School Orders

School Instruments

Music stores are good for band, catalogs are good for cheap strings.

K.C. Strings is great for orchestra.  We craft, rent, sell and repair stringed instruments used by beginning students up through symphony professionals.  We are dedicated to producing and distributing the best sounding instruments in any price range. It is our goal to provide schools with the highest quality instruments available while staying within the confines of their budget. We offer a large discount off of our retail prices for school instrument bids. We can customize instrument outfits to the individual needs of teachers and schools. Our flexible policy has allowed us to outfit dozens of school districts across the nation. Here are some of the schools we outfitted last year alone:

  • Lee's Summit, MO
  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Loyola University, LA
  • Tempe Union, AZ
  • Shawnee Mission, KS
  • Eckstein, WA

K.C. Strings excels in customer satisfaction, and is willing to hand deliver your school order as well as service the instruments. We would love to become a vendor or an approved equal for bids in your school district. Please feel free to e-mail your school bid application to Dustin, manager of K.C. Strings at dustin@kcstrings.com or fax it to (913) 677-4506. All of our instruments come with a 1 year warranty on parts and labor due to any defects in craftsmanship.

K. C. Strings gives significant discounts on our instruments, bows and accessories for school orders. Please inquire for school pricing.

Meanwhile, please take some time and see our shop through our shop pictures and video found at the bottom of every web page.

 

Instrument Characteristics

The K.C. Series instruments raise the bar for student level instruments. They are carefully constructed to our specifications in our affiliated shop. This allows for a fine appearance, warm sound and easy playability, even in fractional sizes.

The Heartland Series instruments are graduated and fitted with an advanced bassbar. The instruments are treated with our sealer and varnish. These changes allow for greater projection and tonal resonance, suitable for advancing students and amateur adult players.

The Richard Williams instruments are made with a higher level of craftsmanship from European tonewoods. The instruments are tonally graduated and treated with our proprietary sealer and oil varnish. The acoustic effects of the wood and finish treatment allow these instruments to vibrate more freely for increased tonal maturity that is required by accomplished players.

The Williams and Krutz instruments are crafted entirely in K.C. Strings' Kansas City workshops by senior luthiers, many of whom learned the art of string instrument construction in Europe. All aspects of the making process are overseen by Richard Williams and Anton Krutz. These instruments utilize fully professional materials and precise specifications, which give them the strong sound and tonal flexibility desired by advanced students and rising professionals.

The Anton Krutz instruments bring together the best in materials, design and construction to create the powerful, expressive sound sought by soloists and professional ensemble players. Master Luthier Anton Krutz personally crafts these instruments, beginning with his selection of acoustically vibrant curly maple and spruce from K.C. Strings' carefully aged stock. His craftsmanship includes precise arching and graduations and a unique mineral ground and varnish treatment that gives each instrument its timbre and Bel Canto voice, similar to that of the fine Italian masters.


All K.C. Strings instruments are individually set up in our Kansas City area workshops. For the first year after purchase, all instruments are warrantied for quality of materials and construction.

K.C. Strings take seriously a commitment to customer satisfaction. Our knowledgeable staff strives to educate clients about all aspects of instrument construction, selection and care. We hope to be of service to you.
 


 

School Bid Instrument Specifications

We have come across many school teachers that are exasperated at the poor quality of instruments and bows they receive from the winners of school bids. This is because there are many manufacturers of instruments throughout the world, each producing different grades of instrument according to their own individual standards. So there is no way to do comparison-shopping ahead of time because the instrument's quality cannot be determined by looking at it's description and pictures.

Also, unlike brass or woodwinds, string instruments are not set up and ready to play at the factory. Unprofessional set up can make an instrument practically unplayable and can cost hundreds of dollars to be redone.

The bidder's reputation and knowledge of the string instrument field is what ensures that the instruments and bows teachers receive will be of high quality. The knowledgeable luthiers at K.C. Strings make sure that our instruments are of high standards.

K.C. Strings has detailed descriptions that can be written for bids to represent our instruments' characteristics. These descriptions have been very useful for teachers/administrators to use as they are writing up school bids. In general our descriptions help ensure, as much as possible, a quality instrument will be submitted for bid from other sources as well.

Please inquire about our specific instrument descriptions if you are writing up bids for your school or organization.

Our plywood basses are the highest quality available. These basses are made with superior workmanship and materials. They will not develop any problems. These basses look and sound like good carved basses.

  • Wood or graphite composite bow with an outfit is standard.
  • Upgrade to carbon fiber bow is optional - price depends on bow.
  • Violin, viola and cello cases are hard shell.
  • Bass bags are padded.

Bass Extension - If you would like, you could also include a line about the basses for an extension. The K.C. Strings extension is one of a kind, and could be specified for that reason. You could have it state that the bass is to include a professionally installed gated C extension that does not cut into the scroll and is made of solid brass. The string should glide effortlessly on rollers through the body of the extension and around the scroll.

  • Slide C-Extension $450 each. Extension with installation $1,150.
  • Gated C-Extension $680 each., with Installation $1,380.
  • Gated B Extension $730 each., with Installation $1,430.
 

K.C. Strings Customer Service and Support: Warranty Information

K.C. Strings will repair or replace any product we have sold, free of charge, in the event of a defect in materials or craftsmanship. K.C. Strings will provide a one (1) year warranty including parts/labor from the date of original purchase . If the instrument has been shipped into K.C. Strings, K.C. Strings will pay for return shipping charges after the instrument has been repaired or replaced with an equivalent instrument. This warranty covers any failure due to defects in craftsmanship which occur during normal consumer use.

 

K.C. Strings School Trade in Policy

We will offer 10% credit in trade for each instrument that is suitable for parts. (An instrument that is in more than one piece)

We will offer 25% credit in trade for each instrument that can be repaired. (Broken, but in one piece)

The values of each instrument needs to be mutually agreed upon by both parties.

K.C. Strings reserves the right to determine on an individual base, which instrument is suitable for each percentage of value.

 

FOB Shipping

K.C. Strings will implement a sliding scale program on shipping costs based on quantity of instruments purchased.