How to Take Optimal Care of Your Oboe with an Oboe Insurance?

Being an oboist is not an easy task. You need to brush up your skills continuously to master those strange chords and all those quarter tones for improving your performance. But there is much more to it than just playing your oboe well. If you do not take the utmost care of your valuable instrument, your efforts will be at stake! Whether you are a professional musician or a small local band member, you just cannot ignore the health and safety of your instrument. It is essential to maintain and deal with your oboe carefully. At the same time, you also need to ensure complete financial protection for it with an all-encompassing oboe insurance policy. So here, we have come up with a brief guide to taking care of your oboe from all aspects.

How to Keep Your Oboe as Good as New?

Before safeguarding your oboe with a musical instrument insurance policy, let us learn a few ways to keep it looking and playing like new always. Here are some sure-fire tricks to give your instrument the best possible care:

1. Keep It Clean and Tidy

A tiny paintbrush is all you need to keep your oboe clean. Simply brush all the dust, dirt, and debris off its rods to guarantee the optimal functionality of the keys.

2. Oil the Key Mechanism

Dip the end of a feather into a tiny drop of organic almond oil and oil the bore. Doing it at least once a month will prolong the mechanical life of the instrument by preventing rust, corrosion, and cracks. However, make sure that you do not end up dripping oil into tone holes or onto pads.

3. Do Not Play a Cold Oboe

If your oboe is cold, wait for some time before you blow warm air through it so that it reaches the room temperature naturally. Playing a cold instrument will cause cracks in the spot between the tone holes, the area above the half hole, the top of the middle joint, and the top of the bell.

4. Use a Room Humidifier

Invest in a room humidifier to avert serious issues like bore shrinkage and cracks in your oboe. Cold weather and low humidity not only impact the performance of your instrument negatively but also steal years of its useful playing life. You can even consider purchasing a small case humidifier to humidify your instrument while it is in transit.

5. Polish the Plating Regularly

Get silver polishing cloth to keep the plating of your oboe intact. This helps get rid of darkness resulted from tarnish, pitting, and so on.

How to Insure Your Oboe for Extra Care?

Now, as you have learned to handle your beloved oboe the proper way, it is time to shield it financially for the future. Only customized oboe insurance can offer that much-needed ‘special care’ to your instrument. Just keep the following points in mind while insuring it:

•    Find a reliable and customer-oriented policy provider that will understand the actual value of your oboe and provide it with all-round protection.
•    Ensure that your chosen insurance company has wide-ranging programs with extensive coverage to accommodate all types of musicians.
•    Go for stand-alone musical instrument insurance instead of an add-on that comes along with homeowners' insurance to enjoy greater benefits.
•    Choose a good insurance plan, which covers the most common liabilities, such as theft, fire, flood, loss, accidental damage, repairing, etc.
•    Try to get customized coverage that is exclusively developed to protect your oboe at the studio as well as while being played on-stage.
•    Look for competitive premium rates, which will suit your pocket easily without compromising with your requirements.

As an oboist, you need to consider your oboe is your lifeline. Exposing it to any kind of risk can leave a void. Hence, maintain it well and partner with the right insurance company to gift it a long life.

Buying a New Clarinet? Here are the Factors to Consider

An artistic clarinet is, indeed, a life-enriching investment for any musician. But with so many choices available around, purchasing the best items having the distinctive dark, earthy tones and a wide range of notes can be really challenging. While clarinet insurance can safeguard your instrument from a number of uncertainties, you should take preventive measures by considering all important factors before making the investment itself. Here is a perfect guide to get you started.

Types of Clarinet

There are lots of models in the clarinet family, which are categorized based on their sizes, styles, and tunings. Explore them to know about the playing situations where they fit in the best:

•    Soprano Clarinets: This sub-family of the instrument contains multiple models with a long, thin body, which are usually different from each other in their tunings and sound profiles. 

•    Bb Clarinets: Being an instrument with a huge repertoire of music, it is considered as the most common choice for beginners. It is mostly suitable for jazz, swing, and Dixieland.

•    Clarinets: Known as the favorite of classical clarinetists, this type of clarinet can supplement the Bb instrument too.

•    Eb Clarinets: Bb and instruments are replaced with this one for playing higher notes. It is widely used by intermediate- and advanced-level players in orchestras and concert bands, who are ready to expand their skills through advanced fingerings.

•    Bass Clarinets: This clarinet is larger than its counterparts with an upward-facing bell and a peg at the base for proper positioning on the floor. The deep, sweet tone of the instrument goes very well with classical, orchestral, jazz, and pop music.

•    Harmony Clarinets: It is a rare category of the instrument, which produces harmonies instead of carrying melodies.

Features of a Clarinet

Once the type is chosen, look for the right technical specifications. Let us explain all the key features of a clarinet to make the task easy for you:

1.    Body Material: For beginners and students, a clarinet made of ABS resin (hard plastic) or a rubber composite material is fine. It is lightweight, crack-resistant, and susceptible to thermal fluctuations. However, a pricier item made of Grenadilla Wood or African Blackwood is used by advanced students and professionals. Though it is heavy, fragile, and easily damaged by extreme weather conditions, it offers an enhanced tone with better resonance.

