Mouthpieces Vintage Berg Larsen Mouthpieces?? Any good.

Yanno · Apr 10, 2011

Hi All,

This has been bugging me for a while now since I bought my first Larsen Tenor Mouthpiece about a year ago. Are Berg Larsen any good?
It played reasonably well- but looked awful for it's age.
Since then I just threw it to the side and carried on with my Selmer Soloist.

The other day I picked up a Larsen Alto- this time a slant signature, possibly 50's/60's
Still unsure about this one- ill have to get used to it.

But having a look around- Especially Ebay US- people seem to think they're quite valuable- prices around the £250 mark.
I'm curious. Considering I only paid a fiver for the tenor and £3 for the alto.

Is there something I need to know? Are they something special- or just the same as all British made stuff.

Jules · Apr 11, 2011

the truth is they're massively variable- good ones are superb but- they're not all good (plus there's natural selection in most vintage pieces, the real dogs will have been refaced or binned). Aside from the regular criteria (response, tuning, basic tone etc) the 'unique selling point' of bergs is normally their fat tone and really strong response when pushed (they seem to like it when you give 'em some welly! The rock & roll crowd love Bergs as they sound/respond really well when played loud).

singlereed · Apr 11, 2011

Agree with Jules - they are very variable. Don't part with lots of cash on spec. Another point is there is a huge range of facings and chamber/baffle designs so they vary in type as well as quality. I have a very nice 1960's baritone Berg and did own a reasonable tenor one (long since sold) but I have tried many others that I didn't like one bit.

kevgermany · Apr 11, 2011

Maybe the way forward is to buy a dog and ask Morgan, very nicely, to make it work properly....

Two Voices · Apr 12, 2011

kevgermany said:
Maybe the way forward is to buy a dog and ask Morgan, very nicely, to make it work properly....

That's the route I'm going to take in a few weeks ;} Including having the Baffle removed >:)

Yanno · Apr 12, 2011

Paul Inglis said:
That's the route I'm going to take in a few weeks ;} Including having the Baffle removed

If you do- can you reply to me with a rough idea how much it cost you- i think that's what ill have to do with the Tenor- The baffle looks worse for wear.