Lots of people have been asking where to stay when they come to the Saxomania-NAPBIRT clinic here in February. This blog should answer those questions....

First off though, let me tell you the good news! You don't have to worry about being the only one at the clinic. We got a call from Bill Mathews at NAPBIRT today and he said there are record numbers of participants signed up! So we're ordering more cheese wine and food... Hurry and sign up so we can be sure we have a comfy chair for you!

Reserve a spot at: www.NAPBIRT.org

Also, note that the Clinic is $80.00 for Anyone. You do not need to be a NAPBIRT member to get in.

Here is some information about the Hotel pictured above.


Hotel:
Best Western Coastline Inn
503 Nutt Street
Wilmington, North Carolina 28401-3339
www.coastlineinn.com

Call: (800) 617-7732 or 910-763-2800 or by fax at 910-763-2785

Tell them: You're with the NAPBIRT group.

Rate: $69.00 per night.

Reserve a room for:
Friday the 5th
Saturday the 6th
Check out Sunday morning.

Clinic is on Saturday.


Here is the long version from the Hotel:

Experience a hotel in Wilmington, North Carolina that has it all — accommodations, warm service and a scenic location with riverfront views from every room! It’s waiting for you at the Coastline Inn Best Western, a Wilmington hotel located in the charming Historic District. Situated among countless attractions in a culturally rich area and features all the comforts of home. Wake up to a complimentary continental breakfast and newspaper delivered to your room. Stay productive on the road with free high-speed wireless Internet access. However you spend your time, you’re sure to enjoy the quaint, historical city and panoramic view of the Cape Fear River.
The Best Western Coastline Inn Hotel in Wilmington, North Carolina features 53 guest rooms and suites, all with riverfront views. Flexible meeting facilities are available in the hotel and at the adjacent Coastline Conference and Event Center, and offer a convenient option for guests who want to hold that meeting or conference in their hotel. The Best Western Coastline Inn has recently become a member of the Green Hotel Association and offers environmentally friendly accommodations.
While strolling along the historic riverfront, sample the many savory restaurants or shop ‘til you drop, you’ll always enjoy staying at our riverfront hotel in Wilmington, NC, filled with entertainment and a Southern flavor all its own. The Best Western Coastline Inn is just minutes from the best the city has to offer, including the beach, golfing and the Historic District of Old Wilmington.
When you stay at the Best Western Coastline Inn, you’ll enjoy the historic beauty of Wilmington, North Carolina and the comfort of our riverfront rooms. With 53 elegant Best Western hotel rooms in Wilmington, NC, we promise an excellent stay for corporate travelers, groups, leisure travelers, families and more! A beautiful waterfront location in the heart of the city’s Historic District.

We also offer spacious suites with sitting rooms. Additional toiletries are also available for guests. Sorry, we don’t allow pets. Children 17 and younger stay free in a room with one paying adult.

Catch up on your email at Coastline Inn, a hotel with high-speed Internet in North Carolina’s historic coast. Or take an adventurous tour of historic Wilmington and return to a beautiful riverfront view from one of our hotel rooms. Coast Line Inn Wilmington, NC, offers a home away from home for every guest.

With 53 riverfront hotel rooms in Wilmington, NC, Coastline Inn offers a fantastic location in the midst of history, dining and entertainment. At the Coastline Inn in Wilmington, North Carolina, Best Western amenities and services include:
53-room hotel with suites available
32' Flat Screen HD TV's with cable & HBO
Free wireless high-speed Internet access
Private bath with large walk in showers with rain heads, hairdryers & toiletries
Work area with desk & chair
Free local calls & long-distance access
Dataports
Coffee/tea maker
Alarm clock/radio
Iron & ironing board
Public pier & dock
Complimentary continental breakfast
Banquet & meeting facilities (small conference room and adjacent Coastline Conference and Event Center)
Catering available for events (through a third-party vendor)
Handicapped-accessible rooms available
All Nonsmoking rooms
Exercise room
Dry cleaning
Business center with computer, printer, fax & copier
Children 17 and younger stay free with one paying adult
Complimentary “USA Today” newspaper delivered to room (M-F)
Free parking & truck/RV parking
24-hour front desk
Elevator & exterior corridors
Safe deposit box
Ice/vending machines
Wake-up calls available
For comfortable hotel rooms in Wilmington, NC, with excellent service to match, choose Coastline Inn and the largest historic district in North Carolina. Best Western amenities like delicious complimentary breakfasts and a convenient business center offer the standard you’ve come to expect, with all the Southern charms of Wilmington. Coast Line Inn hotel services are also available for on-site meetings and banquets. Call us toll-free at (800) 617-7732 or 910-763-2800 or by fax at 910-763-2785 for more information or to make a reservation.

