We highly recommend Portland's Buckdancer's Choice music store for this sort of work. New strings are always a good idea unless you're going for a dead effect. Similarly, fresh drum heads make for better recordings. Check drum hardware for squeaks and rattles. This is a tough thing to work out in the studio.
Setup work takes time and burns up energy and inspiration.
If you set up Friday night and come in fresh on Saturday to start tracking, everyone will feel much better about things, and your engineer will get a chance to review and fine-tune the recording setup before you start.