French horn questions, answered by our band repair team. Horn has a reputation as the hardest band instrument and it’s earned — the notes sit very close together, so beginners crack them constantly, and that’s normal rather than a sign of the wrong instrument. Care is different from other brass too: rotary valves, not pistons, oiled in specific places, with a braided string linkage that eventually snaps and stops a key working entirely.
Yes, two ways. Yamaha is one of the manufacturers in our B Line, along with Jupiter, Selmer, Buffet and Gemeinhardt. We also rent a Premium Yamaha Line on five instruments, in the specific models school programs most often specify: the…
It depends on the line. A Line instruments are brand new, and they arrive with everything new, mouthpiece included. B Line and C Line instruments have been played before. Each of those is stripped down and restored on our bench,…
That is a reasonable instinct, and we would rather a teacher raised it than said nothing. Instruments do turn up in school music rooms that arrived from an online seller and cannot be played properly, and a teacher who has…
Usually a broken rotor string, the braided cord that connects the finger lever to the rotary valve inside. It is a normal wear item on a French horn, and it goes without warning, often mid-rehearsal, which is why it always…
Bring it to us or to the band director. A purpose-made tool called a mouthpiece puller removes a stuck mouthpiece in under a minute without leaving a mark, most band rooms and every competent shop have one, and it is…
Usually yes, but the honest answer is that it depends on the child, because every mouth is different and so are the braces. Most students play straight through, with orthodontic wax on the brackets and a few weeks of patience,…