I got made/coming a Guardala MBII for my Alto Sax :)

[Michael Bishop]

😎 Hi Johnny,
I have coming a new, custom-made Guardala MBII for my Alto Sax 🙂 Have you ever had the chance to play any of the Guardala line of MPs on an Alto Sax? Here’s a video of a King model and a Studio Model being played on the Alto–the MP maker who built this for me–VERY good at what he does–highly recommends using the Java reed for it; says the Javas/MBII mouthpiece is one of the best combinations he’s ever used. He says I will “absolutely love” it on my Alto sax.

http://youtu.be/jmBowxI6HT8

[john]

Great Michael. Never tried the alto one yet. as you probably know I have an original Dave Guardala Michael Brecker and King Curtis models for my tenor, I;ve never even tried these new ones to compare. but if they’re anything like Dave’s original ones they’re gonna be great.

[Michael Bishop]

Having that sound that is so distinct to the Guardala MPs on an Alto really, really appeals to me 🙂 What differences have you noticed between the King Curtis Model and the MB model?

[john]

I think the King is a little brighter and the brecker a little warmer… I prefer and use the Brecker way more.

[Anonymous]

Hi Michael – i’ve got a Guardala King mouthpiece on my Yamaha Alto & its great, i find the La Voz reed works better than the java reeds!

a description from the website i got it from
An alto version of the world famous Guardala King mouthpiece. Manufactures by high precision CNC technology by the legendary Dave Guardala’s workshop colleague, Nadir Ibrahimoglu, of PMS Music in Germany. Though Guardala himself is no longer manufacturing these remarkable mouthpieces, their spirit, design and attention to detail lives on & Nadir’s models can certainly live up to the original Guardalas- made famous by Michael Brecker and others.

For response, projection and overall playability these are some of the best of the best. Superbly finished, a Guardala piece Is not only a top quality tool for the discerning player but an object of great beauty…

“One of the best! – its bright, its punchy and it’s everything a contemporary player could want. The response is like no other, supremely adaptable – you blow soft, it plays mellow and smooth, you blow hard, and it “smacks” out like a kind slap around the face! Not harsh but bold and bright with bucket loads of power! With its more open lay it does require a strong air supply to get this HUGE sound but don’t let that put you off one of the best sounding mouthpieces around – just try a softer reed.” scott@sax.co.uk

[Michael Bishop]

Thanks Sxpoet for the leads; I’ll check it out for sure. I play the Java on my Tenor that my MP maker refers to and I do know exactly what he’s talking about regarding the Guardala/Java reed combination and how good it is. Because all I have is a simple USB mic/webcam for blog uploads, you can’t really tell what it REALLY sounds like on a video v.s. hearing it in person (I don’t have software that allows me to do reverb, echo, etc.. but that is coming in time soon) but the Studio MP I have in conjunction with the Java reed is just fantastic! Nice raw, edgy, vintage sound–perfect for so many kinds of playing; but seems just a little bit “darker” I guess you could say than the MBII. So I have a lot of confidence in these reeds in particular. Johnny uses Java reeds too; he’s been using them for a long, long time. But we’re all different; what works for one person may not work well for someone else.
With the Alto being “higher/brighter” in sound than the Tenor, I didn’t want an MP that was too bright; the Saxophone was bright already even before getting serviced/having leaks, etc, much less now that it will be overhauled and in tune. I just spoke with the guys at the shop today and they said it’s almost ready and mentioned how “gorgeous” of a sound with a custom MBII for Alto Sax they think will be on this particular horn will have and are interested in seeing how it turns out, as they haven’t heard of anyone matching this particular MP with an Alto Sax. They’re very familiar with the Guardalas for Tenor Sax and said the MBII was one of their very favorites; putting it right up there with Theo Wanne MPs. They also told me the same thing that Johnny says here that the King Curtis is too bright for their taste and much, much more prefer MBII (I talked to them before reading his response here LOL). One of the guys said, jokingly, that “it has no place in your local school band or an Orchestra; it’s a beast of a mouthpiece” So we’ll see how it goes when I get it all back.

[Dazza]

Hey Michael, where did you buy the MP from. How much $$? I have a Berg Larsen HR 85/2 coming for my new 62 which has been refined by a pro player in my area. So one of a kind that he reckons will be the last MP I will want. I highly doubt that!. Has anyone much experience with them??

[john]

I used a Berg way back in the first few years of my playing. It was just what I wanted… for about a year then I found ones I liked better and moved on. I think it was just a little too narrow for me.

[Michael Bishop]

Hey Dazza, I sent you a message about his contact info. You can never go wrong with a good Yamaha Sax that you have coming and I can only imagine that it’s going to “sing” to say the least with a good, quality MP–very nice! Would love to see you upload something to the blog with it.

[Author]

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