Pickett Brass

In 1998 I had just started my first mechanical engineering job out of school and joined up with the local community band in Lexington, Kentucky.  Most of my engineering graduate studies have revolved around acoustic modeling of the trumpet shape, proving out several observations people had made in the past. However, there was very little work done on the structure and other aspects not associated with the air-column. After playing extensively for many years after completing a BA in music, I wanted to continue my engineering masters studies on trumpet acoustics.

In 1999, I bought my first lathe and made several simple heavy bottom caps for my trumpet. To be honest, the first goal was purely aesthetic - change the look of the horn from a traditional horn to a subtly different modern look. The results were as you might expect - too much mass in the wrong place is not desirable. But it was a great and fun start to what has developed into Pickett Brass as we have it today.

After several friends mentioned that they'd like some similar trim parts, I made several more sets in various weights. We branched out to making top caps, stems, and buttons on some CNC machines that matched in appearance and weight to the newly refined bottom caps. This created something never before available - a complete and unified trim set that is not only completely customizable but also functional and beautiful to look at. We were in business.

Today Pickett Brass uses several state of the art CNC machines and skilled finishing to produce the world class quality trim sets in a variety of weights and appearances. In addition, we are applying our years of playing and manufacturing experience with top professional names in trumpet playing today to produce truly one of a kind mouthpieces that are second to none in quality and design.