Philipp Hammig Grenadilla-Wood Piccolo

When we receive any new instrument into stock, that instrument has been on a whirlwind journey to reach us.

From the moment it leaves the factory, packed into boxes stacked high upon each other in containers, it is subject to vibrations, knocks, and temperature variations. Instruments sometimes arrive by air, but more commonly they arrive by boat. If you think where an instrument is likely to have travelled from - Japan, Taiwan and, increasingly, China - this can mean an instrument might spend up to 6 weeks in transit.

When it reaches the UK, the instrument may sit in a distributor's warehouse for a couple of months, before being couriered to us.

The upshot of this is that all woodwind and brass instruments need an amount of setting up before they are ready to be played. An instrument might occasionally 'work' without this, but if it's not absolutely spot-on you may experience problems.

However, we prefer to go one step further than 'working'.

We optimise every instrument we sell. This means:

• Ensuring that keys are sprung lightly and evenly - unless you've got fingers like Arnold Schwarzenegger, playing a heavily sprung instrument can be hard work and even lead to RSI
• Fitting joints properly - joints which do not fit well are very common on new instruments. Joints which are too tight will, 9 times out of 10, lead to bent tubing or keywork as you grasp harder to force the instrument together. Joints which are too loose have their own problems too
• Oiling keywork or valves - to ensure that the mechanics of the instrument are as smooth and quiet as possible
• Adjusting in padding - the pads on a woodwind instrument are prone to movement, which can mean an instrument is difficult to play or won't work at all. We check that everything is perfect, and not simply 'good enough'.