Guardala Michael Brecker 1 (MB1) Handmade Metal Tenor Mouthpiece

Now, this one is a gem! My teacher played Handmade Dave Guardala MBII model and that prompted me to try one of the Dave's pieces too. Little did I know that these pieces will be worth an ounce of gold. I bought this on eBay on April 10, 2006 from a Juilliard student in New York City. He had 0 feedback in the era of numerous scam auctions so the bids did not go too high - to my benefit.

Tip and rails are thin, sharp, allowing for quick response and this really is the 'fastest' mouthpiece I ever tried. Famous pink bite plate, signature diagonal milling traces on the baffle. Dotted engraved Dave's initials, "MB" on the side and below that "G-36" serial number. Plating is pitted due to the age, but nothing that would affect how this piece plays. Step baffle break line does not seem to be as sharp as I have seen on other models, though. This prompted me to do some research.

I posted a question on SOTW forum regarding the originality of the piece and these are responses that I got:
a) From IanSax: "Looks like the baffle itself is untouched (see diagonal lines) but the end of the baffle has been rounded off as I can see lines running down into the chamber from the edge of the baffle, my MB1 has a small step baffle and yours looks more like the "traditional" model now as someone has rolled off the baffle as you mentioned kinda taking away a bit of edge and brightness..."
b) From mfry: "There are a few out there that DG finished like this (baffle blended into the chamber). Tip/baffle look like his work, no work done after the plating -- looks original to me."
c) From Mojobari (mouthpiece refacer): "Looks like an original hand made but it does not fall neatly into one of the DG model names. ... If it is marked MB, Dave may have altered this one some and sold it anyway. Also see these. One is marked GMB with a baffle more like yours:"
d) From Anselmo: "It seems original to me. I own two original MBI and both of them have the same baffle design."

So, I'd say that this is Dave's original work, though not as standard as other MB1 pieces he later made are. Note that this is very low serial in MB series - 36, gold plated. The best part is how this piece plays. Compared to MBII model, it is not as harsh and edgy. Easy to blow, full control, you can scream or whisper, even tone and timbre in all registers. Has medium bright tone, centered with presence. It suits all music styles and can be great all-around studio piece for a working musician. I cannot say much else as I have not really spent much time on it. Seems that my Links and now Dukoff are more to my liking and tonal concept - vintage jazz ballad tone type...

You have probably seen many craftsmen trying to make copies of these, but nothing comes close to Dave's Handmade pieces.

This is one of the original handmade Michael Brecker mouthpieces made by Dave Guardala. It has the intials "DG"(Dave Guardala), "MB"(Michael Brecker), and then the number "9-36" engraved on it. This is NOT one of the new Lazer trimmed pieces. Has some slight teeth indents on the bite-plate, and has been used for a few years, but has been well taken care of, and has no wear/damage that effects the playabilty of this mouthpiece. The original gold-plating is about 90% intact. This is an amazing sounding mouthpiece, and these are extremely hard to come by today. I'm also throwing in a Francis Louis ligature, which I found to be the best match for the mouthpiece. I hope it finds a good home.