Gary Sugal npc

4139 Views 19 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Bernards20040, Oct 9, 2007

Jon Turner

Discussion Starter · Oct 5, 2007

I have a Maxtone sop. The mpc it came with totally sucked, of course. I bought a Yamaha 4C and it plays quite well, at least for me anyway. I heard about the Gary Sugal mpcs and bought one of those. Bottom line is that the Yamaha is better IMO. Has any one had a similar experience with a Sugal? Are they any good or should I use it for a door stop or to practice refacing?
Thanks
Jon

1 - 20 of 20 Posts

Carl H.

· #2 · Oct 5, 2007

This is a good one for the search button. It's been covered and then some! (You are not alone in your opinion.)

Sigmund451

· #3 · Oct 5, 2007

Nice and pretty under water as a hook and bobber weight.

jazzsax86

· #4 · Oct 5, 2007

I bought a Sugal sop mouthpeice for a Selmer Series III (matte - if it makes a diff). The liebman model (dont remember the name) it is sooo bright. I can't tell if I like it or not.. It really stinks cause it was very expensive, as I'm sure you have found out as well. haha. Anyways, I'm still trying to figure it out, but if there is another mouthpeice that plays better, or you like your sound better, then you should obviously go with that. The sugal mouthpeices are well respected, so you can most likely sell the sugal for a pretty penny. Thats all I've got.

Dr G

· #5 · Oct 5, 2007

jazzsax86 said:
I bought a Sugal sop mouthpeice... I can't tell if I like it or not.. It really stinks cause it was very expensive... The sugal mouthpeices are well respected...

I have a difficult time reaching the same conclusion. :?

Billt4mn

· #6 · Oct 5, 2007

jazzsax86 said:
The sugal mouthpeices are well respected, so you can most likely sell the sugal for a pretty penny.

Over the last 5 years or so, I've not heard much raving about Sugal mpcs, other than from Gary. The ones I've seen on eBay have gone for maybe half the list price. I've got a wooden Gonz II I'm going to sell pretty soon, and will feel lucky to get $140 for it. It's a pretty good screamer and plays easily in the altissimo, but it lacks nuance and richness. It could just be me, though.

Dave Dolson

· #7 · Oct 5, 2007

Jon: Put the Sugal mouthpiece away for a while and keep it to revisit over time. I doubt if you will get anything substantial for it at resale so you might as well keep it. I enjoy re-visiting my rejected pieces. DAVE

captain blowhard

· #8 · Oct 8, 2007

The Yamaha 4C is an OK mouthpiece, specially considering the price. Not fantastic but neither do they suck. They seem to be made of a 50 / 50 mix of powdered hard rubber and plastic.

Eventually you'll probably want to move to a bigger tip opening and proper HR or metal piece.

J.Max

· #9 · Oct 8, 2007

jazzsax86 said:
I bought a Sugal sop mouthpeice for a Selmer Series III (matte - if it makes a diff). The liebman model (dont remember the name) it is sooo bright. I can't tell if I like it or not.. It really stinks cause it was very expensive, as I'm sure you have found out as well. haha. Anyways, I'm still trying to figure it out, but if there is another mouthpeice that plays better, or you like your sound better, then you should obviously go with that. The sugal mouthpeices are well respected, so you can most likely sell the sugal for a pretty penny.

They aren't respected and you'll sell at a loss. Better to send the mouthpiece-shaped piece of metal to a refacer and have one of them fix it.

ChuBerry47

· #10 · Oct 8, 2007

I had a soprano Sugal MP for soprano that was a Rubber Plastic Composite mouthpiece that I bought for $200. I hated it! You could not get ANY Altissimo, and the tone was good, but I had to tighten my embouchure, and when I was done my mouth was completely red after playing all the time. It was open, but it wasn't becuase of the facing. I had an alto Piece that I payed $250 for, and it was not worth it. I had good tone, but too hard to play, and the Altissimo sucked. They were hand made from Gary. I am sure that the metal ones are a lot better. I got better response froma Conn Precision plastic mouthpiece. I got better Altissimo too. I talked to Professional Sax Player Tony Campbell about mouthpieces, and he said that he couldn't get any Altissimo either. I would not buy a composite mouthpiece, but I would more likely buy a metal one, but from my experience with the composite mouthpieces, it makes me very unsure about a metal one.

