Orff barred instrument repair

When I first started at Mitchell school in September and was teaching the orff barred instruments (such as xylophones) to the 3rd graders, I noticed how poor shape the instruments were in! They hadn't been played in many years, so they buzzed, bars fell off or were missing, the tubing was all cracked, and pins were bent and broken. How sad!

Below are some pictures I took before fixing the instruments. Most of them show the instruments after I took the bars off. You can tell they need some work and cleaning!

I asked the PTA for grant funding to fix the instruments and ordered lots of necessary supplies such as murphy's oil soap, wood glue, etc. First I took all the bars off and vacuumed the instruments out. Then I cleaned all the boxes and bars with Murphy's oil soap and shined them with murphey's lemon oil.

Next I took out all the old metal pins and tubing and replaced it with new tubing and pins. Our instruments are now all in working order, sound beautiful again, and I can't wait to teach students with our nice and practically new orff instruments! Thank you Mitchell School PTA!

Nice new black tubing and pins!

One completed bass xylophone and one without it's pins or tubing. 

Nice new tubing and pins!

All instruments fixed before putting the bars back on.

All the finished instruments with their bars!