In the past you may have seen our custom inlaid fingerbuttons that we have made for our presentation decorated instruments, made in conjunction with Portland goldsmith/designer Tami Dean. We are excited to announce that these beautiful, inlaid fingerbuttons are back - and they are finally available for both old and new Monette instruments of any model and vintage!
It is important that the fingerbuttons we inlay are the correct weight and configuration for the model and vintage of Monette trumpet they will be used with. Given the range of weight in our instruments, there are many configurations depending on the exact model and vintage of instrument they are designed to be used with. For this reason, a given set of inlaid buttons will only play in an optimum way when installed on the appropriate weight and model of instrument they were made for. The fingerbuttons are available in raw brass, bright silver or brushed 24k gold.
The stones we use for these fingerbuttons come from all over the world. Tiger iron from western Australia, lapis from Afghanistan, sugilite from South Africa, opal from Southeast Australia, turquoise from New Mexico and Arizona, carnelian from India, and too many more to mention! Dave Monette recently made a trip to the annual Tucson Rock and Mineral Show to pick up this year's supply of rocks – and found out why friends warned us about being sure to take enough money on the trip! At $1.00 to $2.00 per gram, the lapis and especially the grade AAA sugilite was outrageously expensive – and the difference between the material from the average vendors and the best vendors was apparent immediately.
The single material buttons often require an entire slab of material in order to find just the right area that will look great in the approximately .500” diameter setting of the fingerbutton. Each inlay is ground down to approximately .060” thick, ground perfectly round, and polished to a beautiful very slightly domed finish. The complex mosaic inlays not only get hand-picked rough cut material, but often require four or five individual “lay-ups” in order to achieve the desired design pattern between all the stones.
The price range for these custom fingerbuttons is $600 - $900 for a set of single material buttons, depending on the stone and finish of the fingerbutton. The price range for our “mosaic” inlaid buttons, depending on the stones and the complexity of the design, range from $1,100 to $1,800. We are happy to make custom sets with your choice of stones, but please understand that every set is unique as the material always varies slightly from set to set. The pictures on this page show a selection of some popular stone combinations. Please contact the shop directly to find out about the current backorder time, and please understand that like our instruments there is a waiting list and orders are processed and custom made in the order that they are received.
Please let us know what you think of the pictures on this page, and if you have any favorite sets!
stc@monette.net