GS Mouthpieces

3D Printed Precise Replicas of the best vintage mouthpieces

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  • GS RESO C Melody Saxophone Mouthpiece – Best Ever!

    $ 199

    I’m very excited to present GetASax.com’s very own mouthpiece project: GS Mouthpieces (main page) 

    The big idea here is to let you experience the magic of the best mouthpieces I have ever played, for a price that makes them widely accessible for the first time.

    This listing is for the C Melody saxophone version, which is based on the original tenor sax version here. C Melody saxophone is the red headed stepchild of the saxophone family. But no longer! Turns out, it just needed the right mouthpiece. If you think you know C Melody, using a stock Conn or Buescher mouthpiece, you are in for a big surprise. It plays a LOT like a good tenor sax. After all, it’s only one note above tenor. This mouthpiece might make you fall in love with your C melody for the first time, or renew your love if you are one of the few, proud C melody fanatics out there.

    This mouthpiece is a very precise copy of my personal Reso Chamber tenor mouthpiece modified for C Melody saxophones! It’s so good that it literally puts the C melody saxophone back into play as a usable modern instrument. That’s no overstatement. Here’s a video of this mouthpiece in action. 

    A note on the different tip opening options: The FG Special facing gives you a tenor facing copied from my tenor piece, refaced by Freddie Gregory to a perfect 7*.This works well if you’re coming to C melody from tenor. But for many players, I would recommend getting the 6 tip for C melody. The 6 tip feels for C melody sax about how a 7 tip feels on tenor sax. It’s very comfortable. This mouthpiece takes tenor reeds, and I find that I like the 6 tip for the C melody piece using the same reed that I use on tenor. (Rigotti 2.5 strong). If you are a newer player, or coming from alto, you might want the 5 tip which measures around .080 and is quite easy to play. If you want a little mellower tone, or if you are most comfortable on a harder reed (like a Rigotti 3.5 or so) then the 5 facing will be perfect for you. It’s an Otto Link facing curve and is really responsive and takes air nicely.

    Tone wise, this mouthpiece is medium dark, but not too dark, with moderate focus, and gets punchy without thinning out when pushed. Balanced and responsive, it’s one of the best all-around tenor mouthpieces I’ve played, and it works just as well on C Melody! It’s ideal for jazz, beautiful on ballads, and can handle burning bebop lines like a champ. The facing is just right. Subtone is effortless, response is quick. Altissimo pops right out. It’s very free blowing and takes air extremely comfortably. The 7* .105″ tip opening is very comfortable. Newer players can easily manage it with a 2.5 tenor sax reed. And for pros, it slots right in with a Rigotti 3 light to 3.5 medium. (I like the Rigotti 3 light personally.)

    See below for more details.

  • GS RESO Otto Link Reso Chamber Replica Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece (All Facings)

    $ 199

    I’m very excited to present GetASax.com’s very own mouthpiece project: GS Mouthpieces (main page) 

    The big idea here is to let you experience the magic of the best mouthpieces I have ever played, for a price that makes them widely accessible for the first time.

    This mouthpiece is a very precise copy of my personal Otto Link Reso Chamber tenor mouthpiece, which was faced by the great Freddie Gregory to a perfect 7*. It’s medium dark, but not too dark, with moderate focus, and gets punchy without thinning out when pushed. Balanced and responsive, it’s one of the best all-around tenor mouthpieces I’ve played. Even if you normally play brighter pieces, the GS Reso is worth having in your arsenal. It’s ideal for jazz, beautiful on ballads, and can handle burning bebop tenor lines like a champ. The facing is just right. Subtone is effortless, response is quick. Altissimo pops right out. It’s very free blowing and takes air extremely comfortably. The 7* .105″ tip opening is very comfortable. Newer players can easily manage it with a 2.5 reed. And for pros, it slots right in with a Rigotti 3 light to 3.5 medium. (I like the Rigotti 3 light personally.)

    The computer model we developed for the Reso is accurate down to .001” compared to my original Reso Chamber. Each mouthpiece gets carefully hand faced, precisely measured, and tested, so that it really is totally right! Bottom line: You get the equivalent of a $1500+ vintage mouthpiece for only $199. People keep saying we should charge more, but the whole idea from the start has been to make the best mouthpieces widely accessible, not to maximize profits. A lot of people have never played a really good mouthpiece. It’s time to change that. 

