Compatible ligature for Guardala MPs

[Michael Bishop]

I was looking here the Forum that Johnny mentions he uses a Winslow ligature with his Guardala MP–seems like these line of ligatures are almost extinct now–and found a line of ligatures that seem to resemble the Winslows pretty close. They’re called Saxxas ligatures. Has anyone heard anything about them? I haven’t found them on Amazon–we can benefit Johnny’s site by clicking on his links and going to Amazon. They appear to be really close to Winslows, even comes with the rubber pins.
The only thing is that the website that the link takes you to will say what MPs this is compatible with and what MPs it is not compatible with; Guardalas aren’t mentioned either way on this list. I sent them an e-mail asking them about it so we’ll see what they say. They’re available on saxcompany.com, just type in “saxxas ligatures” on their search menu.

[Michael Bishop]

Hey guys, I checked my e-mail just a few minutes ago and the answer is yes, Saxxas ligatures are compatible with Guardalas MPs. They also told me that the ligatures called the “Francois Louis ultimate ligature” was similar to Saxxas ligatures and they will work with Guardala MPs also. The website mentioned above is located in the Netherlands but they believe there are dealers here in the US that sells these ligatures too.

[James]

Hi Michael. I have the Guardala MBII silverplated mouthpiece. I bought it from Woodwind & Brasswind (WWBW) on sale for $199 a couple of months ago. I found it on Amazon but Amazon wouldn’t ship to Canada. I saw the seller was WWBW and gave them a call and they shipped it to me. The ligature I have is a Selmer Alto M402LIG. I bought it from Dillon Music (dillonmusic.com) in Edison, NJ. They have it on their website for $52.50 new and used for $32. Jim

[Michael Bishop]

Hey thanks Jim–when you say here that your ligature is a Selmer Alto M402LIG, that isn’t a ligature for an Alto Sax? I would have thought if wasn’t for Tenor Sax. How’s that ligature working for you? What kind of reed do you use with the MBII mp? I think I read somewhere here that Johnny is using Vandoren Java Reeds.

[James]

Yes, it’s an alto ligature. The MBII tenor mouthpiece has a really small diameter. The ligature for my alto mouthpiece, a Selmer 80 C*, is way too big. The tightening screws bottom out before it snugs up the reed. I guess I could have stuffed some sort of spacer in there to make it work. I googled ‘ligature for the Guardala MBII tenor mouthpiece’ and the Selmer Alto M402Lig came up on the Saxontheweb (SOTW) forum.

As for reeds, I’m using a Vandoren Java 2 1/2 and a Juno 2. My other mouthpiece is a Meyer 7M which I like. Compared to it, the MBII takes a lot more work but I’m getting used to it. The MBII has a big sound to it!

[James]

One thing I forgot to mention is that the M402 ligature is a really snug fit. Now that I’ve used it for a while, the ligature has molded itself to the shape of the mp. At first, I thought I was going to have to sand down the reed to make it fit.

[Tim56]

Hey guys: Ligature fit? Look out here. The Winslow and Saxxas are made for Hard rubber and metal. The 2 types are different in size. Make sure you are getting the one that is made for your mouthpiece. Metal will not fit hard rubber. Tim

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