[gsaxman100]

Hi, any Berg experts out there? I have a nice playing steel one, and am curious about approximately when it was made. It's a wide body, duckbill, 110 2 M. The M is directly under the 2. Both the ligature and the piece say "Reg. Design 851427/8". The ligature has the screws with round knobs (not paddles) that're kind of rough like a finger-nail file. Any idea? Thanks.

 

[Saxlicker]

I am very much not an expert but I do know that Berg has only in recent times reintroduced the duckbill.
So, if you have had it a number of years the key to your question would be to find out when the duckbills went out of production. That'll narrow it down a bit.

Have you seen my thread called bergs?
Are you looking to move this piece on?

 

[gsaxman100]

I bought it on ebay maybe a year ago, and the seller said it was from the 1960's, but I heard that the older ones had the paddle screws on the ligature so I 'm thinking it's newer than that, maybe '70's? And yeah, I'm thinking about selling it. I bought a Saxscape Red River I'm really smitten with, and it seems to get the Berg sound real well, plus a lot more, really a versatile piece. Trying to attach a couple pics, maybe that'll help with the ID. Not sure what it's worth...

 

[milandro]

it doesn't look like a duckbill to me....... and incidentally, Berg has recently re-introduced a '60 classic mouthpiece like a duckbill

here you see a duckbill
http://www.bandstand.ca/berg_larsen/index.html

 

[Reedsplinter]

I bought it on ebay maybe a year ago, and the seller said it was from the 1960's, but I heard that the older ones had the paddle screws on the ligature so I 'm thinking it's newer than that, maybe '70's? And yeah, I'm thinking about selling it. I bought a Saxscape Red River I'm really smitten with, and it seems to get the Berg sound real well, plus a lot more, really a versatile piece. Trying to attach a couple pics, maybe that'll help with the ID. Not sure what it's worth...

That's definitely a newer ligature. I have a scoopbill Berg SS that I bought in the 1960s (bought it in 1967 from a guy who'd owned it for about 5 years) and the lig has paddle screws. The screws go on top too. On the other hand, someone might have replace that ligature. Did the seller say the lig was original?

 

[milandro]

but it isn't only the lig.....the profile of a duckbill is clearly longer....this looks like a pretty ordinary stainless steel berg

 

[stu the sax player]

its a scoopbill not duckbill. My berg is from the same ra as yours and I have the paddle screw lig.

 

[Nitetimer]

That piece is from somewhere between the very early 70's to 1992 although I don't remember seeing those ligs untill the late 70's.

 

[gsaxman100]

Aha, scoop bill then. Thanks.

 

[Reedsplinter]

My @1962 scoopbill looks very similar to this mouthpiece. However, it does not have the "Reg. Design" and number you cite. Is this something Berg started putting on the mouthpieces later? If so, maybe you could find out when they began that practice and zero in on the date from there.

I have also a couple of HR Bergs I bought 10 years ago. They have the same lig as yours, and also have the information you mention. On the top of the shank, opposite the tip opening number etc., it says "London England" and "Reg. Design 851427/8." What this means, I haven't a clue--it's the same number as yours, and why a SS mouthpiece and a HR mouthpiece would have the same "design" number is a puzzle -- but it argues for a more recent manufacture date for your mouthpiece.