Hello! This is Kikuchi from the repair department at Okubo Gakki!
This might come as a surprise, but do you know where the instruments that arrive at Okubo Gakki are cleaned?
Perhaps some of you have even seen me carrying wind instruments up and down the stairs?
That’s right. I briefly mentioned this in a cleaning video on YouTube before, and the location was even shown in the background, but actually, we don’t clean them on the 3rd-floor wind instrument floor—we clean them at the sink located past the Advanced Guitars counter on the 2nd floor!
It’s a bit surprising, isn’t it? But there’s no helping it. We’ve opened the restroom on the 3rd floor for customers, so we can’t stay in the sink area for long while cleaning instruments…
So, for that reason, this is where I clean the instruments!
Here, we thoroughly clean newly arrived instrumentsthoroughly clean them here before putting them on display 🚿
There’s just one drawback to this sink, though…
It doesn’t have hot water…
Let me say it again.
It doesn’t have hot water!!!!!
So what does that mean?
That’s right—I clean my instruments with cold water even in the winter.
In Tokyo, the water temperature drops to around 7°C in the winter. Since it takes about 30 minutes to an hour to clean a single instrument, it’s only natural that my hands get numb after being exposed to cold water for that long.
Actually, since I was born in winter in a snowy region, I could still handle cold water just fine when I first moved to Tokyo. It’s true. I used to go ice skating in the middle of nature—in sub-zero temperatures and blizzards—wearing nothing but a thin tracksuit. ⛸⛸
However, as I’ve lived in Tokyo for so long,
my body has definitely become more sensitive to the cold. It’s a shame.
Because of that, I’ve come close to dropping parts while cleaning (though I haven’t actually dropped any), and I’ve found myself blowing on my cold, bright-red hands to warm them up…
“Let me use hot water.”
I kept pleading for this, and one day in my fourth year—after surviving three winters…...
...they finally installed a water heater for me!!!!!!!!!!
It’s a TOTO!
Now I can say goodbye to cold water for good!
My hands won’t get numb even in the winter anymore, and hot water will make it easier to dissolve the oil grime caked onto my instruments, so cleaning will be much more efficient!
So, without further ado...
It’s sooooo warm!!!!!
It’s like heaven 😇 I feel like nothing can beat this now!
Together with this new partner, I’ll keep working hard to clean instruments from now on!
You can trust the instruments at Okubo Gakki, even the used ones!
We thoroughly clean and meticulously set up every instrument!
This is Kikuchi! Thank you!