Hey, I was going to take my flute, clarinet, sax, piccolo, and trumpet to get it cleaned at my local music store. My question is: Is there a better way that I can do it myself without spending a fortune? I also have a few tarnished spots on my trumpet and does anyone know how to get rid of those without taking it in?

Wow, you play the same stuff as me! I play Trumpet, Clarinet, Flute, Piccolo, Piano, Recorder, and I just got a violin. About the cleaning, to avoid needing to clean the instruments professionally, you should wipe the outside of everything with a soft cloth when done playing. On the flute, piccolo, clarinet, and sax you should clean the inside with the pull through cloth, or cleaning rod. For trumpet ALWAYS empty the condensation by using both of the water keys. The valve water key only empties when you press the valves down. I recently saw a video about cleaning your instrument and the stuff that can grow in it if you don`t. Needless to say I clean my instruments now.

A general music store should only charge around $30 for a clean, oil, and adjust (COA). A more professional flute specialist may charge upwards of $150, but even they can be mediocre.

Try asking your band director if he/she knows of a good repair place in your area.

You can also try the following listings for repair people in your area if you don`t have anyone around you that can give you a recommendation:
http://www.straubingerflutes.net/pad_technician.html
http://www.napbirt.org/tech_loc.htm

I would only need to pay money in order to belong to NAPBIRT, so take take too much from membership there! I know of some very low quality workmanship coming from a NAPBIRT member.

From what I hear in forums, I would not trust a band director either. Ask WELL-established players and teachers of flute in your area, who they recommend. you must ask enough for a pattern to emerge, in order to get past those who are basing recommendations on personal friendships, or cut-backs, rather than workmanship.

... then resist the temptation to depend on something REALLY unreliable. Hunt HARDER for VALID recommendations.

Me thinks thou dost protest too much

Me thinks so too. A certains someone is acting really juvenile with all this name changing. For heavens sake... be a man!
It is really hard to take someone seriosly when they don`t have a real identity. Get one and stick to it.

Um, yeah...the REAL Jessie takes offense at this...I think this is the second time my name has been borrowed, and, although it is a common name for things like this, I really don`t like it when some people mistake me for the other `Jessie`, even though it isn`t their fault... Just... Who ever is doing this, please find a different name!

There are probably a higher percentage of good techs in Napbirt than not. So if no other reccomendations are found, best bet may be from a Napbirt member.

Struabinger certified technicians are the most highly experienced techs out there. There are only around 100 people certified for this. I highly doubt the only way to get a good cleaning is from 100 people on the continent. Cleaning an instrument is not rocket science.
At least you know a straubinger tech will do a good job.

"Struabinger certified technicians are the most highly experienced techs out there."

In my experience of seeing work that has been done by some of these Straubinger technicians, I would say that this is a totally incorrect asumption, unless my standards are way higher than those of other good technicians, which I sincerely doubt.

I assumed since struabinger pads are the hardest to work with and Struabinger will only let a certified tech work on them, there is difference in skill.

Staubinger pads are perfectly flat and hard. It is very hard to seal these pads. It will be very easy for a straubinger pad to leak if not exactly perfectly fit on tonehole. Most likely a flute with Straubinger pads job has very soft metal. If just held wrong the tone hole can shift and have a slight leak since there is no give at all on struabinger pads.
Since the pad now leaks it looks like tehcnician did a bad job.

Instruments with these pad jobs also get shipped places due to not many techs work on them. Dropping a gold flute in its case will definatly shift things, and mail carriers dont care.

People are also human and noone can do a perfect job every single time.

Jessie, I was talking about KODs post. I wish ar*k would stick to a name and keep it. ..funny how all of a sudden a bunch of new names are posting.

I thought I would chime to say that I have have taken my flute to a very well respected flute repair person who is highly regarding for his restoration work and is Straubinger certified.

I had my E pad replaced. He dented the center insert.
When I picked up my flute there was play in the E key and obvious striking of screws upon bare metal.
The play was was fixed and paper shims were placed beneath all my screws.
The final adjustments on my flute after the paper shims were place were ADJUSTED BY THE SCREWS WITH NO TYPE OF SEALANT to prevent the screws from just moving out of adjustment.
I have been plagued with my A screw moving out of adjustment in less than a minute of playing since.

Rather than going back for a third time I used a clear nail polish top coat and am rid of flute repair people unless my flute really needs to be repaired.

This was a $120 adjustment + $20 for pad by Paul Rabinov.

There is no guarantee of quality from ANYONE.

That is sad. I got so tired of running into this myself that I learned how to fix flutes.That way I knew it was getting done right then. I NEVER do a half a$$ job. It should be done right the first time.