You may have noticed by now, we don't do things the way most businesses do. We actually care about your family and their musical experience. We do have contracts with some legal jargon. Our expectations are pretty simple....
Rent means you pay every month and lease means you pay one lump sum at the beginning and that will cover you until June 20 of the next summer. If your child wants to continue, you can release at that point.
We will want a chance to clean the instrument once a year, usually at the end of the lease period. When you've rented or leased long enough to pay for the instrument, it then belongs to you. We will clean it again and warranty it for a year.
We start you out with an instrument we like. All of us at Clearwater are musicians and teachers. If you know what you're looking at, you are welcome to pick it out. If not, like most of our customers, you'll learn a lot over the year so at the other end of the school year, we'll talk about if your money is best spent on the instrument you currently have or another based on budget, how much your child practiced, how many times I saw you for repairs, and how likely the child will continue for years to come. In the end, the decision is yours.
If your child starts on clarinet and decides they really want to play trombone, that's fine. We transfer the money over. If the child damaged the instrument more than normal and you got the insurance, still fine. If you didn't get the insurance, I charge you half of the normal charge to fix it. The rest will be applied to the "trombone." The money does need to stay with that child. If we were to accumulate the balance from all of your children to buy one instrument, I would wind up giving away instruments and be out of business in short order. I don't charge enough to absorb that.
String instruments are a little different because they come in sizes, and therefore as your child grows the size instrument they will need will change. Your money can apply to the eventual purchase of a full size instrument.
If you want to buy an instrument outright, we knock off 20% of the retail price. We have excellent new instruments that sell for roughly the same price as the variable lines of our competitors.
All of the companies we sell new own their factories. This is important because if the quality control is based on what factory can save 3 cents, parts from year to year won't fit, and quality goes out the window. Steinway just got sold to a Chinese investor. Steinway owns UMI who owns Selmer, Bach, Conn, King, ...a ton of the major brands. Their student lines have not been something I'd carry for years because of the business structure. We deal Jupiter/KHS, Gemeinhardt, Maple Leaf Strings, Howard Core, and the Buffet group. We are very happy with these brands.
Bottom line is, we expect you to pay for the instrument or bring it back. We cover normal wear and tear and provide the necessary things you need to get started: 2 reeds, cleaners, oil, grease, rosin, etc. We don't include the book, stand or shoulder rest. We try to be reasonable. If you have a problem, just talk to us. We work with several non-profits and have even started our own.
Rent means you pay every month and lease means you pay one lump sum at the beginning and that will cover you until June 20 of the next summer. If your child wants to continue, you can release at that point.
We will want a chance to clean the instrument once a year, usually at the end of the lease period. When you've rented or leased long enough to pay for the instrument, it then belongs to you. We will clean it again and warranty it for a year.
We start you out with an instrument we like. All of us at Clearwater are musicians and teachers. If you know what you're looking at, you are welcome to pick it out. If not, like most of our customers, you'll learn a lot over the year so at the other end of the school year, we'll talk about if your money is best spent on the instrument you currently have or another based on budget, how much your child practiced, how many times I saw you for repairs, and how likely the child will continue for years to come. In the end, the decision is yours.
If your child starts on clarinet and decides they really want to play trombone, that's fine. We transfer the money over. If the child damaged the instrument more than normal and you got the insurance, still fine. If you didn't get the insurance, I charge you half of the normal charge to fix it. The rest will be applied to the "trombone." The money does need to stay with that child. If we were to accumulate the balance from all of your children to buy one instrument, I would wind up giving away instruments and be out of business in short order. I don't charge enough to absorb that.
String instruments are a little different because they come in sizes, and therefore as your child grows the size instrument they will need will change. Your money can apply to the eventual purchase of a full size instrument.
If you want to buy an instrument outright, we knock off 20% of the retail price. We have excellent new instruments that sell for roughly the same price as the variable lines of our competitors.
All of the companies we sell new own their factories. This is important because if the quality control is based on what factory can save 3 cents, parts from year to year won't fit, and quality goes out the window. Steinway just got sold to a Chinese investor. Steinway owns UMI who owns Selmer, Bach, Conn, King, ...a ton of the major brands. Their student lines have not been something I'd carry for years because of the business structure. We deal Jupiter/KHS, Gemeinhardt, Maple Leaf Strings, Howard Core, and the Buffet group. We are very happy with these brands.
Bottom line is, we expect you to pay for the instrument or bring it back. We cover normal wear and tear and provide the necessary things you need to get started: 2 reeds, cleaners, oil, grease, rosin, etc. We don't include the book, stand or shoulder rest. We try to be reasonable. If you have a problem, just talk to us. We work with several non-profits and have even started our own.
