Service Information

Scheduling, Billing & General Information

It is critical that you contact us, prior to shipping us your instrument. All scheduling, billing and general information is directed to Rachael and detailed repair questions are directed to Paul. Shipping will depend on Paul’s current office location, which is why touching base is so important.

About Shipping

Flute Arts has a few recommendations to make regarding shipping your instrument.

Shippers charge by weight and by dimension of the package. Flute boxes, specially made for shipping flutes, are ideal because of the packing material inside. It is lightweight and provides ample protection. If you do not have a flute box, we can ship one to you before your appointment. There is a flat fee for the box, but they are reusable, and therefore not expensive over the lifetime of the box. Instruments shipped without adequate packaging are sometimes damaged in shipping. If you don’t use a flute box, please have at least two inches of padding around the flute and on both ends.

If you want to save a little money, take the heavy things out of your case cover before you pack it. We don’t need the pens, tuners, metronomes or lead blocks (actually we could use the lead blocks) that often accompany flutes, so keep them with you and that will bring the weight down. This makes a bigger difference at the Post Office than it does at most of the other shippers, because they charge mainly by weight, while the others charge mainly on the basis of dimensions.

Most importantly, make sure your instrument is insured for shipping! Flute Arts will will not ship an instrument that is not insured for damage, theft or loss in shipping. If you do not have coverage for shipping, either through your home-owners policy (for shipping, it will probably need to be a rider on your policy, but check with your insurance agent) or through Clarion, we recommend that you buy the insurance offered by the carrier. They each have their own types, and they have their own fee structures, so you will want to investigate that for yourself. We work as hard as we can to make sure that instruments are shipped reliably. Shipping does incur some risk, however, and you want to make sure you are protected against that risk.

Pads

Flute Arts uses the finest pads available in the service of your instruments. At the same time, we want to work with the kinds of pads that make our customers comfortable. To date we have used two different kinds of Lucien Deluxe pads, both of them pressed felt, as well as the world-renowned Straubinger pads and JS Gold pads, designed and produced by Jim Schmidt at JS Engineering in California.

To those less familiar with the JS Gold pads, the construction of the pad is similar to the Straubinger, using a shell, which holds the pad material. While the Straubinger pad has a bladder-skin surface wrapped around the shell, the Schmidt pad has a gold surface tucked into the shell. It is both beautiful and durable. Better still, it has wonderful acoustic attributes. The highly reflective surface of the pad makes for a full, resonant sound. At the same time, it is focused and warm, perhaps some would say “creamy.”

BLACK GOLD pads have gold particles embedded directly into the film. They also have a significant portion of black dry lubricant (MOS2) embedded into the surface along with the gold to prevent sticking. This dry lubricant darkens the surface color of the “Black Gold” pads.

PURE GOLD pad are the same as the black gold pad except that it has an extremely thin layer of gold added to the surface. This is our high end pad and it shines with a rich and wonderful tone.

From a repairman’s point of view, they are simple to work with, and once level, they are stable.

Warranty

COA: A clean, oil and adjust service job has a 3 month warranty and will cover both parts and labor performed by Flute Arts. The warranty may be voided if mishandled, due to negligence on the part of the client or if a repair is done on the instrument by another craftsperson before consultation with Flute Arts.

OH: An Overhaul service job has a 6 month warranty and will cover both parts and labor performed by Flute Arts. The warranty may be voided if mishandled, due to negligence on the part of the client or if a repair is done on the instrument by another craftsperson before consultation with Flute Arts.

Adjustment: Adjustments will not be warrantied.

Please see our Rates page for information on the cost of repairing your instrument.