Guardala MBII markings?
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I don't see any of the markings on these ones that match mine?
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I do t have the mouthpiece yet, should arrive this week. These are the only pictures I have -
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Yeah, that is a 'Super King' with what looks to be a .130" tip (at least). It bears no resemblance to the way an MB is made. I have no idea how something like that happens, but this is not a mouthpiece that came out of Guardala's shop. It looks like it is a 'Laser-Trimmed' that perhaps was mis-marked, then it got a stamp from another mouthpiece maker who does DG replicas.
Here's my original 'King Curtis' for comparison:
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Here's my original 'King Curtis' for comparison:
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After Guardala went in jail, the rights to sell mouthpieces with DG brand stamped on were:
1) LA Sax ---> pieces sold by WWBW
2) PMS by Nadir Ibrahimoglu (in Germany), distributed worldwide.
For a certain (long) period... all the Guardala laser trimmed pieces made by PMS in Germany were "King" stamped "Crescent", "MB-II", "King"...
The hand made had the regular original design (with slighly different facings but still hand made... and well!)... 250 bucks more expensive.
What's the reason?
Probably profit.
Being machined from a rod of brass... the less material you remove, the cheaper will be the mouthpiece.
The King has a lot of material in the chamber/floor slope which means that few material has been removed by machining.
Most of people don't/didn't care about all the stuff like chamber shape, tip opening... they want/wanted a Guardala because Brecker played one.
One model, sold under several different names... it's not a bad business strategy.
... until people realized they have been "fooled".
... untill they realize a Guardala King is bright but extreme to play and definietely not easy to manage.
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That was one of the "King" marked "MB-II".
MB-II is a bright mouthpiece, good for contemporary sounds.
King and Super King are bright... but extreme.
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Well this is interesting, I knew about all the different manufacturers and Generations of DG mouthpieces but I still no further forward on the mystery engraving.
Managed to find a KING model the the same engraving under the model number (pictures attached).
Guy who posted them says it’s a PMS laser trimmed DG.
Managed to find a KING model the the same engraving under the model number (pictures attached).
Guy who posted them says it’s a PMS laser trimmed DG.
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I haven't paid much attention to all the different versions by other makers, but I can assure you no 'MB' mouthpiece was based on a 'King' or 'King Curtis'. The MB was a Studio that was modified by Dave to suit Brecker. The 'Studio' mouthpiece has a short baffle with a straight edge at the rear like a Dukoff 'D' chamber, but shorter. Dave rounded that edge and opened the chamber to give Brecker the tone he wanted with a piece that was easy to play. Thus the 'MB' was born. The subject mouthpiece might be a good player but it is not what Brecker played.
Old thread and presumably you have already found the answer. In any case, the mystery engraving is just the PMS logo. I had a PMS MB II for a while and it looked just like yours, including both the engraving and the bullet style baffle. Apparently they don´t stamp them with the logo anymore, judging from the photos on the PMS home page.
Old thread and presumably you have already found the answer. In any case, the mystery engraving is just the PMS logo. I had a PMS MB II for a while and it looked just like yours, including both the engraving and the bullet style baffle. Apparently they don´t stamp them with the logo anymore, judging from the photos on the PMS home page.
/Saxray
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