Downtown Red Wing on a snowy night

One of my favorite things to do is go see other repair shops. As a tech, it's very cool when another tech lets you into their world, giving insight into how they do things and how they set up shop. This week I was able visit on of the most 'bling-bling' shops in the country and I want to share it with you. This experience was extra special for me as I'm on the advisory committee for this place and not only do I get to experience the latest and greatest in repair, I get to give my opinions on how to make it better!

The shop I went to is more than just a shop really, it's a mecca of learning and growth. If you ever happen to be near Red Wing Minnesota, you have to stop at Minnesota State College Southeast Technical, home of the Red Wing repair School. Visit with the guys at Red Wing, and you will quickly see what an outstanding bunch of people and bright future there is there. The only thing I regret from my visit is not staying longer in Minnesota, but alas, there is work to be done here in Wilmington.

Of course the facilities at Red Wing are awesome, and I have pictures to prove it, but the most exciting aspect of the shop and the Band Instrument Repair program are the students and the professors. As I was sitting in this super cool mega classroom filled with more tools than you could shake a contra-bass sarousaphone at, I couldn't help but think, what a great vibe there is here in the repair school. Lucas Pemberton, Greg Beckwith and John Huth are some some the most upbeat and straight forward guys I know. The whole trip, the meetings and the conversations at the local pub continued to be steered toward “how can we improve” and “What do we need to do differently to better serve our students and our industry”. The students I was fortunate enough to chat with were amazingly on point. In fact, just talking with the students at Red Wing makes me think I wish I were hiring! Soon...

I really can't say enough about the atmosphere and the vibe at Red Wing, it truly is a learning environment where positive attitudes abide a desire to improve rages on. Bravo Greg, Lucas, John and all the students at Red Wing.

OK enough sentimentality. Lets talk about the shop! This place is repair tech's dream. Talk about tooling. I wish I had time to open every drawer and look in every closet.

Let's talk shop from one side of this multi-room mega shop that they have to the other.


The Brass repair shop. This place is so big I had to use the panoramic function on my camera! In this picture you can see a good part of the shot. In the picture is Nicole Roberts who lead the tour of the shop. Nicole has also taken it upon herself to organize and categorize parts, horns and repairs in the shop. Great job Nicole!




Starting on the far end of the shop is a buffing room to die for. When I took this picture, Greg said, "oh no the buffing room is a mess I hate to have people see it like this..." Man, if that's messy I wonder what clean looks like?




Here is the super organized and talented Greg Beckwith in his Brass repair shop. Greg is showing off a Baritone that they are about to repair. That's some job!



With so many horns to work on and so much work happening at Red Wing, I guess the ceiling is the only place to store the huge array of instruments they have. This is just one small section of what looks like trumpet bells which hang from the shop ceiling. Pretty cool to see really.



That's all the pictures of the brass shop I took. I wish I took more. There are soldering stations, dent tools, drawers and drawers of tools. It's a repairman's dream come true!


Leaving the Brass shop, there is an area in between the brass and woodwind repair shops that house several wonderful tools and supplies. Only a few of which I took pictures of. The picture above is a Hone used for brass valve casings. This picture does not do this piece of equipment justice.


For the shop that has everything... this is a hydrolic table. Someday I think those guys are going to be drawing tubing and making lead pipes on that. Wow.



Look at the tooling. Students that leave Red Wing know how to use these tools including the lathes pictured. I think that skill is invaluable in a world where repair parts are getting harder and harder to find.


Yep, they even have practice rooms.

OK, so even though I'm a woodwind tech, I didn't get any pictures of the woodwind shop. Sorry Lucas! You will have to go to Red Wing to see the super-cool woodwind shop complete with every tool under the sun, supplies and even an overhead camera on a remote where the profs can show the whole class a close-up shot of damage on a 3-48 thread from across the room!


After the advisory committee meeting, we took a picture. Note that The students Frankie Rodriguez and Nicole Roberts are in the picture. These two students are a shining example of the greatness that is happening at Red Wing. These two ran the tours of the shop attended the meetings and have absolute involvement in their education. Bravo you two, some employer is going to get a real treat when she hires you!


To all my friends at Red Wing:

Thank you so much for allowing me to visit. Being on the Advisory Committee of such a outstanding organization means a great deal to me and I look forward to watching, and helping you grow!

Bravo!

-Curt


If you want to learn more about the Repair program at Red Wing contact Greg, Lucas or John. You can find their info here:
http://www.redwingmusicrepair.org/

One question I get in my emails a lot is, "How do I extend my Conn 12M Baritone Sax neck so I can use modern mouthpieces on it?"

My answer is usually that the neck should not be extended if possible. I see these neck extensions as a non reversible job that will alter the instrument and cause it to no longer work with the larger chambered mouthpieces for which it was designed. That said, something has to be done to these wonderful instruments to allow them to work with small-chambered modern mouthpieces. What I have done on my personal Baritone and for many of my clients is to extend the mouthpiece itself. This extension allows a player to use the modern mouthpiece without altering the instrument.

My personal mouthpiece is a Lawton 6, notice in the picture below the extension on the mouthpiece. -Also, if you're curious about the engraving, that was done by Eric Drake in CA. I was at IAJE with Eric Drake years ago and he happened to have his engraving tools, I happened to have my mouthpiece. As usual, Erics work is spectacular, even when done on a noisy trade show floor.