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whaler

· #11 · Oct 8, 2007

J.Max said:
They aren't respected and you'll sell at a loss. Better to send the mouthpiece-shaped piece of metal to a refacer and have one of them fix it.

I'm sure the re-facers here will love you for this one. The Sugals are a piece of crap mouthpiece based on the design of another piece of crap; Lawtons.

ChuBerry47

· #12 · Oct 8, 2007

So the Designs are not gary's? Which mouthpieces? (Model Names)

pandala

· #13 · Oct 8, 2007

Hi everybody. I'm a newbie of this wonderful forum.
I'm from Italy. A couple of years ago I bought a tenor super gonz from Gary. I spent a fortune for having it....high cost, VAT and customs

(
Well, when I played it, sounded so husky and bright... When I saw the chamber I noticed that there was a big rabbet on inner inside wall... I sended the piece back to him and I gave my explanations about how wost sounded the piece.
The result?? The piece never get back to me...LOST!! Gary declared that he never received the piece...
So you could imagine how I feel...

ChuBerry47

· #14 · Oct 8, 2007

I am really starting to dislike Gary. Why don't we start calling him Gary Guardala!

ChuBerry47

· #15 · Oct 8, 2007

captain blowhard said:
The Yamaha 4C is an OK mouthpiece, specially considering the price. Not fantastic but neither do they suck. They seem to be made of a 50 / 50 mix of powdered hard rubber and plastic.

Eventually you'll probably want to move to a bigger tip opening and proper HR or metal piece.

They are! I bought a Compostie mouthpiece that I think instead of plastic was ****, and Hard Rubber.

Billt4mn

· #16 · Oct 8, 2007

pandala said:
Hi everybody. I'm a newbie of this wonderful forum.
I'm from Italy. A couple of years ago I bought a tenor super gonz from Gary. I spent a fortune for having it....high cost, VAT and customs (
Well, when I played it, sounded so husky and bright... When I saw the chamber I noticed that there was a big rabbet on inner inside wall... I sended the piece back to him and I gave my explanations about how wost sounded the piece.
The result?? The piece never get back to me...LOST!! Gary declared that he never received the piece...
So you could imagine how I feel...

I too bought a mpc from Gary that had a big gob of stuff on the inside. I sent it back and he took care of it and apologized for the inconvenience. I still don't care for the mpc, but it was a legit transaction.

J.Max

· #17 · Oct 9, 2007

ChuBerry47 said:
So the Designs are not gary's? Which mouthpieces? (Model Names)

All of them are based on a Lawton design, at least externally. The internals of the Lawtons are better though...Sugal mouthpieces are poorly made, especially for the price you pay for them. I've never seen one of them that didn't have uneven rails. And yes, he's the P.T. Barnum of the saxophone world, but I wouldn't equate him to Guardala. Guardala's mouthpieces are better, and Gary hasn't done anything illegal that I know of...

betelsax

· #18 · Oct 9, 2007

Gotta love good marketing.
There's a large sub-category of GAS called MAS, Mouthpiece Acquisition Syndrome, and the wolves are out there stalking.

pandala

· #19 · Oct 9, 2007

betelsax said:
Gotta love good marketing.
There's a large sub-category of GAS called MAS, Mouthpiece Acquisition Syndrome, and the wolves are out there stalking.

This is the truth!! Amen, I was affected by the MAS, but no more now.
Thanks to Phil Barone.
Frank.http://forum.saxontheweb.net/images/icons/icon6.gif
Cool

Bernards20040

· #20 · Oct 9, 2007

The title says NPC I assumed it would be a Nose piece hmmmmm maybe it will play better that way:twisted:

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