Jerry Bergonzi
Boston, MA
"Brian and Eric are two master mouthpiece
experts.
They have refaced thousands of pieces and make them the way
you want, as opposed to someone who just makes them their way.
They work with you and are very accessible. They are the greatest.
Every detail is covered by them."
Jerry Bergonzi
Arnie Krakowsky
Boston, MA
In my estimation, Brian Powell is at the top of
his
profession. His work is impeccable. His vast
knowledge of
mouthpieces, facings, curves and materials come into play when he's
working on your mouthpiece. He has immersed himself into his
craft as a scientist or a researcher would. Beyond this and most
important, he is an honest guy with no agenda. He will listen
to
your wants and needs and deliver!!!!!! His partner Erik is from the
same mold. He is another wizard with thousands of mouthpieces
under his belt. Honesty and integrity is number one with
Erik.
The website says mouthpiece guys when in fact it should read two
mouthpiece wizards or genies. I'm proud to be one of their many happy
customers!
Arnie Krakowsky
Mark Overton
http://www.saxquest.com
I'm glad to see Erik and Brian launching a web site. In all the years
of operating Saxquest, I've only trusted three people to work on my
vintage mouthpieces, Paul "Doc" Tenney, Erik Greiffenhagen and Brian
Powell. Needless, to say, I've been extremely happy with the work that
Erik and Brian produce. I'm also very impressed with how well they work
together. It makes absolutely no difference to me wether its Brian or
Erik who actually works on the mouthpiece. Either way, I'm confident
the job will be finished to a very exacting standard and with a
fantastically quick turn-around time. Vintage mouthpieces are each
unique and the "proper" job can require a variety of techniques. Brian
and Erik always take a multi-factorial approach to each job and value
"doing it right" over concerns for the time-consuming nature of the
technique used. In my own saxophone repair shop, I attach an
exorbitantly high premium to detailed hand-craftsmanship over
everything else. In this regard, the Mouthpiece Guys live up to a shop
standard that any top professional player would find
refreshing.
Randy Emerick
Sunrise, FL
The Mouthpiece Guys have done work for me on Soprillo,
Tenor Sax, and Bass Sax, which almost covers the world of Bb!
Everything has been an unquialified success. Erik and Brian
work every day, day in and day out, putting world-class facings on all
kinds of woodwind mouthpieces. It is not a hobby or a sideline
for them. As far as I'm concerned, they are the leading edge in
an all-but-lost art.
http://www.myspace.com/saxpsychosis
Steve Neff
Brookline, NH
Holy Cow! This piece is great! I just got four
pieces back today from Brian Powell. This is the JVW refaced Link
that has a clip posted of it last year. This piece always played
nice but didn't have any guts to it. I really couldn't dig in
with it. I played another HR Link that Brian had done and i was
so impressed I sent him this JVW Link. That's a big gamble
because JVW isn't around anymore and once changed there's no going
back. Man, am I happy though. Every piece I sent Brian I
played today and every one is killer compared to before. I mean
before they were all good before ut now they play that much better.
I'm sold on this guy. I hate to post good things about him
because I know the next time I send him a piece the wait will be even
longer, but he deserves it. The piece still has the beauty and
ring it had but even more so! It has a great presence to it also,
I can feel the sax vibrating under my fingers and the sound is huge.
http://neffmusic.com
Eric Spaulding
Pittsburgh, PA
Brian,
the work on this old Dukoff short-shank tenor piece is insanely good.
I wanted to give it a month of heavy use before gushing about it.
The huge sound, the cavern-like low register and the altissimo...
it's spot on. I'd hear that these pieces can be tubby and lack
projection, but this one absolutely sings. In the span of one
week, I recorded my own B3 organ quartet, played a club date with Duke
Robillard and an outdoor gig with Roomful of Blues, as well as a quiet
jazz trio hit and this piece handled it all with ease. Man, I
never knew that it could be so much easier! I thought my old
Links were the best out there, but your work on this piece blows all of
those away. Thank you for the time, the craftsmanship, and the
communication throughout.
