5 TellTale Signs It's Time to Replace vs. Repair Your Musical Instruments

Maintaining a healthy, functioning inventory of musical instruments is vital for any school fine arts program. From beginner bands to advanced orchestras, students need reliable tools to develop their skills. But school owned instruments endure heavy use—often by multiple students year after year. Also consider the wear and tear instruments and their cases endure for organizations that travel frequently. Loading instruments on trucks and buses can take its toll, and eventually, repair isn’t sustainable.

Often music educators do everything possible to keep an instrument active in their inventory. I’ve seen dents in instruments so severe that the instrument couldn’t possibly play in tune. I’ve also seen instruments held together by duct tape, just so a student would have something to play at the Friday night football game. While it is good to be resourceful in a pinch, the hard truth is that dents in brass instruments can only be removed so many times before the metal becomes so thin, that hammering them out again will only create a hole in the metal. Likewise with woodwind and string instruments, cracks can only be repaired so many times until the integrity of the instrument is compromised.

Knowing when to replace an instrument versus when to repair it helps school administrators and music educators make smart budget decisions, ensure student success, and promote musical excellence.

5 Crucial Signs an Instrument Should Be Replaced

Here are a few key indicators that show it’s time to consider replacement:

• Frequent breakdowns even after professional repairs
• Excessive wear due to age, especially for instruments 15+ years old
• Outdated models that lack compatibility or have obsolete parts
• Damage that compromises playability, such as cracked bodies or broken valves
• Excessive repair costs—usually if repairs exceed 50% of the instrument’s value

Administrators and purchasing officials should consider instrument purchases just like other capital outlay purchases that are made. Buses, for example, will only be used until the cost of repairs exceed the value and/or the condition of the bus is a safety concern for students. Items like copy machines, are built to last for a certain number of copies. Once that number is reached, it is usually more financially feasible to replace the machine instead of investing in costly repairs. A recent search returned this information. “Ultimately, schools should evaluate if the ongoing costs of maintaining and repairing older copiers outweigh the benefits of investing in a new machine that is more efficient, secure, and meets current needs.” Shouldn’t the same be considered for musical instruments? Let me offer an example that will hit even closer to many of you - your mobile phone. Most of us upgrade to a newer model once the software is not operating reliably or the cracks in a screen are impeding the usability.

Regular inspections of your inventory are vital to maintaining the quality of your instruments as well as gathering ongoing data to support either repair or replacement. The following examples of simple rubrics will help make those determinations.

Brass Instruments

Common issues:

• Stuck or bent valves/slides
• Dents in tubing that affect tone or airflow
• Worn lacquer or corrosion from improper storage

When to replace:

• Valves or slides are damaged beyond repair or wear out repeatedly
• Repeated removal of dents in common problem areas (thinning of metal)
• Corrosion inside the tubing (especially red rot in brass)
• Structural damage causing air leaks

Woodwind Instruments

Common issues:

• Warped or cracked wood (especially in clarinets and oboes)
• Pad deterioration causing leaks
• Bent keys or misaligned mechanisms

When to replace:

• Keywork is misaligned beyond cost-effective repair
• Tone holes or bodies are cracked (especially wood models)

String Instruments

Common issues:

• Cracked bodies or fingerboards
• Strings that are difficult to tune won’t hold their pitch
• Broken bridges or worn fingerboards

When to replace:

• Cracks in the sound post area or along seams
• Pegboxes or scrolls are damaged beyond repair
• Cost of setup (new bridge, strings, fingerboard repair) exceeds value

Percussion Instruments

Common issues:

• Warped drum shells or cracked heads
• Worn out mallet instrument bars
• Broken pedals, mechanical parts, or frames

When to replace:

• Drum shells are cracked or warped, affecting tone and durability
• Key mechanical parts (like timpani tuning systems) no longer function
• Replacement parts are no longer available
• Percussion equipment is no longer adequate for curriculum (e.g., mallet instruments with limited range)

Develop a Strategy for Maintaining Instrument Excellence

1. Inventory Rotation Plan:

Adopt a 5–10 year rotation plan to phase out the oldest instruments while budgeting for new purchases each year. Also consider growth and retention for your program so you don’t end up in a situation where you have more students than working instruments for those students. Analyze your retention and growth rates, and then build your plan around those averages. This is why getting a solid grip on your program data and knowing your numbers is imperative for your program’s success. Read more about my three strategies for Nailing your Program’s Annual Budget Pitch here.

2. Instrument Tracking:

Use a digital inventory system, such as one provided by CutTime, to monitor data such as age, condition, and repair history. Take into consideration the lifespan and depreciation of your instruments. CutTime provides the depreciation values based on the purchase date you enter and can feed customized reports with the hard data needed to help you advocate for replacing instruments.

3. Prioritize Replacements by Need:

Every student should have access to a good quality instrument in order for them to be successful. Concentrate first on the “need to have” instruments and consider the “nice to have” instruments (such as specialty instruments such as Eb clarinets, English Horn, take-home instruments, etc.) as budgets allow.

4. Include Replacement in the Budget:

Include line items in your annual budget for both maintenance and replacement. If you are a program that doesn't compete as often, you may be able to make do with more repairs. But a program that is very active in competitions, does lots of travel, sees more wear and tear, etc., may need to replace their instruments more often.

Smart Instrument Replacement is Essential to Success

Replacing school instruments isn’t just about wear and tear—it’s about ensuring students have the tools they need to succeed in their learning and performance. By monitoring condition, usage, and performance, educators and administrators can make smart, proactive decisions that preserve the integrity of their music programs.

When students play instruments that function properly and sound great, they’re more likely to stay engaged, improve faster, and experience the joy of music to the fullest.