Guardala - Amazing Sax Products - Dave Guardala

Disclaimer

This entry was posted on 2/5/2007 4:05 PM and is filed under Disclaimer.

It is important to note the following:

I am not Dave Guardala.
I do not do any business as Dave Guardala and have no interest in the Guardala name.
Neither DaveGuardala.net or Guardala.net is affiliated with DG, B&S, PMS, WWBW, LA SAX, Chicago Saxes or any Dave Guardala product or current Guardala manufacturer.
It is not our goal to hamper the modern movement of selling products related to the Guardala name. I pray they sell like crazy and help offset the costs of dealing with Guardala in the first place!
My story - Greg Vail - is true and this site represents the facts of this case, best as I can, given the overall unwillingness of many important people to be associated with these scandals.
All Posts by others are 'their opinions' and stories, and might not be the opinions of site administrators.
Any part of a Greg Vail post that is not first hand information, is then considered second hand information as represented by the first hand party and will be presented that way.
It will not always be possible to reveal sources. Many people feel bad about these events but are unwilling to go public with what they know. I hope they change there minds and do eventually contribute.
All content posted on guardala.net is screened and posted with edits made in the event of any foul or abusive language, hate, racism, inappropriate sexual reference or simply being off topic and unrelated.
Any source that I have not confirmed will be listed as rumor - believed to be true yet no evidence to support the claim at this time.
The goal and purpose of this BLOG is to inform the Saxophone Community of recent SCAMs and provide a place to share other stories of deception, lies and financial loss.
PLEASE consider posting your story here at Guardala.net.
We value your rights and assure you that your Privacy will be honored. No information will be shared or sold to any third party persons or company, for any reason, ever.
No source will be shared without direct consent of that person or entity. Many have called or emailed with contributions to the Big Story, yet none have been named or will be named unless they approve the use of their name in connection to a given set of facts.

Dave Guardala the man and Guardala products are two very different things.

The Dave Guardala, hand finished Mouthpieces are some of the most sought after mouthpieces in the world. I personally play a Guardala Gold Plated, custom Tenor Mouthpiece - basically a Crescent blank that Dave was making for Michael Brecker until it was opened up too much and Brecker passed on it. I bought it at the NAMM show as a none production piece and after hanging out with Dave for a long time. As he listened to me play different models, he went to his bag and pulled out my mouthpiece and said, this one's for you. I sounded great on it and the got the story, paid a pretty dollar for a Brecker Custom and have played it ever since. This was the early 80's and my first real time spent with Guardala.

My Alto Mouthpiece I bought from Guardala a few years later at NAMM - a Gold Plated BeBop Traditional. Sounded great and still sounds great!

I just bought a new Guardala Bari Mouthpiece, Silver Plate Studio, for $1500.00, after watching an eBay auction moutpiece piece sell for 2025.00 the week prior. My New Studio Bari had 5 minutes on it and dated back to 1981. Virtually a brand new Guardala, and it has serious potential. I'm still adjusting to it, but it really blows, and should retire my new Jody Jazz pieces.

I share this to say, I have nothing against Guardala products, and to the contrary, actually love them - even after being burned by the person, Dave Guardala. I never really liked his Saxes or Reeds, but I know Tom Scott and others sounded great on them.

The old Guardala products where amazing!

The new Guardala products are good products but have nothing to do with Dave Guardala any longer. I don't know much about the saxes but rumor has it that they are pretty much the same as they were when Dave's name was on them. Guardala lost the rights to his saxes when working with LA SAX. LA Sax used the Guardala name until they were sick of Dave's grief and changed the name to Chicago Saxes - the Dave Guardala Sax without Dave's name. They had the rights to do so. Since LA Sax was purchased by Steve Goodson, I don't really know where things fell but do understand that B&S still makes the same basic sax and Chicago Sax is still around. They're not my favorite, but many players do seem to like them.

The Mouthpiece wars wage on but the truth of the matter is, Dave Guardala is not making mouthpieces and is not apart of any of the people who are. Rumor has it that Dave's bad business practices cost him the sax product line, mouthpiece business and rights to his name in general. Rumor has it that Courts gave people the rights to these against moneys owed on had accounts. I also heard that Dave sold the rights to his name to make Mouthpieces, but sold them to 6-8 people, taking them all for thousands. Only 1 company can have these rights so Dave owes many people money here.

The Modern DG mouthpiece is a good Mouthpiece. I have purchased a few of them and in my opinion, they have Dave Guardala's name on them and are based on earlier hand made models, but differ in many ways and lack any hand finishing or professional touches that are associated with the Guardala Mouthpieces from yesteryear.

The new DG Mouthpieces are great players. A good friend stole my DG LT and just bought her own PMS Crescent. It is a little different, yet is a nice Mouthpiece. Think of these new DGs as a new, high tech MPC - like it's a 'ChickenHead Mouthpiece' from Uganda that just plays great! Don't be fooled that you are getting one, just like the vintage $1500 MPCs on eBay. It is not.

There are new DGs that are hand finished, made in Germany. Even after all I have been thru, I ordered 2 of them to see if they are closer to my beloved Crescent Tenor mouthpiece. The Guardala products are really great!

The Guardala Name

Guardala gear of old is worth a fortune. The wars and egos and allegations and legal battles and stupidity that surrounded Guardala's work is truly amazing. Guardala is gone. His products, and it appears, his name will live on for years to come.