Today, I am reviewing the GetASax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe MARK II Copy tenor saxophone mouthpieces in a 7, 7* and 8 tip opening. These GetASax Mark II tenor sax mouthpieces are replicas of great playing, original facing, Freddie Gregory MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpieces. These cool white mouthpieces are made by Brian Curry at GetASax.com. I have already reviewed the GetASax GS RESO tenor sax mouthpiece as well as the GS FG RESO and the GS SLANT tenor sax mouthpieces which were copies of vintage Otto Link Reso Chamber and Slant Signature tenor saxophone mouthpieces. I have been looking forward to reviewing these GetASax GS Freddie Gregory MARK II Copy tenor saxophone mouthpieces as well because I have played some great Freddie Gregory mouthpieces in the past and know how special they can be.
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe MARK II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
Freddie Gregory was a great mouthpiece refacer and creator who died on October 12th, 2014. I have played a number of his fabulous mouthpieces over the years including three hard rubber Mark II tenor sax mouthpieces, one hard rubber Mark IV tenor sax mouthpiece and a metal Mark II and Mark IV tenor sax mouthpiece. I have also owned 3 or 4 mouthpieces over the years that were refaced by Freddie Gregory. These were all great playing mouthpieces (one hard rubber Freddie Gregory 8* Mark II tenor mouthpiece I still regret selling even all these years later)! Freddie Gregory’s mouthpieces were like immaculate works of art that were perfect in every way down to the last detail and played heavenly as well.
The GetASax GS MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpieces are very precise copies of Brian at GetASax’s personal Freddie Gregory Mark II 7, 7* and 8 tip opening tenor saxophone mouthpieces. Brian is the owner of GetASax and has over 750 saxophone mouthpieces in his collection, so when he says that these mouthpieces are replicas of some of his favorite Freddie Gregory tenor saxophone mouthpieces, we should pay attention.
I have seen original Freddie Gregory tenor saxophone mouthpieces sell from anywhere from 1000-3000+ dollars over the last 10 years but these new reproductions from GetASax are only $199 which is a great deal for a copy of a world class Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II tenor saxophone mouthpiece!
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe MARK II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
Here is how Brian at GetASax describes the GetASax GS Freddie Gregory MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpiece on his website at GetaSax.com:
The GS Mark II tenor saxophone mouthpiece is an extremely precise copy of my favorite Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II tenor saxophone mouthpiece.
What is this?
Many players may not know much about Freddie Gregory’s Super Deluxe mouthpieces. That’s not a big surprise, as Freddie did not make that many of them, and the ones he did make are mostly still in the hands of their original owners. The few that have come up for sale over the last 5 years that I’ve seen have been priced way out of the reach of most players– typically $2400-$4000– for a mouthpiece! Which is nuts, but those who know these mouthpieces REALLY seem to be willing to pay to get one. And sadly, since Freddie died eight years ago, no more of these are available. (Till now.)
Freddie Gregory was known both for refacing and for making his own mouthpieces. The original Super Deluxe Mark II tenor sax mouthpiece is not a refaced mouthpiece made by someone else , the way my favorite Reso Chamber tenor mouthpiece is. The Super Deluxe model was entirely designed and made by Freddie Gregory.
It was sold in four variations on the same design: Mark I, Mark II, Mark III, and Mark IV. They all have a good amount of projection, but the Mark I is darkest and the Mark IV is brightest. We may copy my favorite Mark IV someday as well, but I wanted to start with the Mark II because it’s bright and projecting but not too bright, and it seems to be one of the most popular ones of these.
Bob Mintzer played a Mark II model for a long time, and may still from time to time. I know he has a lot of Freddie’s pieces. Jeff Coffin plays a Mark IV, which sounds a whole lot like the Mark II that we copied for this project (Jeff was kind enough to make several audio comparison samples of the GS Mark II and his Freddie Mark IV, and they are definitely more similar than different.) Steve Neff has some original Mark II sound clips on his website here. We will do some videos as soon as Tyler is finished with the GS New York alto videos he’s working on.
OK so that should be fairly clear now: The GS Mark II is an extremely precise copy of my favorite Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II, which is a different design from anything that Otto Link or Berg Larsen or Dukoff made etc. Along with the Mark IV model mouthpiece, it’s his most popular design for sure.
