swab scrub, everything gets blown out/dried with compressed air, instrument is re-oiled/greased/etc. and tested, and then restocked if you do that.  We could have a bunch of folks doing the cleaning part - the more folks, the faster the overall process.  I can bring enough cleaning supplies for everyone.

As for how much time per instrument: just cleaning a functional woodwind is about 10 minutes each, not counting drying time.  Functional brass takes a few minutes more due to valves/etc. & usually more time de-liming.  Mouthpieces of any kind are about two minutes each unless they also need buffing/de-denting.  Then, whatever the reassemble/regrease process is for corks, valves, slides, keys, etc. on that instrument.  The more people doing the "scrub-a-dub-dub," the faster this whole part gets done.

After the cleaning, I'll do needed adjustments on another table - like adjusting flute headcorks, minor woodwind key regulations & regulation keycorks, sticking valves/slides, waterkey corks, etc.  Minor resoldering (if there’s no needed dentwork), pad re-mounting/seating, reseating waterkey and regulation corks, & little supplies like that are included in the flat fee.   

New replacement pads/waterkey corks/tenon corks, felts & guides, ligature/tenon screws, and any other replacements are charged on a wholesale cost basis – you get charged what I pay for them plus WI sales tax because I have to settle up with the state at the end of each year. 

Anything major like larger de-denting, out-of-round valve casings, tenon repair, stack straightening, really mis-aligned key cups, bent keys/rods, replacing entire pad sets, etc., I'll have to bring back to the shop so I can use my more specialized equipment, but those instruments could still be cleaned that day to save time on the deeper work.

I personally don't provide "restock" - i.e. I don't bring expendables like swabs, lyres, ligatures, replacement mouthpieces, new reeds/grease/oil to put into the case, etc.   If you have those things available at the school, we will replace those as part of the case cleaning process but I don't bring them myself – or you could replace them when you issue the instrument again in the Fall.

I charge a flat fee of $25 an hour for me and whoever else I bring (often my wife, Cindy), which is why I want to come do a survey first, so we can have a ballpark of what this will entail time-wise.  Assuming there aren't a LOT of repairs/adjustments needed, this could get done in a single 8-hour day if at least a couple more people are available to help do the scrub-a-dub-dub work which frees me up to do more regulations/repairs. These people could be you, parents, students, whoever – I’ll show everyone what to do.

If you personally can't be there for the cleaning day(s), but can work out a check-in/check-out for me @ the office so I have access, that would still work.  I definitely need you & I to personally meet on the survey day, though - besides, you've got the locker keys!

Please contact me so we can set up a date for the initial instrument survey for your woodwind and brass instruments. I also do percussion repair/tuning, but that may need to be on a separate day from the horn cleaning days.