School Music Dept Maintenance Services

Supplying instruments to schools for 30 years provides our company with a wealth of experience - we know what goes on in a busy Music Department.  We have repaired countless keyboards and digital pianos over the years, and opened them up to find a variety of "foreign objects" jammed between and under the keys . . . guitar picks, hairslides, paperclips, love notes, pennies, but so far no £20 notes!

Repairing instruments and making them safe is our "emergency" service.  Re-soldering or replacing the headphone, output and power sockets which wear out in time can also been done on an "ad hoc" basis.

However, we do offer to West Country schools the option of a Maintenance Contract for 4 years.  This is how it works:-

1) We visit to undertake an "audit" of the equipment in the Music Department, and we estimate (ideally with your help) its age and any known problems to date.

2) We then prepare a estimate of carrying out the "emergency" work to at least get as much of the equipment working as practical - but not spending vital funds on repairing items which should be written off, if they should be BER (Beyond Economic Repair)

3) We then present the school's senior Management team with a proposed Maintenance Contract, which provides a costing of upgrading all the equipment in manageable "chunks" over a 4- year period.  This may include just keyboard and electronic equipment, or guitars and drums, music software and IT installations, orchestral instruments, or everything.

4) The Maintenance Contract may also provide a phased plan to replace old equipment over manageable budgetary periods.  Most musical equipment, if used heavily each day, will have a usable life-span of about 5 years, after which frequent repairs will be required.  In many schools we find teachers and pupils struggling to use equipment which has been played "to death" for 10 years or more.  Our plan will be to gradually write these items off, collect them and dispose of them along Dept of Environment guidelines.  We also recycle as many parts as we can.  Some of the work will be scheduled during half-term and holiday periods to minimise disruption.

5) Upon agreement of the contract, we will maintain a log of all equipment with serial numbers and a record of work done, and agree acceptable payment terms.  Any items sourced for replacement will be supplied at best educational discount prices by Starland Music and its partners, and the repair and maintenance work will be carried out by Keyboards Direct Ltd.

THE LONG VIEW

Frequently, a Music Dept has to be re-equipped because the problems have reached crisis proportions.  This can be a flash-point for crisis (especially when exam-time approaches) and is the cause of serious problems for teachers, students and finance managers alike.  As we have been doing this job for 30 years, we can take the long view and devise a sensible plan for the future, by a properly budgeted plan for regular maintenance and scheduled asset replacement for your Music Department.

To arrange a site visit (Cornwall, Devon & Somerset) please call us on 01752 313 300.