Mike Maass was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a high school student, he studied trombone with Richard Kimball of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He performed with Milwaukee’s Music for Youth Symphony Orchestra and was a Milwaukee Symphony Young Artists Audition winner. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Instrumental Music Education from Northwestern University where he was a trombone student of Frank Crisafulli of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Mike performed with the NU Symphony under Bernard Rubenstein and in the NU Wind Ensemble under John Paynter.  He later returned to Milwaukee where he studied with Donald Haack (principal trombone) of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Mike has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Racine Symphony (Racine, Wisconsin). In the music industry, Mike managed a music store specializing in band instruments. He became a district sales manager for G. Leblanc Corp. (Holton brass instruments) and later was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Getzen Company, Inc. (makers of the Doc Severinsen trumpet, Getzen Custom Series Trombones and Edwards). He later served as brass instrument product manager starting a new brass division for Eastman Music Company. Working with trombone designer Steve Shires, Mike helped launch Eastman’s Andreas Eastman brass line and the Eastman by Shires line of high performance trombones. Mike earned his Master’s in Business from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Trombones by Maass are a collaboration of state-of-the-art high quality wind instrument manufacturing based in China and USA based design, product management, quality control, warranty service and distribution. Trombones by Maass are designed to deliver professional quality sound while still offering value and affordability. These instruments are made for  “blue collar” working musicians, symphony and concert band trombonists and student players alike, who are looking for no-nonsense “straight-ahead” basic musical equipment to get the job done.