I don't often get a shoutout on national TV... I think years ago Wynton said something on the Tonight Show or on Letterman when the host asked him about the weird looking trumpet he was playing. Late last year, Stephen Colbert gave the shop a 30-second plug during his "Meanwhile" segment right after the monologue.
Glenn Kostur sent me the link to the YouTube video of the clip... the Monette mention describes how we make our top-line, gold plated, threaded integral mouthpiece RANJA instruments, as played by our friend, Grammy winner Charlie Porter. RAJNA is a name that our friend Masaki came up with that combines the yoga terms RAJA and AJNA!😂
This gold plated Rajna on the right has custom engraving on the sheet bracing, and solid ruby inlays in the finger buttons. Mr. Colbert describes the design and fabrication process in such detail that someone on his staff must have really done some homework on my company to get so much accurate detail crammed into a 30-second spot. The point of the bit was to compare his finely crafted monologue to the finely crafted trumpets we make. I'm flattered!
We had no idea this bit was in the works----no one from his show contacted us regarding the shoutout or the segment. Click on either picture to watch the video clip of the bit... the Monette plug starts at 1:00 into the video. 💛🙏