diff --git a/Lib/fontTools/varLib/instancer/__init__.py b/Lib/fontTools/varLib/instancer/__init__.py
index 4f00ed7be..b8f532808 100644
--- a/Lib/fontTools/varLib/instancer/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/fontTools/varLib/instancer/__init__.py
@@ -1315,7 +1315,7 @@ def parseArgs(args):
         "locargs",
         metavar="AXIS=LOC",
         nargs="*",
-        help="List of space separated locations. A location consist in "
+        help="List of space separated locations. A location consists of "
         "the tag of a variation axis, followed by '=' and one of number, "
         "number:number or the literal string 'drop'. "
         "E.g.: wdth=100 or wght=75.0:125.0 or wght=drop",
diff --git a/Lib/fontTools/varLib/mutator.py b/Lib/fontTools/varLib/mutator.py
index ad76420a1..39755ad02 100644
--- a/Lib/fontTools/varLib/mutator.py
+++ b/Lib/fontTools/varLib/mutator.py
@@ -345,14 +345,8 @@ def instantiateVariableFont(varfont, location, inplace=False, overlap=True):
 		# Change maxp attributes as IDEF is added
 		if 'maxp' in varfont:
 			maxp = varfont['maxp']
-			if hasattr(maxp, "maxInstructionDefs"):
-				maxp.maxInstructionDefs += 1
-			else:
-				setattr(maxp, "maxInstructionDefs", 1)
-			if hasattr(maxp, "maxStackElements"):
-				maxp.maxStackElements = max(len(loc), maxp.maxStackElements)
-			else:
-				setattr(maxp, "maxInstructionDefs", len(loc))
+			setattr(maxp, "maxInstructionDefs", 1 + getattr(maxp, "maxInstructionDefs", 0))
+			setattr(maxp, "maxStackElements", max(len(loc), getattr(maxp, "maxStackElements", 0)))
 
 	if 'name' in varfont:
 		log.info("Pruning name table")