Dan St. Marseille
Orange, CA
"I've spent many years searching for someone to
do
custom work on my mouthpieces, without much success. Then, I met Brian
and Eric and things really started happening. Some of my older vintage
mouthpieces were resurrected and now play better than ever. They
understand how to make a mouthpiece respond and the fine tuning that
makes so many more reeds play!
All my clarinet
and saxophone
mouthpieces have been made perfect by these guys and their work has
blessed many of my students.
I believe if you
have an "off the
shelf" mass produced piece or one that hasn't been looked at for
awhile, it will change your life to have the
mouthpieceguys.com
check the facing and make it perform as well as it can."
Dan St. Marseille
clarinet/saxophonist performer and recording
artist
David Valdez
Portland OR
“I had the Mouthpiece Guys copy my Slant
Link hard
rubber alto piece for my students. Their copies were all smoking! They
played exactly like my rare Slant Link 6, a $600 mouthpiece. I had
never played anything as good as mine until then. The copies cost under
$200 including the blank, for a savings of over $400 compared to a
vintage slant Link! I’m going to get one myself as a backup
for
my main piece. The Mouthpiece Guys are true masters of art of
mouthpiece making. They are very receptive to the needs of the player,
reasonable and blazing fast. I cannot recommend them too highly. The
Mouthpiece Guys will end your mouthpiece struggles once and for all. If
you want a great alto piece just ask Brian for the Valdez Slant
Link/V16 model”
http://davidvaldez.blogspot.com/2006/11/brian-powell-mouthpiece-wizard.html
Mark Sepinuck "10MFan"
sunny Florida
I sell more collectible, vintage mouthpieces
than
anyone on the net…and when I need a mouthpiece refaced
perfectly, the guys I turn to are Brian and Eric. I have tried all the
biggest names in mouthpiece refacing, and these two guys are superb.
The turnaround is very quick, and the workmanship on the pieces is
exquisite. My philosophy in selling pieces is, if a piece needs to be
refaced to make it the best possible player, than that’s the
route I go. Profit margins come 2nd to playability. If you
sell
great playing pieces, than you’ll get more business from guys
who
really care about sound and playability. If a piece needs some
lovin’, than I send it to Brian and Eric! I know mouthpieces,
and
I know TREMENDOUS mouthpiece work when I see it and play it. I turned
Jerry Bergonzi onto their work, and he’s now a client.
The MOUTHPIECEGUYS are the best of the
best!!!!!!!
from an EBay ad:
"...reworked by Brian Powell, the best mouthpiece guy on the planet!"
Mark Sepinuck
“10MFAN” all over the net
Les Arbuckle
Boston, MA
"Vintage Mark VI Tenor sax: $6500
Premium Overhaul: $700
Vintage Otto Link Mouthpiece: $600
Mouthpiece guys reface so it all works:
Priceless."
Tom Pereira
Los Angeles, CA
Brian Powell and Erik Grieffenhagen are quite
simply
the most knowledgeable, thorough and meticulous mouthpiece artisians
there are. Period. They’ve learned at the table of
the
great Ralph Morgan and now they’ve become masters in their
own
right. I have had them do work on dozens of pieces for me
including pieces that have been so badly damaged that they were
literally door stops. All have come back looking better than
new.
If you need work on any kind of piece; metal, hard rubber,
stainless steel, vintage and modern, they are equal to the task.
However, you can’t judge a book by it’s
cover and a
mouthpiece by it roll over baffle. I have never gotten a
piece
from them that doesn’t just flat out play great.
Always
reed friendly with full clear voices their work is just short of
miraculous. All of the pieces that I use daily have been to
them
for minor to major work. If these cats can’t make
you sound
better then you better take up the drums!
Tom Pereira
Glen Sargent
the Great Northeast
I recently played a tenor mouthpiece that for
me does everything a mpc should do; a
Florida Link
metal piece that was refaced and corrected by the "legendary" Theo
Wanne of Mouthpieceheaven. This mpc did not, however, belong
to
me, so after many fruitless attempts to buy it from a friend I started
looking for something to match it. I found a Florida mpc to
work
with, it had been dropped and the tip bent slightly on one side; I
began looking for someone to fix it and make it play as I
wanted.
