CNC machining trumpets is much more than pressing a few buttons!

A fair number of people make comments that have me scratching my head. Like this one, "It must be nice to have those expensive CNC machines that will make whatever you want." In reality, my CNC machinery will do exactly what I program it to do. There is far more to building trumpets than pressing a few buttons!

This is somewhat related to another comment I have heard hundreds of times, "If you know so much about brass acoustics, why haven't you published your findings in any scientific journals?"

I could literally write numerous volumes of information, instructions, guidelines, rules, tips and tricks on running CNC machines alone. And I could write even more about entrepreneurship, communications, psychology, brass acoustics, manual machining, fabrication, engineering, aesthetic design, brass pedagogy, musicianship and the topic of minding your own business. But wouldn't you rather have the fruit of my labor rather than my knowledge? Who wants to read all those books that I could potentially write when I could be building instruments?

So let's leave it at this... Yes, I have done my homework. Yes, there is much more to designing and building trumpets than you may imagine. And yes, you are welcome to visit either of my shops to get a glimpse of the process first-hand. An no, there is no team of little elves doing the work for me. Jen, Christine, Kate, James and I do all of the work ourselves. And craftsmen like Tom Green and the staff at Anderson Plating assist us in the final finish. Our team is small, our integrity is high and our results are second to none.

Want a glimpse into the magic of CNC machining set to some of my own free improvisation? You're in luck! This video shows the final stages of a custom tuning slide being machined on our VMC.

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