Dave Guardala Crescent for tenor, gold plated Dave Guardala was famous for producing expensive handmade mouthpieces for sax legends such as Michael Brecker. Along came laser technology which enabled exact replicas to be produced at a lower cost. In tests, professional players failed on every occasion to pick the original from the laser cut models. We've recently had visits from leading UK players Simon Bates (Superking) and Graham Turner (King) both of whom have old & fairly worn handmade Guardala mouthpieces. Their reaction was the same after playing these new ones, " Wow! that's how my mouthpiece used to play!" Guardala never offered a choice of tip openings or publicised their size. The idea was that to achieve the desired result it had to be a set tip opening and that a different opening would change the characteristics. We've measured them so here are the four models in ascending order of brightness: Crescent = 7*, Studio = 8*, King = 9, Superking = 9* Don't be put off if you think they're too open for you as they're so free blowing. I would never play more than a 7 in any other make and I can comfortably play any of them. We recently supplied a Superking to John Long (Head of Music at St Bede's School) and his usual choice is for a 6*. These are arguably the best metal tenor sax mouthpieces ever. Guardala Crescent Dave Guardala Crescent. Reminiscent of the John Coltrane sound, this model was inspired by the album "Crescent," circa 1963. I did some careful measuring and found the Crescent equated to an Otto Link 8 but despite this relatively large tip opening it feels remarkably free-blowing. Tonally, it has a basic warmth, breathiness and 'body' to it, whilst giving out a huge amount of power and brightness on top. It is this wonderful mixture that made me immediately fall in love with it. I really do think this is one of the best mouthpieces I have ever tried – so I bought one for myself! Michael Brecker used a Guardala Studio mouthpiece back in the early 80s but unfortunately it is no longer available. Despair not! Although the Crescent looks slightly different internally, to the Studio, I found that I got that same basic sound that Brecker achieved (of course you need to have his sound well established in your head!); vibrant, rich and with a bit of edge on the surface. Our Price (excluding vat): £388.09 (£456.01 Including VAT at 17.5%)