I sent this piece to a "name" refacer that claimed to be able to do the
job, when it came back $125 later it was still NOT right - the tip was
not really fixed and the facing was uneven, facing curve was wrong,
etc. I then sent it to Brian Powell - and within just a few
days
it came back and I was amazed! He had managed to not only
repair
the original damage, but also the "less than ideal" work of the
previous refacer. The damaged tip had just gone away, the
facing
was now perfect, and the baffle adjusted so that I got what I was
looking for. In fact, comparing Brian's work with the mpc
that
started me on this quest, I like the way Brian's mpc plays even
better! I am getting rave reviews from my colleagues on my
sound
now, and the ease of playing and response is super - I'm working less
hard and getting more results! I think I'll be getting rid of
a
batch of other mpcs now, and sending a few more to Brian for his
services.
Glen Sargent
Jerry Vejmola
Boston, MA
Brian, the work you’ve done on all my
saxophone
mouthpieces has been incredible. You have always taken the
time
and creativity to make each mouthpiece play with incredible ease and
capture the sound that I like. I recommend that everyone try
Brian and Erik, they’re the best!
Matt Lilley
Los
Angeles, CA
Brian Powell treated me as if I were a major name
out
there in the saxophone community. His quick evaluation of my
vintage Dukoff, consistent communication throughout the process, and
flawless work on the piece are second to none! A true
professional who has made my sound! Amazingly quick
turnaround
time to boot! I can't think of anyone better to
send a
mouthpiece to!
Wayne Kozak
Vancouver,
B.C.
Hi Brian,
Well you are either a great technician, or a magician! At very least
extremely intuitive. Probably all of the above.Your work is as good as any I’ve seen or played. I have only
had
a chance to play the Tibbs for about an hour – hour and a
half
using a broken in Van Doren ZZ Jazz reed #3. The reed sealed for
several seconds before it popped...an unbelievable seal. The piece
played effortlessly throughout the range of the horn, nice fat sound
with some nice top end without being thin or too bright. If you had not
emailed to say the piece was .110, I would have thought you brought it
down to .105 or so. And I would say the balance between bright and dark
is perfect for me.
I see what you meant when you said that the piece has a
“unique
pure” sound. There seems to be less harmonics and more
fundamental in the sound. I like this...big and rich. Should be great
for section work and blending...or doubling parts in the studio ...less
phasing.
Bottom line you have made this piece exceed expectations. Love it! My
dear old Tone Master is probably going to be my back up mouthpiece.
Brian, you are amazing. Thank you does not seem to say
enough.
Wayne.
Brian, I just picked these mouthpieces up this
morning. I have spent a little time with each of them. All I can say is
WOW!!! You have done superior work on these mouthpieces. The detail and
craftsmanship certainly impress me but more importantly the sound of
each is spot on. I could EASILY take any of them out right now and gig
with them. Fantastic feel, intonation, warmth and power. Your work
rivals the work Jon Van Wie used to do for me and before him Frank
Wells. I haven't had any work done since Jon's passing but I know now
that I have found the right guy. I will not hesitate to recommend you
guys to my colleagues. Thanks again for the outstanding work!
Joseph Ott
USAF Band ( Retired )
Freelance Recording Artist
Hi Brian
I gave up on these three Link pieces 20
- 30
years ago, and it's just unbelievable what you have been able to do
with them. You ARE a magician! You gave me just what I asked for. Thank
you very much. And the work looks beautiful. Exquisite! I've been
testing them for several days now, with different kinds of reeds and
ligatures.
The three pieces sound fantastic, with great
power and
sparkle, and I'm extremely happy with your work. Response, intonation
and egalite (what is the American word for it - evenness?) are just
incredible. I forgot to mention that I did send two of these
pieces to (another world-class mouthpiece
maker/refacer) about a year ago, and he returned them saying
that
they were ruined, and there was nothing he could do.
Again, thank you for your GREAT work. I'll come
back to you with some of my other pieces in the autumn.
Knut Riisnes
Oslo,
Norway
|
|
Jerry Bergonzi and
Arnie Krakowsky
Mark Overton
Randy Emerick
Steve Neff
Eric Spaulding with Roomful of Blues
Dan St. Marseille
David Valdez
Tom Pereira
Wayne Kozak
Joseph Ott
Knut Riisnes
|