New hand-trimmed Guardala tenor King model available at WWBW

[King Bee]

FYI, the WW&BW have some HAND-TRIMMED Guardala King R&B models for tenor. I just bought one for $450 plus shipping - a lot less than you would pay for one on eBay. They also have the laser trimmed version for about $330, as well as some of the other laser-trimmed models.

Is Dave making mouthpieces again, or is this someone's new old stock?

[colibri]

Dave Guardala is probably making mouthpieces again. There was a large amount of Guardala pieces on Ebay recently. People want to make money before their beloved Guardala goes down in value.

I'd buy one for less than $200. For the amount of money people are willing to pay for, I could've got Freddie Gregory to make a custom one for me with my own specification. 8)

[King Bee]

Funny, but only the King R&B is available as a hand-trimmed model. If Dave were making them again, I would expect to see Studios and Breckers. Just my opinion.

[colibri]

I read somewhere, probably Googles alt.music.saxophone, that Dave will be making them again.

WW&BW always had the tenor lazer trimmed Guardalas listed on their catalog even when Dave Guardala was having a lawsuit with some company (was it LA Sax?), but I've never seen the hand trimmed ones before. I'm guessing they must've been new stock, since people would've bought all of them when the hand made models were discontinued a while back.

A hand trimmed Studio alto mouthpiece certain sounds very interesting.

[Andrew]

I'm curious...do the Hand-Trimmed models look like the older Guardala line, or like the newer Guardala line?

[King Bee]

I dunno what you mean by the old and new lines - hand and laser trimmed? Of the several DG pieces I have on hand (6 tenor, 3 alto) that were made at various times over the last 14 years, the metal bodies look virtually identical, with the lazer-trimmed baffles a bit crisper looking at the various edges. The toothpatches are obviously different: the hand-trimmed pieces have the pinkish dental material, while the lazer-trimmed ones have clear plastic inserts with the "DG" initials on the inside surface.

There may be mouthpiece experts who can note important differences (tips, rails, baffles) over the years, but they look pretty much the same to me.

I don't have the DG tenor King I just bought from WW&BW yet, so can't say how it might be different.

I can say the laser-trimmed pieces seem to play as well as the others. It would be great if DG produced laser-trimmed pieces in all his models to keep their prices more reasonable that what's happening on eBay. :?

[King Bee]

Got the hand-trimmed tenor DG King R&B this week and had a chance to play it yesterday. The S/N is 300XX, possibly a new serial number series from Dave, I dunno. It came with the usual DG lig and cap and looks just like the other Guardalas I have.

Unfortunately, it was not as good a mouthpiece as the other DGs I have, including a laser-trimmed Studio (slightly darker) and Super King R&B (slightly brighter). In fact, I thought it was a bit difficult to play and had some funny (to me) harmonic content. I noticed that the bullet chamber was a bit off-center too. I really like my laser-trimmed SKR&B and was disappointed in the KR&B.

Bottom line: the first Guardala I didn't like and keep, and it's going back to WW&BW. Since it's hand trimmed, another in the same lot may sound much better.

Over and out. :roll:

[1saxman]

King Bee; Thanks for the analysis - I'm a Guardala user too. Just like any other mouthpiece, if you find one you like, stick with it.

[uksaxman]

I'd doo as one of you suggested, & get Freddie to make you a piece. I have an 8* custom of his and its great. I treid it next to a laser trimmed studio, which was very nice, but couldnt out-do my "freddie"..... nicer :D