Or You May Contact us at:
Best Western Coastline Inn
503 Nutt Street
Wilmington, North Carolina 28401-3339
www.coastlineinn.com

Directions to the Best Western Coastline Inn

From The New Hanover International Airport: Turn left onto 23rd Street. At next stoplight turn right onto Hwy. 74 West/Downtown. Continue on route to downtown and it will become 3rd Street. Follow 3rd Street for five blocks until you reach Red Cross Street. Turn right onto Red Cross Street and follow for two blocks. Turn right onto Nutt Street. Second drive way on left is the entrance to the hotel. The Best Western Coastline Inn is located at the very back of the property.

From Raleigh/Durham area: Follow Interstate 40 East to Wilmington. As you approach Wilmington, turn right onto MLK Parkway/74 West/Downtown. Continue on route to downtown and it will become 3rd Street. Follow 3rd Street for five blocks until you reach Red Cross Street. Turn right onto Red Cross Street and follow for two blocks. Turn right onto Nutt Street. Second drive way on left is the entrance to the hotel. The Best Western Coastline Inn is located at the very back of the property.

From Charlotte area or the Western part of the state: Take Highway 74/76 East to Wilmington. After crossing the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge turn left at the traffic light onto 3rd Street. Follow 3rd Street for 1.5 miles until you reach Red Cross Street for two blocks turning right onto Nutt Street. Second driveway on left is the entrance to the hotel. The Best Western Coastline Inn is located at the very back of the property.

From South Carolina/Myrtle Beach area: Take Highway 17 North to Wilmington. After crossing the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge turn left at the traffic light onto 3rd Street. Follow 3rd Street for 1.5 miles until you reach Red Cross Street for two blocks turning right onto Nutt Street. Second driveway on left is the entrance to the hotel. The Best Western Coastline Inn is located at the very back of the property.

From Jacksonville NC: Take Highway 17 South to Wilmington. Stay on Highway 17 South (will turn into Market Street). Stay Market Street ends at Water Street. Take a Right, past Wilmington Hilton, continue around curve to Best Western Coastline Inn Conference and Event Center on the left.

After the mod, can you see what was done?



It could also be argued that invisible modifications are the most wonderful! Well this little mod, done in the MusicMedic.com pro shop, may not look like much now that it's done but, before it was done the horn was barely playable.

Anyone that owns one of these Yanagisawa soprano saxophones knows that the Eb (E flat) key is too large. For many, the large Eb key makes the horn unplayable. This was certainly the case for Joey so, we did what any good saxophone pro-shop would do. We made it work.

Here you can see the amount of key that we intended to remove.


Here's the Yanagisawa after the key was cut and buffed. Simple and effective.


The owner of this soprano and, one of our favorite clients, Joey, wrote in just after the horn was shipped home:


The Soprano is excellent....The E-flat key is just awesome this should be marketed, my technician said
one of his classical brass musicians sold his yani curve because of the E-flat issue....Anyway, just excellent workmanship.

Joey

SAXORAMA, SAXOMANIA, SAXFEST, SAXESGALORE


No matter what you call it, it's happening here at MusicMedic.com and it's gonna be outrageous!

What's this all about? MusicMedic.com has been asked to host a regional clinic for our favorite trade organization, the National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians (NAPBIRT). Every year, there are regional NAPBIRT clinics happening around the US and some abroad. This year, one of those clinics will be hosted right here at MusicMedic.com. But you know us, it ain't gonna'be no regular thing....

The Regional NAPBIRT clinic held at MusicMedic.com will be all about Saxophones, sax parts, sax mouthpieces, sax construction, sax intonation, sax modification, sax regulation -you name it! There will be live (sax) music performed by RooPads endorsing artist Benny Hill. MusicMedic.com is sponsoring a "coffee breakfast" a "Wine and Cheese" brunch and a lunch with live music. Saxophone repair product demonstrations will be given at lunch time. All this will happen in the new MusicMedic.com facility in Wilmington NC.

OH yeah, we have also invited the finest saxophone technicians from around the US to come and share their knowledge with you! Jeff Peterson -Yamaha's big-dog saxophone repair tech from California, Matt Stohrer -NYC's newest and greatest sax-tech, Steve Goodson -N'awlins famous SaxGourmet, and Curt Altarac -of the MusicMedic.com fame will all be present to give a clinic.

Come early and plan to stay late. After the clinics, we're all going to Historic Downtown Wilmington for more food and libations. Seats at the clinic are limited so hurry, sign up, and reserve a spot.

Contact us regarding hotel options and register for the clinics at www.NAPBIRT.org.

UPDATE!!!
Just after posting this blog, I got a call from my very good friend Lee Kramka of Saxworx. Lee's one, if not thee, finest sax techs in the country. Lee said he's planning to jump on a plane and show up for the clinic. -You know he'll spice up the conversation!

I'm super excited and really disappointed all at once.

The Saxophone Ensemble that I play with, The North Carolina Saxophone Ensemble, was asked to play for the Navy Saxophone Symposium this year.

