About Monette
Ideas & Approach
Frequently Asked Questions
40 Years of Continuous Innovation
What Musicians Say
Musicians First
Where We Work
The Monette Team
The Monette shop employs nine trumpet player musicians, each of whom was a Monette client before joining the staff. All employees perform a wide variety of duties in the shop, and all are involved in play-testing of every instrument we make, either by playing or by listening and providing feedback.
Dave Monette
Dave Monette began his career as a band instrument repairman in Salem, Oregon in 1978. Taking advantage of his abilities as both a trumpet player and instrument technician, he completed the first Monette trumpet in 1983. His first few instruments were immediately purchased by top symphonic players including Charles Schlueter and Adolph Herseth. With the subsequent move to downtown Chicago in 1984, Monette started working with jazz musicians as well. Players such as Wynton Marsalis and Art Farmer sought him out to design and build new instruments for them.
Monette has taught meditation and Kundalini Yoga for 35 years, which has inspired important advancements in his instruments and the development of Monette mouthpieces. He has given clinics and masterclasses for musicians on four continents. Dave has given presentations to non-musical groups as well, including the Materials Research Society, the Society of North American Goldsmiths, the Adidas Industrial Design Team, the Nike Annual Designers Conference, and the American Physical Society.
Jason Gunderson
Jason is Monette's Operations Manager. He studied trumpet with Bill Pfund and Rob Murray, and holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Trumpet Performance. Jason performs with several different orchestras in and around Portland. He is a scratch golfer and model train enthusiast.
Jeff Snyder
Jeff has worked at Monette for 30 years and has done just about every different job in the shop. He studied trumpet with Charles Schlueter and Gerald Webster at New England Conservatory and Washington State University. He is a busy performer around Oregon and Washington, performing with Symphony Tacoma, playing extra with the Oregon Symphony, and has played with many different orchestras including the San Diego Symphony and Seattle Symphony.
John Kim
John is a 20-year veteran of our team and is originally from the Portland area. Among many other duties, he is our CNC manager, operating our two CNC lathes and CNC mill. He is an active performer around the Portland area, playing as a soloist, with his brass quintet, and in other ensembles. John is not only a mouthpiece and trumpet maker, he is also a bread maker, pizza maker, and gourmet cook.
Kyle Oswalt
Kyle is our senior trumpet builder and shop foreman. He has been at Monette since 2006. He comes from a musical family, with a music educator sister and parents. Kyle studied trumpet with Gerald Webster and stays busy with a wide variety of musical endeavors. Kyle is a native of Montana, a kayaker, fly fisherman, and father of two.
Joel Johnson
Trumpet maker Joel is in charge of parts fabrication, and is our mouthpiece finishing and plating manager. Joel studied music at Portland State University, and studied trumpet with longtime client Dave Bamonte and privately with Gerald Webster. Joel's non-trumpet interests include fitness, body science, weightlifting, and bodybuilding.
B.J. Cord
B.J. has been a Monette client since age 13. He holds degrees in both Trumpet Performance and Jazz, and a Performance Certificate from Indiana University. He is both a student of and the son of longtime Monette client, Edmund Cord. Before joining the Monette team he worked for 13 years as a highly in-demand full-time freelance player based in Chicago and has performed and recorded many different genres of music with a long list of world class artists. B.J. also writes, records, transcribes, and arranges music for a wide variety of musical contexts and has taught trumpet lessons for more than 25 years. He is the Monette shop's Customer Relations Manager, assistant mouthpiece maker, and handles many other duties around the shop, including mouthpiece consultations.
Jamie Wozniak
Jamie is a Trumpet Builder, Final Assembly Manager, and our repair specialist. Jamie earned his DMA in Trumpet Performance, with a Music History minor, from the University of Wisconsin and has studied trumpet with longtime Monette clients John Aley and Rob Murray. Jamie performs with various ensembles in and around Portland and also enjoys rock climbing and mountaineering.
Scott Anderson (Herm)
Herm is the newest member of our team, moving to Portland in 2021 after more than 20 years based in Chicago where he was busy freelancing, teaching trumpet, and performing his original compositions with his jazz quintet, both in the Chicago area and internationally. Outside of his trumpet-building work in the shop, Herm regularly performs at jazz clubs in Portland and continues to compose and record his original music.
Nicholas Senn
Nick is Monette's case maker. Musicians all over the world carry and store their Monette instruments in handmade custom Monette cases that Nick makes. Nick hand-sews soft black leather over sturdy but lightweight fiberglass shells, then custom-fits memory foam for the instrument and lines each case with beautiful violet fabric. Nick is a Portland native, fly fisherman, and father of two.
Leo the Dog
As excited as brass musicians are to visit us, few are as excited upon entering the Monette shop as Leo is to meet them when they arrive. Leo is an Australian Shepherd mix who moved to Portland from Chicago in 2017 with his human roommate B.J. Cord. He spends his days in the middle room of the Monette shop, providing moral support and alerting the rest of the staff whenever the front door opens.
The Monette Shop
Location
Located in Portland, Oregon, USA, minutes from Portland International Airport,
in the same space it has occupied since 1992.
Staff
Monette has a nine-person team, plus our case maker and one canine.
Work
We combine state-of-the-art CNC machining processes with old-world hand fabrication,
assembly, and meticulous detail work to make custom instruments and mouthpieces.
Ours is one of only a few shops of its kind anywhere in the world that still makes
virtually every part of our instruments in-house.
Visitors
We host visitors from every part of the world for one-on-one consultation.
Our availability for visitors is limited and by appointment only.
Click here to contact the shop about scheduling an appointment.
Events
Special events take place at the shop, including large group clinics and concerts featuring world-class artists.