Short-term instrument rentals in New York and Connecticut.
From a single day
Delivered to your venue
Quote in one business day
Most airlines will make you buy a second seat for a cello. Land at JFK, LaGuardia or Newark and have the instrument waiting at your hotel or the concert hall instead. We rent concert-quality strings and band instruments for as little as a single day, anywhere in New York.
How a short-term rental works
Every short-term rental is quoted individually, because no two are the same. Four steps, and nothing is charged until you say yes.
1
Tell us what you need
Instrument, dates, and where it is going. Tell us the budget as well. We rent at every level we carry, and we will find the one that fits both the engagement and what you want to spend.
2
We quote you
Usually within one business day, including any delivery charge. Tight timeline? Call and we’ll work it out on the phone.
3
We prepare the instrument
Set up on our own bench for the player who is going to use it: strings, action, reeds, whatever it needs.
4
We bring it to you
To the venue, the hall, or your hotel. Or collect it from Norwalk or our New York location by appointment.
The person who brings your instrument can actually help you.
Most rental companies hand short-term deliveries to a courier. Someone arrives, leaves a case, and goes. If the bridge has shifted in transit, or the action feels wrong, or you want the strings a little different for the hall, there is nobody to ask.
We send a senior member of our own team. They’ll unpack it with you, check it over, make adjustments on the spot, and answer questions about the instrument you’re about to walk on stage with. It costs us more to do it that way, and it’s the part of the service our professional clients actually remember.
Our luthiers have worked on instruments backstage at Carnegie Hall before a concert. If something needs attention, we come to you.
What we rent short-term
Anything in our inventory can go out short-term, at any of the labels and lines we carry. A student violin for a few weeks and a concert cello for a single night are both ordinary requests here.
Strings
Violin, viola, cello, and double bass, in every size. Cello and bass are our most-requested short-term instruments, for the obvious reason: they are the ones you cannot bring on a plane.
Band & brass
Flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, French horn, and baritone horn, for pit orchestras, sessions, festivals and summer programs.
Silver Label, concert quality
Our Silver Label is the concert tier: instruments hand selected by Kenneth Kuo, for players who are walking on stage with them. Subject to availability, so give us as much notice as you can.
Silver Label
Silver Label is our concert tier, and it exists for short-term work rather than school-year rentals. A professional cellist himself and a student of instrument design, Kenneth Kuo builds each Silver Label cello to the design of a historic maker, carved from aged wood and oil varnished. He selects each one personally before it goes out.
Three models, made to order and available by request:
Montagnana
Modeled on Domenico Montagnana, 1686 to 1750, of whose instruments only 96 survive. A shorter body and wider middle give a deep, rich bass. Yo-Yo Ma plays a 1733 Montagnana.
Rogeri
Built to the 18th century measurements of Pietro Giacomo Rogeri, with oil varnish and highly flamed wood for a warm, refined tone.
Stradivarius
Following the later Cremonese designs of Antonio Stradivari, the most recognizable in the world. Roughly 650 originals exist, and one sold at auction for $3.54 million.
Beyond Silver Label. For a soloist or a principal player we can sometimes arrange something rarer, including antique instruments more than a hundred years old. Tell us what the engagement is on the form and we will come back to you.
Who rents short-term
Short-term means anything shorter than our ten-month school-year rental. In practice, that’s a wide range of people:
- Musicians traveling to New York to perform. Our instruments have been played at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Merkin Concert Hall, and at concert halls, churches, schools and community stages across the tri-state area.
- Students with an audition or competition. Sometimes a better instrument for a week is the difference, and it’s a sensible thing to rent rather than buy.
- Touring groups and visiting ensembles. Multi-instrument orders delivered to a single venue, the sort of thing that is hard to arrange from another country.
- Summer programs and festivals. A few weeks or a few months, rather than a school year.
- Anyone trying an instrument before committing. Adults returning to playing, or a student unsure whether to switch, renting for a month answers the question cheaply.
Who has played our instruments
Short-term work has taken our instruments to some places we’re quietly proud of. A selection:
- Members of the Prague Chamber Orchestra, for a performance at Merkin Concert Hall
- The Stuttgart Youth Orchestra, visiting from Germany
- Members of the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra and the American High School Honors Orchestra, performing at Carnegie Hall
- Soloists traveling from as far as the Netherlands and Malaysia for performances in Manhattan
- Guests of the Mandarin Oriental, through the hotel
If you’re coming from abroad and the logistics look impossible from where you’re sitting, they probably aren’t. Tell us the dates and the venue and we’ll work it out.
★★★★★
“While in NYC I needed a quality cello to play for folks from Carnegie Hall. Rental Instrument came through with flying colors, a fabulous cello with a beautiful tone that was easy to get around on.”
Kathy Rad
Education Director, Tulsa Symphony Orchestra
★★★★★
“The instruments sounded excellent in a professional setting.”
Matt Buttermann
Jazz at Lincoln Center, Education Department
Already renting from us? Ask about a loaner first.
If your rented instrument is in for repair, we provide a loaner at no extra cost for as long as the repair takes, subject to availability. That is part of your rental, not a separate transaction.
If your student is without their instrument for some other reason, a concert tomorrow and the case left at school, call us before you order anything. The pricing on this page is for people who do not have a rental with us. If you do, there is usually a simpler answer.
Short-term rental questions
The questions performers and visiting musicians ask us most. Browse all questions.
What happens to an instrument between renters?
Every returning instrument goes through the same two-station process, and no instrument skips it: a full cleaning and sanitizing first, brass bathed in the dip tanks and every mouthpiece sanitized, then a separate checker who actually plays it, every key, valve, and slide, before it can go out again.
What’s the minimum short-term rental period?
A single day. Rentals are priced by the week, but if you need a cello for one concert on Saturday, that is a job we will happily take, and one a lot of rental houses will not.
How much does a short-term rental cost?
It depends on the instrument, the level, how long you need it, and whether we are delivering, which is why we quote rather than publish a rate. A single-day cello delivered to a Manhattan venue and a month-long flute collected in Norwalk are not comparable.
Where do you deliver short-term rentals?
Throughout Manhattan and across Connecticut, and to venues around the tri-state area. Delivery is quoted with the rental rather than charged at a flat rate, because it depends on where you are and when you need it.
How far ahead should I book a short-term rental?
As early as you can, particularly December through the spring, which is our busiest short-term season.
What if the instrument needs adjusting once I have it?
Tell us. We have our own repair bench, and our technicians have worked on instruments backstage before a performance.
Tell us what you need and when.
Tell us the instrument, the dates, the venue and the budget, and we will come back with a quote, usually within one business day. Nothing is charged until you confirm. If the timeline is tight, calling is often faster.