dcbrown1

Thanks for the insight Eric...great points. Being a part-time player...I'm obviously not in the same league as yourself. And you're correct that if one horn was "better"...everyone would play it. For me, as a part-time pro who has less than 1 hour per day to devote to playing, the Monette P3 is just really fun and easy to play. I almost exclusively do solo work (churches), and the enormity and richness of the sound has provoked numerous incremental unsolicited positive comments (versus my prior Bachs, Kanstul, Eclipse, etc.). It's helped me play better for my circumstances...and that has made it worth the price. Is there a better horn out there? Perhaps, but I have yet to find it...and I'm so happy with the P3 that my quest to find the holy trumpet grail has ceased. Dave

BADBOY-DON

How about a better looking poster boy...UH! HOW BOUT A POSTER GIRL FROM COMPANY TM

kerouack

Just to add something about quality in a product.
For me quality is important but quality/price is VERY important too.
People who can afford monette and have not unlimited money need to think which is the best way to spend the money.
You can buy a very good $3000 horn (more or less, just to say something), and spend 9.000$ in another kind of musical things (teachers, time to study, living without working just studing trumpet/music, a piano, harmony, travel to go to concerts and masterclasses......) or an amazing 12.000 horn (i am sure it is amazing).
So for me is not as easy as, "is monette the best horn or not?" this question even been complicated is a lot less complicated than the real question for a lot of people "should i buy a monette or a very good and cheaper horn and spend the rest of the money in other musical things? what will make me a better musician?".
I dont have real answers to this questions (i want to try monettes and love the looking of the horns for years), but, i think, it is an interesting question, and the real question for almost all people who dont have unlimited money.

Just to add something, i will go soon to try the new CNC monettes mouthpieces, so... nothing against monette here.

Veldkamp

I just want to add the fact that the more comfortable anyone is on his instrument, the more fun they have in playing trumpet. As a result they will sound better and will probably get more positive comments about it.

If that costs you 2000,- to get that feeling, it's a lot cheaper then buying a 10K horn. I can't say, as a listener, that Wynton has a better sound on his 30K Samadhi compared to Clifford Brown playing his cheap Blessing. I think I can hear they both feel happy on their horns.

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Mark Bradley

The Monette shop tour is very cool... seeing them spin out the bells make the mouthpieces and stuff. Fascinating.

David G. Monette Corporation

My two cents on Monette-- enough of the top pro players use them to prove that they obviously have merit. Since Wynton put them on the map put in the last 15-20 years you see so, so many top artists using Monette instruments and/or mouthpieces I don't think it makes sense to argue that Monette is not an excellent product. I suppose my "issue" with Monette is the ultra high prices. To some it seems complaining about a trumpet costing 10 grand plus is the same as "dissing" them-- calling them frauds or whatever. Well it's not. The Monette video states that they put about 150 hours of work into each horn. So does Marcinkiewicz and the current price on them is about $3600 and I think its safe to say they still make a profit. The fallout of the $200+ Monette mouthpiece (and $5000+ trumpets) has inspired other manufactureres to raise prices. They figure, heck, if he can get that kind of money why can't we? So Monette marketing has been a good thing in some ways for the manufacturers (they see they can successfully jack up prices) and there is also a good side for the player-- Monette's innovations have been a good boot in the butt for other manufacturers to push the envelope-- try more radical disigns, heavier weight etc. The bad side is we the trumpet buying musicains are paying a lot more for a lot of trumpets and mouthieces than we need to be. Mr.Scodwell said as much as the same thing on another forum recently-- to paraphrase, thanking Monette that he can offer his excellent trumpet for $2600 and make it look like relative bargain.

So the 64 dollar question that a lot of people like to argue about to me isn't really an argument. That question being, "Are Monettes worth it?"

Of course they are, because people buy them. Is a BMW 750LI worth it (sticker price of about $88,000, did you know the car salesman gets 15-20% off the top)? People buy them and are happy, so the question is answered. However the mark-up on both the BMW and Monette may be best left ignored to the buyer. Maybe I should use a $450,000 Maybach in my auto analogy, but I think you get my point.