How does it play?
Describing the tone is hard, because people probably haven’t played one of these. They’re also not that similar to other common mouthpieces like Meyer, Dukoff, or Berg Larsen. It’s different from any model of Otto Link, and is not a redesigned Link chamber at all. The baffle curves from nearly flat at the tip rail, into the chamber in a smooth curve, and the throat opens out into a medium-large chamber. Chamber volume is similar to a metal Otto Link, so it tunes great on basically any saxophone. The shank is long enough that you can pull out on a Conn 10M or something that wants a large mouthpiece volume, and it works well. The side walls start out nearly straight and are more scooped as it moves into the chamber. The magic in these pieces is in the baffle, and we spent a long time getting that just right.
Tonally, my best attempt at a verbal description would be to say that this has a more projecting tone than a GS Slant or a vintage Otto Link, but it kind of opens out and gets wider and more robust as you push it. Some mouthpieces get more shrill the more air you put into them. The GS Mark II gets more lush and almost ‘operatic’ as you push it. It’s really fun to play. If you want something different from a Link style tenor mouthpiece, and you want a piece that is brighter but not too bright, and that has plenty of power and projection when pushed without getting thin and shrill, that’s what the GS Mark II really does well.
Facing Information:
Freddie Gregory’s facing curves are usually about .001″ more open than the equivalent Otto Link, so we are reproducing his curves on the GS Mark II. The original that we copied was a 7 measuring .101″ and I also have a 7* and 8 that we used for the .106″ 7* and the .111″ 8 tip. As an interesting side note, most Freddie 8’s are actually stamped 7**, but I think that’s probably because he had them stamped 7* and then would just add another star for an 8. I’ve seen that enough times now to think it’s definitely intentional. They always seem to measure .111-.112″ for me, and we settled on .111″ as it’s closer to what people are used to in an 8.
A word on price: People are *constantly* telling me that I should raise the prices of the GS Mouthpieces. However, they are intended to be a service to the saxophone community, so that as many players as possible can get a great mouthpiece that is entirely faced by hand and that plays as well as a much more expensive original. The GS Mark II tenor mouthpiece would probably sell almost as well at double the price, but we will be keeping the price $199 as long as possible, because that’s the whole point of the project.-Brian Curry
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe MARK II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpiece is made of white biocompatible dental resin. Here is what Brian at GetASax writes about the 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.”-Brian Curry
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe MARK II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
I received three GetASax GS MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpieces in a 7, 7* and 8 tip opening. The facing curve of the GS MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpieces are a copy of the original Freddie Gregory facing curve on the Freddie Gregory Mark II tenor saxophone mouthpieces that Brian owns. Each facing curve of the GS MARK II mouthpieces is measured at ten points to make sure that each mouthpiece produced is an accurate reproduction of the original Freddie Gregory facing curve.
The GetASax GS MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpieces look great to the eye. The tips, rails and tables look even, flat and well crafted. The tip rails and side rails are nice and thin, and the tip rails shape perfectly matches the shape of the Roberto’s Winds tenor saxophone reeds I used on these three mouthpieces for the sound clips below.
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe MARK II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The baffles of the GetASax MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpieces are what I would consider to be medium rollover baffles. The baffles start at a medium high height and look to be about an inch long before they roll over and descends down at a greater angle into the large chambers. The floor of the baffles during the decent has a slight side to side curve to it.
Going from my memory, I believe the GetASax MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpiece has a higher rollover baffle than the GS RESO and GS SLANT tenor sax mouthpieces I reviewed last year.
The baffle of the GS MARK II travels at an angle down through the chamber of the mouthpiece where it terminates at the beginning of the bore at the end of the chamber. The opening to the mouthpiece chamber looks to be a large sized chamber that is similar in size to other typical hard rubber Otto Link sized chambers I have seen. The roof of the mouthpiece chamber under the table is what I would describe as thin.
The sidewalls are slightly scooped out from where they start near the tip all the way to the chamber where they expand out to round out the mouthpiece chamber. I typically like scooped out sidewalls because they seem to go hand in hand with a fatter more round tenor saxophone tone in my opinion.
All three GetaSax MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpieces had a thick, fat, round tone with both character and focus. There are some differences in tone between the mouthpieces as you will hear in the three sets of recordings.
