Sheryl Laukat, CEO Tevis Laukat, President

CEO Sheryl Laukat tells a little bit about the history of Cannonball...

"Tevis & I met in 1982. I was a Jr. High Band Director and Tevis was sponsored by the local music store to visit my band classes as a guest clinician. We both loved the saxophone. It was my major instrument in college and Tevis was a professional musician, playing all the doubles, but especially the saxophone. He had a B.S. degree in music performance. We soon married, and several years later we discovered something grand!

Tevis and I both played on valued vintage saxophones. But one day a newer saxophone came into our hands. The trouble was, it didn't play or sound very good. Tevis regulated it and it improved, but the sound and the pitch was still lacking. For fun, we began to experiment with the horn, altering the air flow and changing the acoustical properties of the instrument. We were amazed at what happened! Through divine inspiration we soon became very good at altering the pitch of any note we wanted, and changing the tone quality of the instrument. If we wanted clearer altissimo we could do it. If we wanted more lows, or focus we could do it. Before long, it was nearly impossible to tell the difference in sound between our valued vintage horns and this new horn and the pitch surpassed our vintage horns. We were jumping up and down with excitement! We knew we really had something! We were so excited that we risked everything and mortgaged our home to pursue our new adventure!

We first needed to find a place to make our saxophones."


Where are Cannonball Trumpets Made?

After many attempts we discovered that to achieve the level of manufacturing excellence that we had achieved in our saxophones, we needed to find a manufacturer with a long tradition of excellent craftsmanship, knowledge, and skill. We found the solution at a state-of-the-art, environmentally sound factory in Germany that combined over a one-hundred year tradition of skilled workmanship with high-tech innovations and an invaluable wealth of knowledge on how to manufacture brass instruments. The people there were willing to build something of our own design using confidentiality with respect to our research and ideas. We did extensive testing, working back and forth with several different prototypes and parts resulting in a product we were proud to call our own. We unveiled our new Big Bell Stone Series 725 Bb trumpet and the 789RL (reverse leadpipe) Bb Trumpet and have received excellent reviews from our dealers and customers.




Salt Lake City, Utah Facility

Cannonball facility in Sandy, Utah.

After all Trumpets are manufactured they arrive at our 12,000 square foot/1,115 square meter facility in Sandy, Utah, USA - 15 miles/24 kilometers outside of Salt Lake City. This is where the most important work is done. In Utah, we hand customize each instrument to ensure quality and consistency. All trumpets are played by professional musicians and master acoustical technicians and customized to ensure it has great body, resonance, and focus. This ensures a high level of quality control and is the reason that Cannonballs are so consistent in playability and workmanship. You really can say that every Cannonball is a "Custom Instrument" as they have all truly been hand customized. A Cannonball trumpet never leaves Salt Lake City until it surpasses all expectations

Owners of Cannonball

Sheryl Laukat

Sheryl Laukat, CEO
Personal Saxophone: Big Bell Stone Series Lacquered Alto

Sheryl was raised in Utah. Saxophones were played by her family and extended family so she kept up the tradition. (Her mother still plays and performs with her saxophone at age 78.) Sheryl graduated from Weber State University with a degree in Music Education and an emphasis in saxophone. She was the band director at Millcreek Jr. High School in Bountiful, Utah. Sheryl donated her time for over 11 years as the pianist and arranger of the International Children's Choir which performed for visiting ambassadors, royalty, and religious leaders from all over the world. She currently serves as the Vice President for the Board of Directors of the choir. Sheryl also serves on the National Advisory Committee for Weber State University and will be honored as a Distinguished Alumni 2010.

What does Sheryl do at Cannonball? She oversees all operations. While managing instrument production, she enjoys frequent communication with our partners in Taiwan, Germany and China. She also heads International Distribution. The marketing aspect of Cannonball is one of her favorite fortes, as is talking with musicians and dealers. Above all, Sheryl loves happy customers.

Tevis Laukat

Tevis Laukat, President
Personal Saxophones: Vintage Reborn: Dark Amber Lacquer Alto, Dark Amber Lacquer Soprano Big Bell Stone Series: Raven Tenor, Raven Bari

Tevis was raised in beautiful Sacramento, California. He started playing clarinet at a young age and he quickly added the saxophone and flute. As a junior in high school, he was invited to play with the Consumnes River College Jazz Band. He later attended Brigham Young University where he mastered all of the woodwinds and graduated with a music performance degree. During college, he was awarded outstanding soloist in several jazz festivals. As lead tenor sax player, he toured Hungary and Romania with BYU's Synthesis Jazz Band, which was the very first non-communist musical group allowed in each of those countries. After graduating, he had a successful career as a professional woodwind doubler in both Utah and California. He played in the Concord Pavilion with the Mills Brothers, Barry Manilow, Tom Jones, Johnny Mathis and the Spinners. He also played for the Donny and Marie Television Show, Ray Charles, Bob Hope, the Utah Symphony, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, just to name a few. He played in live musicals for 20 years in Salt Lake City's Pioneer Memorial Theater and Sacramento's Music Circus, which often included New York original casts. Besides live performances he has recorded for television, radio commercials, CD's, and many major motion pictures. What does Tevis do at Cannonball? He oversees and participates in hand acoustical customization of the horns. He also creates, experiments with and tests new ideas. Communication is his talent and it is a great pleasure for him to communicate with musicians and dealers. His dealer area concentrates on USA and Canada but he enjoys being involved with all Cannonball dealers and distributors worldwide. He provides laughter for the staff by using his kid-like enthusiasm for life, good food, cars, and especially great musical instruments!


