Has anyone used any of their artist series A-cup as an alto piece? Obviously their 1A would be much too large, but I'm curious about their 5A and smaller rims with the A cup.
Thanks!
Re: Griego Artist A cup mouthpieces
Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2024 3:18 pm
by harrisonreed
A long time ago I tried the 1A "Alessi" for alto, which I believe is identical to the new series. For me it had some things I didn't like baked into the design, and none of them had to do with the cup ID.
1. The mouthpiece has a throat and backbore configuration that is just not quite right for alto. The sound is way too big. And the intonation is off, doing octaves.
2. The shank is made to insert the "correct" distance into the leadpipe, about 1", but I think that alto pieces play better if they go in further than 1". But ...! Only if the throat and backbore are correct first. So you dial in the intonation and sound with a tight backbore, and open up the feeling by reducing the shank diameter. The 1A doesn't do this.
3. The blank was rather heavy for alto. The response was not what I was looking for.
I think it was designed for this sound concept. This may predate the 1A but I'm fairly sure whatever setup is being used here is similar:
The "1" rim is fine for alto if that is what you usually play, but for everything below the rim, for me, it's more of a tenor mouthpiece than an alto piece.