2.    Keys and Plating: Typically, the keys on the instrument are plated with nickel or silver. Preferred by professionals and used by students as well as beginners, the nickel-plated keys are lightweight, durable, and somewhat shiny. On the other hand, the silver-plated keys add weight to the instrument, thereby producing a slightly darker tone. The super glossy appearance also gets ruined due to tarnishing and requires extra care.

3.    Bore Design: The bore of a clarinet (the inner dimension from the mouthpiece down to the bell) comes in a variety of sizes and styles. Students and beginners can go for small or medium-sized bores to keep in tune while professionals can easily manage the flexibility of the pitch delivered by larger bores. Similarly, the sounds produced by cylindrical-bore clarinets are large with great volume while those created by poly cylindrical-bore clarinets have superior intonation and greater ring.

4.    Reed Strength: Beginners should always start on softer reeds and move onto the harder ones gradually as they build up strength. Also, inexpensive regular-cut reeds are good for most students and amateurs while advanced clarinetists like the quick response of French-file reeds.

That’s all. Now, make a wise decision and pick the right instrument for yourself. Also, do not forget to buy reliable clarinet insurance along with it to stay prepared for unpredictable disasters.

Ensure Peace of Mind with a Comprehensive Piccolo Insurance

Your piccolo is delicate, expensive, and beautiful. Don’t you think that you need to protect it from the uncertainties of the future? If you are an artist and are unaware of what Piccolo Insurance is, read on!

Musical Instrument Insurance - An Overview

Musical instrument and accessories insurance is a dedicated coverage, specially designed for music professionals. However, many people, including musicians, music shop owners, and music enthusiasts are unaware that such insurance policies are available in the market at competitive rates. Some also mistake their homeowners', business, or renter’s insurance policies to be a decent cover for their musical instruments.

However, any insurance that does not address the unique needs of the musicians is likely to compensate up to $2000 against the claims made. And, a cover of up to $2000 might not be sufficient for repairing or buying new instruments. Therefore, customer-friendly insurance companies also offer standalone musical instrument insurance plans.

How is the Total Cost of Insurance Calculated?

Quite obviously, the cost of musical instrument insurance policies will vary depending on the type, model, and make of the gears. How much do the prices vary? Well, when discussing insurance covers with a potential insurance service provider, you should provide them with an inventory of the instruments and accessories you want to insure. Your insurance premiums are decided based on the classification of your items and their total value. This is how the total cost of your Piccolo insurance is calculated.

Re-buy or update?

As a musician, you’re likely to add new gears to your collection frequently. So, do you need to re-buy a policy, every time you buy something new, or you can include it onto your existing policy? Most of the customer-oriented and reliable insurers provide their customers with the ease of managing and maintaining the list of covered instruments under them, as and when needed. On updating the list, they will calculate the difference in the premium and update accordingly.

What Aspects does Musical Instrument Plan Cover?

Are musical instrument insurance plans limited to theft and damage or there is more to it? Well, when it comes to such gears, theft is one of the most commonly reported issues. So, yes, gear insurance plans do cover theft. However, they cover accidental damage and breakage too. With a reliable service provider, you also get the assurance of worldwide coverage against losses like fire, theft, vandalism, damages caused due to elements of nature such as rain, thunderstorm, flood, earthquake, etc. Moreover, they also cover loss or damage suffered during transit.

No Room for Intentional Damage!

And, what if you intentionally break your piccolo out of adrenaline rush or something else? No, intentional damage is not covered. 

How Long Does It Take To Issue A Policy?

With the best insurance service provider, you are more likely to get same-day policy issuance, if you want. Over the years, they have been keeping no stone unturned to provide their customers with the best possible services. Issuing insurance policies are no different.

Does It Claim Settlement You’re Worried About?

How much time does it take to settle a claim? Well, claim settlement mainly depends on the facts. So, the timing depends on - how much time did you take to report the police in case of theft or prepare an estimate of replacement or repair in case of accidental damage, matters here. There are situations when you are traveling, and you can wrap up the loose ends until you have returned. However, the process of claim settlement, in general, usually takes 1 to 2 days with a good service provider.

And, Before You Sign On The Dotted Lines…

So, now that you know that as a piccolo player, how badly you need a Piccolo Insurance, it's time to find a reliable and experienced service provider. And, while doing so, you might get confused owing to the ample availability of options in the market. But, don’t worry! By doing thorough research about your potential choices, you can find a good one.

Make sure to ask for price quotations from multiple insurance companies. Also, be very careful while declaring your assets because your insurer will underwrite instruments and accessories based on the information you provided.

Once you are assured that whatever’s written on your policy papers are good to go, and then only sign on those dotted lines. If you sign your policy copy without reading, you might end up making a mistake. Therefore, reputable service providers ask their customers to read the documents carefully before signing.

Be an informed buyer, choose the right Piccolo Insurance, and enjoy peace of mind.