doc jaxx writes “What is the story with the prices on vintage mouthpieces? I am seeing prices for handmade Guardalas over 1000$. Are there people out there buying mouthpieces for this much? ‘Fess up, people’ because if these are the real prices you are paying then I will not feel like I am the only one getting ripped off.”
You can’t really put a price on something that you like. That being said, I will admit that I spent a lot of money on a vintage Meyer Brothers Alto Mouthpiece…..
How much? $500 if I remember correctly. Then I had the late Jon Van Wie reface and open it from a 4 to a 6 opening.
Why? Honestly, for a long time I thought the whole “vintage mouthpiece” thing was a bunch of crap. However, one day in the store where I work, the owner wanted be to look at an old Conn Tenor he had bought. It was nice, but what caught my eye was a rubber slant signature Otto Link mouthpiece. Whoa, one of those fabled mouthpieces. I immediately tried it out against a new Otto Link mouthpiece I had. Night and day. The old one resonated better, had a richer and more complex tone. It was heaven. I think I ended up swapping the owner $50 and my new Otto Link to get the old one. Do I use it now? No, I’m using a Berg 110/2 rubber, but I do have 2 (yes 2) Slant Ligature 5 opening Otto Links if I choose to use them.
But, this whole thing made me think about the Meyer Brothers thing on Alto. Was it really BS? I seriously had some facts about the Otto Link mouthpieces, so, I assumed that it would be the same for the Meyers. Perhaps even more so.
So I started perusing Ebay for Meyer Brothers Alto Mouthpieces. It’s sometimes hard to tell if its a real one or not. Well, as luck would have it, I ended up with some extra money (a gig that came up and paid a lot), and a Meyer Brothers NY came up on Ebay. I won it. When it arrived it was not playable. To small an opening. So, I immediately sent it to Jon Van Wie to open up and reface. It came back, and it was heaven. It resonates and sounds different than the current production Meyers (from about 4 years ago, I have not tried the G series or the limited edition NY ones that they made recently).
Would I do it again? Would I spend the money on it? Absolutely. It’s my vocation and advocation. I like the sound I get from it, and plan on playing it for many many years (it’s been about 4 right now).
Now, the Guardalas. I have one that is supposed to be a Brecker model. Do I like it? Not really. It’s really bright and the opening is huge. When we had Brecker as a guest artist in college, one of the dweeby underclassmen who I let use the Guardala showed it to Brecker and he said it didn’t look like his at all. So, I don’t know about Guardala lines. I just know the vintage Meyer Brothers Alto and Rubber Slant Signature Links for Tenor. I have yet to try one of the “sought after” vintage metal Links on Tenor….
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