Can we move up to a better instrument partway through the year?

Yes, and there is no penalty for it. There is a change of instrument form for exactly this. You pay the difference in the monthly rate for the months remaining in your rental, the insurance is recalculated for the new instrument, and that is the whole of it. No fee, and nothing lost from what you have already paid.

When families do this. Usually in the second year, sometimes partway through the first. A student who was uncertain in September is practicing every day by February, a teacher mentions they are ready for more, or the family decides the instrument is worth it now that the student has stayed with it. All of those are ordinary.

What you gain by moving up. More tone available, and a fuller sound to draw on. It is not something a beginner hears in the first months, which is why we do not push anyone into a higher label at the start. It becomes audible once a student is playing enough to ask more of the instrument.

If your student is also due a size change, we can do both at once. Size exchanges are free for string renters, so the only thing you pay is the difference in the label.

Call rather than fill anything in first. We will tell you what the difference works out to for your remaining months before you commit, and if you are better off waiting until the next rental year, we will tell you that too.