This new and energetic group is comprised of outstanding players from all-over North Carolina. This will be the Premier Performance for the group and everyone is really looking forward to it. If you're in the US, you should get on a plane, train, or take a bus to Fairfax VA and check out the ensemble!


So, why am I disappointed? This year the Symposium conflicts with the NAMM show in Anaheim CA. Although MusicMedic.com usually exhibits, and gives clinics, at the Symposium this year it's not possible. So I (Curt) will be in Anaheim CA at the NAMM show while my group is playing at the Symposium.

I'm really excited for all the players in the group! Break a leg!



To learn more about the Symposium go to their website here:
http://www.navyband.navy.mil/saxophonesymposium.shtml

The North Carolina Saxophone Ensemble is playing on Saturday the 16th. There is a schedule here:
http://www.navyband.navy.mil/Sax%20symp ... hedule.pdf

About 8 months ago I posted about this building that we bought and our crazy plan to for fixing it up. I promised some updates along the way. Then, it started, the huge undertaking of renovating a 40,000sqft warehouse including indoor parking a new shop, the supply house, storage, a residence etc... Well, the updates didn't happen but the work did! Everyone at MusicMedic.com buckled down and got to work. The place is still under construction but we're in! We made it thanks to the great crew here at MusicMedic.com and all the awesome repair techs and players that have supported us.

Thank you.


We started what is essentially a second business with a second crew working day and night on this project. To give you an idea of the scope, it took over 500 gallons of paint to cover the walls and ceiling, and we're still going.

We tried to make this project and our business as green as possible. For instance, in the shop we're not using any toxic chemicals -but I'll tell you more about the shop as we set it up (I promise). In the building, we're trying to use day lighting. When we started, the place was dark; and by dark I mean bump-into-walls cave-dark. Now, I'm sitting in my office with no lights on! The glass block windows and the light tube give plenty of light. The lights in the offices are all LED lights and run on about 15 watts each. The shipping area and the shop have 11 eight foot long sky lights. During the daytime there is no need to have the lights on at all.

The flooring is recycled rubber material that's nearly 3/4" thick! It feels great on the feet and should save our backs. The offices have cork flooring, the most renewable flooring anywhere! The paint, wall board and most other materials we used are green.

It's not easy to give you an idea of the building or the scale of this project with a camera. Hopefully this helps you get an idea.

In the beginning we decided that the place was too ugly to take 'before' pictures of. So, luckily there are not too many before pictures. If you're really curious you can check google maps street view here for an idea of what it looked like.


The retaining wall out front needed to be repaired. This is the same wall that Google maps brought you to.

First we fixed up the courtyard adding glass block, doors, paint etc.. That glass block work is my (Curt)first attempt at installing block.



The Door's are the old-school heavy-metal doors with wavy glass. They had too much character to replace so we stripped them down to bare metal and repainted them. Note the new glass and all new new power lines. When the "house" is done, this courtyard will be my backyard.



We repaired the wall and built pillars. Every pillar is tied into a "dead man" which is an anchor burried behind the wall to keep it from falling over. This is something that should have been done when the wall was built and something you can't see in the pictures as they are buried.


Added some caps to the pillars.


Built a fence and a gate in between the pillars. Next year, after the wood has dried, we'll paint it.


This area will look even better when we get that tree trimmed up, the fence painted and some trees planted at the curb.


This building, on the left, is going to be the 'house.' There are about 14 large block windows that will go into this front face of the building.



Now the parking deck... If you checked out the Google view of the place, you would need to go around the corner to see this side of the building.

The parking deck is still in progress. Although it's nearly complete, we still need lights and power. It's hard to take pictures in there without enough light but it's absolutely awesome in there now. The walls and ceilings have all been pressure washed and painted.

First we cut out the old loading dock and 700 sqft of slab in the building along with 3 door openings.


Then we built a 70 foot long ramp that runs from the street and 35 feet into the building.



We added some paint and a key pad for the door. The trim still needs paint and that will happen next week after the rain!


Jon's truck was the first one up the new ramp!


Now for the shop and offices. I'm glad I don't have any before pictures for you. The offices and new shop are so great, I don't want you to know!

The shop was built inside a 20,000 sqft part of the warehouse. There is a ton of room for storage and expansion all around it.

Here is the shipping area, shop and office hall during the sheet rocking.

Shipping area


Saxophone repair shop


Here they are with a coat of paint

Shipping area


Saxophone repair shop


Finally on our first day at the new place, were still setting up but you can see how it will look.

Shipping


Shop


The offices came out great but I don't have many pictures for you yet...




Well, looking these pictures over it's clear that giving you an idea of this project is not going to be easy using this media. So, you're going to have to come check us out!

You are cordially invited to come by for a visit!

Thanks again everyone. This was/is a huge project and one that could only be done with the help of many-many people.