Wynton Marsalis was recently on the David Letterman show promoting his new CD, "He and She." Wynton played his new PRANA 3 STC Bb for the occasion, which Dave Monette hand-delivered to him just a few days before the show. This new horn is the "next generation" PRANA 3 Bb, with every upgrade and design improvement we could think of built into the horn.
This new horn is the "next generation" PRANA 3 Bb, with every upgrade and design improvement we could think of built into the horn.
To help celebrate the special nature of this instrument, we milled a Fleur-de-lis on the middle valve casing (Wynton is from new Orleans). Notice the decoration is not just engraved with line cuts, but actually "pocketed" with entire areas of the decoration milled out to add more character to the design.
We also "pocketed" Wynton's nickname, "SKAIN," on the backside of the lower outside tuning slide tube, where you have to look pretty hard to find it! Wynton had asked Dave years ago to make a horn for him with his name tucked away somewhere, and so 20 years later we finally did it.
The horn also has another personalized symbol on it - the star element taken from Wynton's favorite Matisse painting has been "pocketed" in the casing in place of the standard, symmetrical Monette PRANA valve casing star.
Make no mistake; while we added special cosmetic details all over this horn, the substance of the design is completely reworked, with a new valve casing, new leadpipe, new bell, new tuning slide, new braces and more. We are accepting orders for this new model, both as new instrument orders and as an upgrade for players already on our waiting list for our standard P3 Bb.
For more details on this new instrument including a video of Wynton's first few notes on the new horn when Dave delivered it to him in New York, please visit our SUMMER 2009 NEWSLETTER STORY found elsewhere on this website.