Cannonball Acoustical Experts and Quality Control Staff


Ryan Laukat
Trumpet Research and Development, Acoustical Expert, Hand Engraving Expert, Art and Design

Personal Trumpets: Personal Trumpets: 725-Lacquer, Lynx

Ryan plays and acoustically customizes all of the Cannonball trumpets. He is a lifelong musician and has played trumpet at the University of Utah in the Jazz Band and Wind Symphony, as well as in community orchestras, musicals, and events. He is a current member of the Utah Wind Symphony, and has performed many times as a guest artist with the International Children's Choir. He is also a professional artist/illustrator; he works as the head of hand engraving at Cannonball and is part of the advertising team. His art is featured on many Cannonball products and advertisements. The new Lynx brace design is Ryan's original creation. He is also a freelance illustrator and specializes in books, board games, portraits, and advertisements. He is fluent in Spanish. He is also a trained saxophone and clarinet technician and runs all laser engraving at the Salt Lake City facility.


Randal Clark
Professional Saxophonist, Acoustical Expert, Director of Media and Education

Personal Saxophones: Big Bell Stone Series: A5 "Mad Meg", T5 "Mad Meg. Vintage Reborn: Dark Amber Lacquer Alto, SA5 BiceB "Raven"

Randal plays and acoustically customizes most of the Alto and Soprano saxophones. He is a professional saxophone player in the Salt Lake area. He has a Bachelors and Masters degree in Music Education from the University of Utah with an emphasis in saxophone and conducting. He is a frequent recording artist for commercials, television, CD's, and has been featured on many soundtracks for computer game software. He has appeared at the Park City International Jazz Festival and the Salt Lake City International Jazz Festival. While a member of the University of Utah's Jazz Ensemble One, the ensemble took 1st place at the collegiate competition at the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival at Moscow, Idaho in 1996. Randal currently plays principal alto saxophone in the Utah Wind Symphony. In addition to working for Cannonball, he is a full-time high school band, orchestra, and jazz band teacher. His ensembles have been consistently the top in the state. He is the conductor of the Canyons Symphony Orchestra, an honors orchestra involving students from all over the Salt Lake Valley, and has been the conductor of the Rocky Mountain Wind Symphony, a professional adult wind symphony in the area. We are also happy to have him serve as our education coordinator. Randal is in demand as a guest soloist, clinician, conductor, and adjudicator.


Ryan Lillywhite
Professional Saxophonist, Acoustical Expert, Parts Manager, International Representative

Personal Saxophones: Vintage Reborn: Dark Amber Laquer Alto, Brute Tenor
Big Bell Stone Series: Black with Silver Keys Tenor

Ryan plays and acoustically customizes most of the Tenor and Baritone saxophones. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in business management and a minor in music. As the lead tenor sax player for three years in BYU's top jazz band, Synthesis, he toured with the band and was a frequently featured soloist. Ryan has performed with numerous ensembles throughout Utah including the Utah Symphony. He performs and records regularly and has taught saxophone and clarinet lessons. He can be heard on a number of soundtracks and CDs. An innovative musician, he has won awards in organ and piano competitions and played ukulele for a Tahitian dance team. Ryan is also fluent in French and Tahitian and volunteers his time to interpret these languages for worldwide conferences. He has had extensive training and experience in instrument repair, facilitating his roles as parts manager and contributor to the design of Cannonball instruments.


Daron Bradford
Professional Clarinet and Woodwind Artist,
Head Clarinet Acoustical Customizer

Personal Clarinet: Piacere

Daron Bradford, our main acoustical expert, was the principal clarinetist for the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra and played for the Donny and Marie Osmond TV show. He currently plays solo performances on clarinet, saxophone, and celtic instruments with the Utah Symphony and the Orchestra at Temple Square. Daron is a faculty member at Brigham Young University School of Music teaching saxophone and clarinet, and is also a first-call recording artist and freelance musician on all woodwinds.


Office and Quality Control Staff

Julee	Lindsay	Rachel	Chris	Rachel
Corrine	Mary	Austin	Robert

Model 725

Its traditional leadpipe configuration and memdium-large bore provide a focused and resonant tone. Our unique Big Bell® taper adds body and depth to your sound and is balanced by optimal resistance for easy playability, responsive versatility, and effortless slotting throughout the registers.

Model 789RL

With its reverse leadpipe design, medium-large bore, and even bigger Big Bell design (5.25" bell diameter), the 789RL "Bavarian Lion" is a free-blowing dream giving you the potential to roar while maintaining a quality of sound ideal for both leading or filling out a section.