Are they "better?" Well, again that's a senseless arguement too. Monette owners seem to like them. What makes a trumpet the best is subject to interpretation-- we can and do argue about that all day and we all know there's no single answer. I've tried a lot of the Monette mouthpieces and they aren't my cup of tea but that doesn't mean anything. Again, enough of the big boys in the trumept world use Monette and swear by them to make a compelling case that they are excellent for certain people. That said-- in my opinion their prices are are definitely inflated. How can anyone reasonably assert thay aren't? But that's OK as long as the buyer feels that the innovation (and don't forget the name) Monette offers is worth it, just like with a Beemer... or Maybach.

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godchaser

'30K Samadhi' (?)...

Why so much?

Anyone hear about these horns?

kerouack

Yes! the monette new videos are cool.
The factory tour is something worth watching.
I think we have in this thread good monette points that are not bashing the product. People buy monettes, and people sell monettes, like with other brands. But it is normal that someone is sure he likes the horn before buy it when spend that kind of money.
That been sayed, i still want to try a monette :).

Sterling

Bravo! What a reply. I've got a bunch of trumpets that I've paid from $100.00 to $3,000.00 for and I enjoy each and every one when applied to each unique performing situation. If I get tired of my main horn, I can give it a rest and reacquaint myself with my other horns. I do like what Monette has done with their mouthpieces. I don't understand how they do it, but they fit my playing at the moment. I was at the Monette factory in August and tried some of their trumpets. They were nice. I really liked the Prana 3 with a Flumpet mouthpiece. I'm still trying to see how I would use it . Getting up the money for one is a different story.

Siegtrmpt

The Monette bugle looks great and fits well with the Marine Corp. dress uniform. It's highly respectful to the patriots that have departed and their families. Outstanding!

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Bill S.- NY Bach 6, 38 Mt. Vernon 43 Bach "C" cornet, NY Bach trombone 6vii Monette mouthpieces

rowuk

Chris,
these are the heaviest horns Monette builds, the ones with the integral mouthpieces and heavy sheet bracing. If we count the number of this model out there, Dave can't make more than 5 or 6 per year.
Why they cost so much, I can only assume. This is his "flagship" instrument and he does spend much more time with them before they are shipped. The co-axial design is a lot more work.

Just for the record, I think that it would be possible for a Kanstul or ather company to make a very fine Monette clone for much less money, why? They can roll many of the costs into the quantity of instruments that they build (also using "standard parts like valve blocks and braces) which in turn reduces the portion of the tooling costs in each horn. Would they be exactly the same? Definitely not, but probably close enough for many that presently do not play this type of instrument.
And here is my point: research and development are not free, and if you only build 6 instruments a month from parts that you exclusively manufacture, the proportion of R+D in the horn is high. That is why "other" brands of fine instruments buy valves from Bauerfeind and bells from Taylor, Sandner or wherever. The difference is, when you want to make changes, you have to wait until you can get the quantities, buying one valve block at a time is too expensive. Making everything in house yourself, makes the whole package much more expensive, but lets the designer change things at whim! That is the difference between a Monette and a Marcinkiewicz. It isn't the 150 hours alone in building the horn, it is the hundreds (thousands) of hours of R&D in the valve block, bell design............ that are only rolled into a couple of instruments. Instrument development is not dreaming of a brilliant idea one night and the next day it goes into production. You have to build and play prototpes, modify, throw away, start over............
The price issue is simply a non-issue. If you can't justify the expense, so what? You can still buy a great horn, just a different one!
I divide the attitudes into several categories:
1) like Erik Veldkamp-tried it, gave it a fair chance, doesn't fit my situation
2) brand blind/prejudiced - this is the opinion that NOTHING can be worth that much money, or other uninformed biased opinions
3) Monette blind: these are the best and I don't care what anybody else thinks - this is as bad as #2
4) thirst for knowledge-I haven't played one yet but want to find out what this is all about
5) the players like Wynton, Charlie Schlueter, Manny Laureano that identifiy with Daves concept and don't shove that down anybody elses throat.

# 1,4 and 5 count, # 2 and 3 need to invest a little soul-searching to find out why an open mind would be more advantageous in life. In any case, improvements in this area would be worth FAR MORE than the cost of ANY horn!

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Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.