    Using cutting-edge tech, we went through over 50 prototypes so that now every one of these sounds like the original.

    When you select any tip opening other than the FG SPECIAL 7*, then you will be getting a Reso Chamber built from my original facing Reso Chamber. The reason for this is pretty easy to explain: Otto Link manufactured mouthpiece ‘blanks’ with a zero tip opening. Then they opened them up from a closed tip to whatever tip opening they wanted. In order to give you different tip openings authentically, we needed to do it the same way. So we started with a smaller tip Reso Chamber, and then we used Otto Link facing curves to carefully model ‘opening’ the 5 tip to whatever facing you want, just like if it were done on a facing machine. We also move the baffle work to the appropriate position like on a hand finished piece. This Reso Chamber mouthpiece is unbelievably good. It is just as rich and complex as the FG SPECIAL RESO, but it plays just a little brighter, and the mouthpiece itself is also a little longer (Otto Link used a couple of different molds to make the Reso Chamber model.) It’s the one that Steve Neff reviews here. So if you normally have to pull out a lot to tune, or you want just a little more punch than the FG SPECIAL RESO while remaining basically dark and rich, that’s what you get!

    If you want an exact copy of the Reso Chamber Joe Allard Facing that we scanned, including the J.A. stamp on the table and the more rounded tip profile, then select the 5 JA facing. It measures .081″ or so and takes air nicely. The smaller tip GS RESO mouthpieces are perfect for concert band or ensemble tenor settings. If you’re coming from a Yamaha 4C or Vandoren and want something richer, warmer, and more interesting, consider one of the smaller tip GS RESO models. They are excellent all-purpose tenor mouthpieces.

     

    Material:

    GS Mouthpieces are made of a premium biocompatible dental resin, and printed at an especially high resolution. You don’t see messy print lines everywhere, because the print is so high quality! This dental resin is designed to be in your mouth, so it’s ideal for a mouthpiece.

    The density and the hardness are almost identical to vintage hard rubber! So GS Mouthpieces vibrate like hard rubber and feel familiar and comfortable to play. The resin is also extremely durable. I have dropped the prototypes on hardwood again and again, and they just bounce and are fine. They even survive being dropped onto concrete (for a while)! So if you’re hard on equipment, this mouthpiece should be able to take quite a beating and hold up well over time.

    Finishing:

    Each GS Reso gets carefully hand faced and finished before coming to you. This is super important. The magic of a mouthpiece is in the facing. If you buy a generic, mass-produced mouthpiece, chances are the table is not flat and the facing is uneven between the side rails. As a result, the reed vibrates unevenly. It feels stuffy and dead, resistant, and all-around disappointing to play. SO many people have this problem, whether they know it or not. I don’t know how many players I’ve helped to get their first actually good mouthpiece, and all of a sudden playing is fun!

    Since we flatten the table, you get an easy reed seal. There are no print lines or marks messing up the facing. It’s smooth and perfect like a boutique mouthpiece. The facing is also finished by hand, which is a BIG plus. I’m really picky about this, so I learned to do it myself so I could be sure these pieces were actually the same as my Freddie Gregory-faced Reso Chamber. Each facing is measured at ten points to make sure that it is even and consistent throughout. 

    Mouthpiece facings are unforgiving. Small problems can make a big difference in playability. Unlike any other mouthpiece of its kind or anywhere near its price, each one of these GS mouthpieces goes out the door only when it is faced just right. Every one is as good as the best mouthpieces I have played.

    I have been collecting mouthpieces seriously for over ten years now, and I have been saving the very best ones over that time. I currently have about 750 pieces, and of those there are about 20 that I think are in that Holy Grail category. Those are the mouthpieces that will be coming out in the GS Mouthpieces line. Keep an eye on this, if you want to put together a collection of the best playing saxophone mouthpieces ever, while keeping costs to a minimum. Each one has a magic of its own, and each one gives you a unique and beautiful tone and response that makes it a joy to play!