Lynx

With its lightweight design and light bell, the Lynx is the perfect trumpet for "blow your socks off" high notes and zingy, vibriant tone. The new, sleek braces give the trumpet a unique, modern look and are specifically designed to promote free vibration throughout the range of the horn, while improving tone and intonation.

The Bell

The Bell Raw trumpet bells. The bell of the trumpet goes through an annealing process several times. In the annealing process the metal is first heated up and then cooled slowly to allow the instrument to be pliable during the shaping process. This also gives the horn easy response and projection. Part of the annealing process includes hand hammering. Several alternating cycles of annealing and hand-hammering make the metal harder and more rigid for increased durability. It also gives the instrument a great ring and resonance that is characteristic of the Cannonball sound.

Shaped bells waiting to be fit. Only the most experienced master craftsmen have attained the level of expertise required to hand shave the bell using a lathe. This process takes the inconsistencies of thickness out of the brass, making it a smooth amplifier. In today's world of over-mechanization, the importance of hands-on attention to detail is often overlooked -- not here at Cannonball!!

Our 725 bell features a unique bell flare. This bell contributes to superior intonation, ring, resonance, and projection. It is from this unique bell that we get our "Big Bell" trademark. Our unique bell flare. The sound and feel is open and free-blowing although you will never feel like you are playing into a wind tunnel because the added dimension in the flare is compensated by having a bit of extra resistance in the lead pipe. All of this is combined to make a comfortable instrument with an unforgettable sound that will make it easy to achieve your desired results in performance.

The Leadpipe and Receiver

Each lead pipe is evaluated and customized to compensate for our unique bore size and bell. We also adjust for proper pitch and feel. Our leadpipe is fitted with a custom heavy wall receiver. This receiver helps to deliver a focused tone and is very sturdy to ensure a optimum fit of the mouthpiece with little or no change over time.


Bore Design

We searched for the perfect bore size to facilitate a great air column. Speaking generally the bore is medium-large, however there are variations in tube diameter across the instrument which create a comfortable degree of resistance as well as align pitch for great slotting. The slotting on a Cannonball trumpet is superior and maintains a player's freedom to affect pitch variation at will. Bracing

Our trumpets feature straight bracing. This is an advantage over the traditional "S" brace design. "S" bracing restricts the metal from resonating. Because our braces do not restrict the metal (particularly of the bell) resonance is optimized creating a huge, extremely vibrant sound that will make people sit up and take notice. We did extensive testing and have carefully placed our braces on the instrument in precise locations where we found it helped the sound. Intonation is heavily influenced by precise brace placement. Our braces are not forced into position but rather carefully placed and meticulously soldered to maximize these effects. We have taken resonant bracing to a new level with our unique Lynx bracing.

Cannonball trumpets feature monel piston valves. Monel is a malleable metal alloy that ensures smooth and long lasting action. The metal re-arranges its shape with every stroke to insure a proper, tight fit and alignment with its casing. Monel resists pitting and corrosion so you won't have to have your valves re-plated. The metal also retains the valve oil longer than other leading materials. In the factory the valves are kept together with their specific casings from the beginning of the manufacturing process. Each is first hand lapped, and then machine lapped to make sure the fit is superior. The first and third valves are vented to allow for easy movement of their corresponding tuning slides. You will never be stuck in the middle of a piece with your slides hanging out. Each valve is meticulously aligned for superior air flow. Tolerances are very high and great care is taken in this step of the process. Each horn comes with standard and heavy valve caps to lighten or darken the sound according to the player's desires.

Silver Plated

Our silver plated horns have a classic ringing tone that will fill any concert hall. They are plated with 100% silver. Remember silver tarnishes and if a player has high hand acidity the plating will not last as long.

Iced Black Nickel Plated

Black anodized nickel plating is superior to black lacquer, because plating bonds to the brass, becoming one with it. This helps reduce flaking. Black nickel not only offers an exciting look, but also has a brilliant sound with great projection.

Unlacquered

This horn screams!!!! We have a saying here at Cannonball, , "Ugly is beautiful!" Yes - this raw brass will oxidize and turn green and ugly with time. The qualities of the sound far outweigh any consideration to its looks and many players prefer this natural appearance and the unique sound it projects.

Retro Gold Lacquer

Our rich gold lacquer horns have a traditional sound. They have a pleasing warmth, but still allow the player to "sizzle" when desired. The name "Retro" refers to the darkness of the lacquer which is reminiscent of trumpets from the '50's and '60's.

Talented Utah artist Kelly Ricks has created original designs for the engravings on our professional instruments using motifs from the medieval period. Our trumpets use a diamond engraving process which is necessary to render the intricate nature of the engravings and have a hand finished look. The serial numbers are marked on the underside of the receiver.

Acoustic Customizers

The most important thing about Cannonball is the acoustical customizing that we do to every horn. Yes our horns are beautiful, yes our horns are well made, but they also need to play great. That's why we spend so much time customizing and working on each and every horn we sell. Specially trained and talented acoustical adjusters work on each pro horn until they are satisfied with the pitch, resistance, even timbre, full-bodied sound, and slotting. We want you to have that feeling of exhilaration when you play. We want you to say, "I can't put this horn down!"