Get·A·Sax GS Mark II 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece next to a vintage Otto Link Slant Signature Mouthpiece
The diameter and beak profile of the GetASax GS MARK II tenor sax mouthpiece feels the same as the diameter and beak profile of a typical hard rubber Otto Link tenor saxophone mouthpiece. All of my ligatures that fit comfortably on hard rubber Otto Link tenor saxophone mouthpieces fit on the GS MARK II tenor sax mouthpiece perfectly.
The weight and consistency of the dental resin feels more substantial than the weight of other materials like Delrin mouthpieces and SYOS mouthpieces I have reviewed in the past. As I hold the GS MARK II tenor sax mouthpiece in my hand, the weight feels similar to a hard rubber saxophone mouthpiece. You can see a side by side comparison photo of the GS MARK II and the Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II tenor saxophone mouthpiece that it was copied from in the photo below.
Get·A·Sax GS Mark II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece next to a Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Tenor Sax Mouthpiece
I found that the facing curve of the GetASax GS MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpieces seemed to prefer a reed with a 3 Soft, 3 Medium or 3 Hard strength when using the Roberto’s Winds tenor saxophone reeds. I chose the Roberto’s Winds reeds for this review because the Rigotti Gold reeds seemed to brighten up the tone and my BSS (Boston Sax Shop) reeds seemed to darken the tone. The Roberto’s Winds reeds seemed to have more of a neutral tone between bright and dark which I think was best for this review.
The one defining memory I have of the Freddie Gregory hard rubber Mark II tenor saxophone mouthpieces I have played throughout the years, is how smooth and buttery they seemed to play. The full range of the saxophone was very even and uniform in tone from note to note. The GetASax Mark II mouthpieces did indeed remind me of those Mark II Freddie Gregory tenor sax mouthpieces because of how smooth and even the notes were throughout the range of the saxophone.
Get·A·Sax GS Mark II 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece next to a vintage Otto Link Slant Signature Mouthpiece
I am glad that Brian Curry sent me three GetASax GS MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpieces to review as I was unsure of which tip opening I would prefer.
The 8 tip opening GS MARK II seemed to be the darkest in my opinion and had a bigger more spread tone to it although still with plenty of focus. The 7 tip opening GS MARK II was brighter and much more focused in tone when compared to the 8 tip opening. The 7* tip opening GS MARK II mouthpiece sat in-between the 7 and 8 tonally as far as sitting between the darker tone of the 8 and the brighter tone of the 7. It also sat in-between the 8 and 7 tip opening mouthpieces as far as focus and spread were concerned.
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
All three GetaSax MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpieces had a thick, fat, round tone with both character and focus. There are some differences in tone between the mouthpieces due to the different tip openings as you will hear in the three sets of recordings. You can judge for yourself what you hear as differences when you listen to those sound clips.
The low notes on all three GS MARK II saxophone mouthpieces were fat, thick and robust while having a nice tight core quality to the tone. I felt like the 8 tip opening had the fattest and biggest low notes with a bit more spread to the tone. All three mouthpieces sub-tones beautifully and had a nice rich, fat and feathery sub-tone down low.
The intonation on all three GetASax MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpieces was very good and all three mouthpieces were a great match for my Selmer Super Balanced Action tenor saxophone (from the 50’s).
The evenness and smoothness of notes throughout the range of the saxophone was nice when playing fast lines. The character and warm tone seemed to blend well as I played faster lines throughout the low, mid and high range of the saxophone. I think you can hear this smoothness in the fast technical lines I play on the sound clips below. It is this same “buttery” smoothness that I always loved about the original Freddie Gregory Mark II tenor sax mouthpieces I have played in the past.
The altissimo register of the saxophone was easy to produce on the GetASax GS MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpiece and the notes were easy to control and manipulate. I have added a short clip with reverb added of each of the altissimo lines for each tip opening just so you can hear how those more modern and bluesy lines might sound with reverb added for each tip opening.
The three GetaSax MARK II mouthpieces had a good amount of power when pushed. I would say the volume was about an 8 to 8.5 when pushed on my 1-10 volume scale. I think that all three mouthpieces were similar in volume and power. I seemed to get the most air through the 8 tip opening to produce more volume but this was hard to judge because the 8 tip opening seemed less bright to my ears than the 7* and 7 did when I pushed the air through them.