OK back to the extension, take a look at the extension I put on my Mouthpiece years ago.



You can see that this extension is nice and clean. Also the inner diameter is the same as the inner diameter of the mouthpiece's original shank.


OK, so that extension worked great for years with one flaw. I could not use my mouthpiece to test modern baris that came into the shop. This is (was) a real problem for me. I would have to use a more unfamiliar mouthpiece to test horns. Even though I like to use the players set-up to test a horn, it's always nice to play my set-up as well to be sure I'm not missing anything.


So, I started talking to Matt Scott, the now-famous saxophone repair technician, about my plan to have a removable extension. Luckily Matt and I work together so we were able to plan and work at the same time. 2 days later Matt came to me with a few parts. In the picture below you can see the new part that Matt made on the lathe for my mouthpiece.



With these parts, Matt's plan was that I can unscrew my extension and remove it leaving the original, shorter, mouthpiece ready to be put on a modern instrument. The threaded part above was to be soldered to my mouthpiece allowing the knurled extension (threaded inside) to be screwed on.

As luck would have it we also just finished a MKVI Bari overhaul that needed testing. In just a moment I was able to unscrew my extension and play the VI, then screw my extension and blow a few notes on my 12M.

This is what the mouthpiece with the removable extension looks like complete. Note that I will someday send it off to be plated properly.






Thanks Matt!



-Curt

OK, Here's a quick shop tip that someone out there is going to enjoy.

The problem:
Mixing epoxy is messy and it gets air bubbles.

Adding heat to epoxy makes it flow much better and takes out the air bubbles. It also, makes it thin and thus difficult to work with.

The solution:
Red Bull or any Soda-type can. Tip the can over and mix your epoxy in the concave bottom of the can. If you need to heat the mixture the can will hold a little heat for you and the sides will cool much faster than the epoxy -so you have a place to grab the can.

I heat the can with a hot air gun.

Note: I never checked on the health implications of mixing epoxy on a can or even heating it up. Do this at you own risk and if it's a beer can, do it at you leisure.

I just returned from the NAMM show in Anaheim CA. Rich Zimmerman and myself exhibited for MusicMedic.com again this year. It was a great show and I have some news and pictures to share. However, Rich stayed out west to do a series of Clinics on Jazz improvisation. Rich has the camera so I'll wait for him to return to work to tell you about the show.

Now we're getting ready for the Navy Saxophone Symposium. Matt Scott and I will be exhibiting and checking out as many concerts as possible. We're both playing a gig on Friday night so we're planning to drive to the show in VA after the gig. Should be a late night but it will be worth it. The Symposium is always a great time.

I'm planning to bring our new Cebulla Straps for players to try and our other accessories. I'll also bring some Gloger and Goodson necks for you to try if you have time.

I'm toying with the idea of setting up a bench at the show but I'm not sure I will have time to organize it. If there is something that you want me to bring, drop me a line and I'll throw it in the truck.

See you in VA!

http://www.navyband.navy.mil/saxophonesymposium.shtml

-Curt

Shortly after I posted this Blog about our visit with Ken, this letter showed up in the mail.

"Dear Curt,

Just a quick note to thank you, Jen, Matt and the entire MusicMedic team for making my visit to Wilmington such a fruitful and enjoyable one. I know all too well how busy you and the whole gang are; especially considering the ongoing renovation of, and upcoming move into the new MusicMedic building. My noggin is STILL reeling from the staggering size of the project! I cannot over emphasize how awed I am with the work that is taking place on that venture, and I cannot wait to see the finished product! As with all of your endeavors, this too will certainly be an ENORMOUS triumph!

After our visit I started to shuffle through my memory a bit. My last visit to your shop was before the RSQ’s workshop in Fredonia. That would have been July 06. Since then “our” baritone has seen action on four continents, in about twenty five different countries, in approximately 175 concert performances and in roughly 20 radio, television and CD productions. It has logged bucket loads of frequent flyer miles and European railways points. It has dealt with the freezing temperatures of cities like Tromsø, Norway, the extreme humidity of places like Seoul, Korea, and the intense heat and sunshine of locales such as Palermo, Italy.

Add to all that more than a few practice and rehearsal hours and I guess you could say that it has had a pretty strenuous workout these last two-and-a-half years.

Considering such a work load, and taking into account that the horn is pushing 60 years old, I am amazed at how well it has held up and how relatively little “tuning-up” was needed. This is obviously the result of the superior WORK, CARE and COMMIMENT that you and Matt have dedicated to this instrument as well as the others in my collection. I am well aware of the finely detailed and creative work that you and your team have invested into my instruments. This alone is, to say the least, remarkable. However I am just as impressed with how DURABLE the work has been. Simply amazing!!!

Curt, all the seasons that I have had performing with the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet have be tremendous and special, however I truly believe that the seasons since January 2005 (this was when I first started using saxophones blessed by MusicMedic in concert) have been my most successful and certainly most enjoyable. Truly, a priceless gift!!!

Many people ask me why I travel to western North Carolina to have my instruments overhauled. I always tell them that it is the same reason I like to visit Asia to have my clothes made. The nicest Hugo Boss off the rack pales in comparison to the fit of a finely tailored suit made just for me. You and your team’s tireless efforts and remarkable results surpass the finest tailors that I know.

Yours, with utmost respect, undying gratitude and unwavering friendship,

Kenneth Coon
The Raschèr Saxophone Quartet"