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| An unfortunately large proportion of the repairs that I see in my workshop are caused, or made more difficult, by mis-handling and poor maintenance. Here are a few rules which, if followed, may reduce the overall cost of your repairs and the frequency. 1. Always store the instrument in its case when not in use. Plated instruments tarnish very quickly if left in the open air, the mechanism will become dusty, cause loss of lubrication and lead to noisy mechanism and binding. 2. Never grasp the mechanism when assembling the instrument, always hold the joints where there are no keys, where possible. The most common faults I see are bent key-arms, bent trill rods and distorted joint tenons - almost invariably caused by sloppy handling. 3. Always dry the moisture from the instrument after every use using an absorbent, lint-free, cotton cloth or pull-through. Moisture left inside the instrument will cause sticky, leaky pads and rusted mechanism. In wooden instruments it will cause swelling and splitting. 4. Clean fingermarks from the surface of plated instruments after use, using a lint-free soft cloth or mild Polishing cloth if tarnishing is severe. Perspiration acids can cause plating to peel off. In severe cases the acids cause heavy tarnishing and also severe corrosion of the mechanism. 5. Use grease only on cork jointed instruments. Grease is intended to keep the cork lubricated, on metal joints it only attracts dirt and causes joints to become even tighter. If metal joints are tight then try cleaning them with a silver cloth (inside and out), if they are still tight then it is possible they have become distorted. You should take the instrument to a reputable repairer (i.e. me!) to have the joints properly fitted. 6. Cigarette papers, powder papers, chalk, graphite, crisp dollar notes, should never be used to clean 'sticky' pads. Prevention is better than cure, don't eat or drink immediately before playing, always dry the instrument out. All of the above 'cures' cause further problems, cigarette papers when misused will tear pads, an expensive thing to fix! 7. Always have your instrument serviced regularly. This means your instrument is kept clean and oiled properly, problems which start to develop are usually caught before they become serious. Your instrument will always be in its best condition and also will hold its value. |