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
In my opinion, the GetASax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpiece is a great tenor saxophone mouthpiece for those of you looking for a great playing tenor sax mouthpiece with a rich and robust tenor tone that sits more in the middle of the dark to bright tone spectrum of the tenor saxophone. The GS MARK II tenor sax mouthpieces can get a nice brightness and power when pushed but can also get a great jazz tone (think Bob Mintzer type of tenor sax tone) that would be incredible for straight ahead jazz playing in my opinion. It’s lush full textured tone is also incredible for ballads as I try to demonstrate a bit in the sound clips below.
Although I do try to show what it can do with louder blues and altissimo lines, I am not sure how successful the GS MARK II mouthpiece would be at cutting through in really loud rock and pop settings. I am referring to really loud rock, pop and funk gigs. The truth is, that I have had three Freddie Gregory Mark II tenor mouthpieces that played phenomenally and ended up selling all three because I couldn’t use them on the super loud dance sets. It wasn’t an issue of volume or power, but that they didn’t have enough brightness and focus in the tone to cut through the mix for me on those gigs. The truth be told, if you do these kind of gigs, the only way to test a mouthpiece like this is to try it on a gig and see how it does.
That being said, like I have stated in other reviews, Bob Reynolds plays a hard rubber 9 Otto Link tenor sax mouthpiece while touring with John Mayer and playing with Snarky Puppy and Bob Mintzer played a Freddie Gregory MARK II for many years in a variety of musical settings, so maybe for the right player this mouthpiece could work in that setting as well. You never know until you get it on the “live” gig.
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
If you are interested in the GetASax GS MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpiece you can purchase one from Brian at GetaSax.com for a very reasonable price in my opinion (199 US at the time of this review). Listen to the sound clips below and see what tip opening you prefer.
Brian has said he has about 750 saxophone mouthpieces in his collection and that he would put 20 of those mouthpieces in his “holy grail” category. He is hoping to release reproductions of many of these “holy grail” saxophone mouthpieces in the near future which I am very excited to review! Thanks again to Brian Curry for sending me these great mouthpieces to review.
If you try a Get·A·Sax GS MARK II tenor saxophone mouthpiece or have any thoughts, comments or questions on this review, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below. Thanks, Steve
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-7 Tip Opening
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-7 Tip Opening-Roberto’s Winds 3 Soft Reed-No Effects Added
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-7 Tip Opening-Roberto’s Winds 3 Soft Reed-Reverb Added
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-7* Tip Opening
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-7* Tip Opening-Roberto’s Winds 3 Soft Reed-No Effects Added
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-7* Tip Opening-Roberto’s Winds 3 Soft Reed-Reverb Added
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-8 Tip Opening
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-8 Tip Opening-Roberto’s Winds 3 Soft Reed-No Effects Added
Get·A·Sax GS Freddie Gregory Super Deluxe Mark II Copy Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-8 Tip Opening-Roberto’s Winds 3 Soft Reed-Reverb Added
Hi Steve;
You got me this time LOL. I just ordered the Super Deluxe 7 Mark II.
Happy New Year and Bright Moments; Bob
I know that the D’Adarrio mouthpieces had some connection to Freddie Gregory. I play on a couple of those when I don’t need the extra brightness etc. for louder gigs. I think those D’Addarios are outstanding “darker” mouthpieces. I have a friend who is a refacer and owns several slant link pieces and prefers the D’Addarios. How do the D’Addarios compare to these that you just reviewed?
Merry Christmas Steve!
You really seem to like this one. It’s very expressive. Especially like the low end. -Ted
Thanks! Is there a tip opening you like the sound of better than the others? Just curious……
Thanks Steve. You are so dedicated to release this during the holidays. Bravo.
Nice slick and mature tone. Hard to judge which tip opening tone quality I prefer. All are good. There is a particular mid-range characteristic in Roberto’s reeds that come through in all of them due to the fact that the baffle is not raised near the tip. I think personally I would like a bit more buzz which possibly can be achieved by Alexander Superial reeds or may be Rigotti. My high frequency hearing is impacted and I have tinnitus so perhaps others may be just fine with the amount of buzz. I see the floor is a bit raised compared to typical Tone Edge design. Although it’s hard to see due to the inherent photos limitations and white material. Please verify. In that case, it has a stronger mid-range frequencies presentation. I’m curious to know the design and tone differences with mark IV model. Thanks a lot. Happy New Year.
