Pickett perfects Blackburn trumpets

At the beginning of the year, Pickett Brass acquired Blackburn Trumpets and the production of the esteemed trumpet range, designed and crafted by Cliff Blackburn for the past 30 years.

Blackburn Trumpets produced world-renowned, high quality performance, trumpets and cornets, and was the only company using ambronze, a high quality copper alloy to produce one-piece,

hand-hammered bells with a rich, pure sound.

The pistons and slides are also precisely fitted to some of the closest tolerances in the industry, each brace is hand-fitted, with excess solder hand-scraped.

Not surprisingly, when Peter Pickett transferred production to his Lexington base in Kentucky, he and his team of qualified musicians embarked upon a steep learning curve to replicate three decades of development in Blackburn Trumpets by Cliff Blackburn and the world-renowned scientist of trumpet acoustics, William T. Cardwell.

Said Peter Pickett: “It’s been a tough learning year. We wanted to prove that we could craft Cliff Blackburn’s instruments perfectly before offering them for sale again, which with Cliff’s help we now feel confident that we have achieved.”

Employing the skills of his four craftsmen and with Cliff Blackburn himself continually on board, Pickett Brass is mastering the production of Blackburn trumpets and cornets to the satisfaction of both Peter and Cliff.

The Blackburn range includes Bb and C trumpets and cornets, Eb soprano cornet, and D/E/Eb trumpets and piccolo.

For more brass band news from around the globe, subscribe to BBW Digital. Only £30 a year for 10 editions full of news, interviews, features, reviews and more! Subscribe today!