It all started with a leaking roof and a suggestion by Port Royal residents that music instructor Jim Bachety's students should perform more often.

Bachety looked at the leaking, collapsing roof at his 917 12th St. building and decided not just to fix the damage, but renovate and reinvent The Guitar Place.

"We actually had an inside waterfall," he said. "When it rained, you could actually hear it on the drums."

The Port Royal Music Academy will celebrate its grand opening at 5 p.m. Friday with an open house and live concert. It is the first of what will become thrice-weekly live concerts by Beaufort-area youth. Bachety aims to have live open-air performances Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

Inside, the dark walls and guitar wallpaper are gone from Bachety's decade-old studio. Individual instruction rooms will provide space for students, 7 years old to college age, to learn to play everything, from guitars to woodwinds.

Outside, Bachety built a patio a with stage and concession stand for the concerts, which will feature only youth and provide an opportunity for students to perform publicly.

He's hoping it will become a safe, fun place for youth and the community to gather during performance nights. During his last concert in December, about 140 people crowded in and around his studio, he said.

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