Arya, I compared the GetASax Freddie Gregory Mark II to an Otto Link Connoisseur tenor mouthpiece I have and the floor of the Mark II chamber does look higher in comparison to the Otto Link.I chose the Roberto’s reeds because they seemed to be more in the middle of the bright to dark tone spectrum. The BSS reeds were darker and the Rigotti reeds were quite a bit brighter and more buzzy in my opinion. Not sure if the mid-range characteristic is due to the design of the mouthpiece or the reed selection in combination with the mouthpiece. I too have higher frequency hearing loss (am going to the audiologist tomorrow actually) Steve
Thanks Steve for comparing the floors. I found most raised floor mouthpieces increase the mid-range. Some people like it that way especially with harder reed you make a thick tone. Having a short roll-over baffle following a dive into a lower floor tend to do opposite (buzz and fatness but the mid-range is less presented almost like scooped profile in frequency spectrum). BSS reeds do better if the baffle is roll-over (raised near the tip) but if it is straight slopped down, thicker tip of BSS is not excited enough (I got that design characteristic comment from Jack F. directly). I found in this case if I go one size softer in BSS, sometimes I end up a more pleasing tone profile. Roberto’s reeds have a sense of authority created by slightly thicker reed but not just near the tip, in fact the thickness is stretched for about an inch or so from the tip and not so much about the tip area and that’s how that higher mid-range is accentuated but it gives a good meaty tone (I’m vegetarian I just found this expression probably works better in this case). 🙂
I found I get more lushness to balance out the buzziness with Alexander Superial reed compared to Rigotti Gold that has a lot of accumulation of buzz area of frequencies. It is definitely a good mouthpiece to discover. I have a 70s Selmer Mark VI that is prone to less lushness compared to older Mark VIs so I found with raised floor mouthpieces I don’t end up having a flattering tone most of the time but probably you get better tone on your SBA. 🙂
That’s interesting to read. I appreciate your experience and insights. I just got back from the ear doctor. Kind of depressing. I have moderate to moderately severe hearing loss in the higher frequency range of 2000-6000hz. He thinks I should get hearing aids but then I would have to do all my mouthpiece reviews over……. hahaha! The good news is that most of the people that listen to clips on my site are older and have similar if not worse hearing loss so what they hear on the clips is probably similar to my impressions. The young people with perfect hearing are probably listening and thinking. “Dark!? That mouthpiece sounds so bright to me……..” Oh well, that’s life.
Hi Arya, Hi Steve,
I didn’t wish you well on the holidays, not out of carelessness, but because I consider the holidays, and the calendar, “invented” by man, just another aspect of the forced transformation, and of the interruption, of time and of the activities of man himself; a “convention” not necessarily to be shared: such as, for example, that of considering other animals as objects, some to be used for eating, hunting, experimenting, vivisecting, and anything else worse man can express towards sentient, intelligent beings, sensitive and, above all, capable of suffering.
Beings to be respected like man.
So I am happy to read that you are also a vegetarian like me; I for about fifty years.
It’s great that we are becoming more and more!
When no one will eat anymore and, therefore, will no longer buy, meat from “any” animal, by the law of supply and demand it will no longer be profitable to raise animals and will have to reconvert to other activities.
So, even if it’s off topic, best wishes to you and Steve for “every” day!
I hope this reflection does not seem “heavy”.
Giuseppe.
Happy New Year, Giuseppe. Hope you have a great year that is healthy and hopeful! Steve
Hi Steve,
How different is this GS mpc from Drake’s GF ?
Very different, The GS Mark II is a copy of the Freddie Gregory Mark II. The Drake FG is modeled after the Freddie Gregory Mark IV. The Mark IV has a higher and longer baffle to it than the Mark II model. I would say the Drake FG is brighter and louder especially when pushed because of that baffle profile. The GS Mark II is not as bright when pushed as the Drake FG. Both mouthpieces have a nice thick core tone at softer to medium volumes but that brightness of the Drake FG really becomes more apparent when you push the volume on it. Hope that answers your question.