SYOS Gabi Rose Signature Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review

“This SYOS Gabi Rose tenor saxophone mouthpiece has a rollover baffle a little higher than usual, which gives an extra punch to the sound. With a medium chamber Gabi’s piece is bright and edgy without excess. It keeps some warmth and flexibility.” 

Gabi Rose plays with a 7* tip opening although I am reviewing the 8* tip opening today.

SYOS Gabi Rose Signature Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Characteristics

Before we get to the playing of the SYOS Gabi Rose tenor sax mouthpiece, let me give you a few tidbits of info from the SYOS website on these SYOS saxophone mouthpieces.

First of all, you have three choices when you visit the SYOS website and order a sax mouthpiece.  You can order a “SYOS Signature Mouthpiece” which is basically what the mouthpiece that the player whose name is on the mouthpiece plays.

If, however, you want to be unique and are on a quest to find your own unique sound, you might want to pick the second choice of ordering a custom mouthpiece from SYOS which I have to say looks like a pretty cool process.  Here’s what you do on the SYOS website:

1. First, you choose what saxophone you play. Soprano, Alto, Tenor or Bari Sax
2. Second, you choose whether you are a beginner, intermediate or professional sax player
3. Third, you choose what type of music you play (you can pick more than one category)
4. Fourth, this is the coolest part, you choose your sound preferences.  There is a slider for tone that goes from very dark to very bright.  You can choose where in that tone spectrum you feel you would like to be.  There is also a slider to choose how powerful you want to be.  The slider goes from soft to powerful.   Now here’s the coolest part because as you are reading this you might be confused about how you might choose what you want or you might be confused about what your preferences are.  SYOS gives you a bunch of examples with sound clips!   How cool is that?  The following list of player are listed and rated for tone and power. Ben Webster, Chris Potter, Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Michael Brecker, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and Wayne Shorter. (Can I just point out at this point,  how awesome Chris Potter must feel about being included in this list!)
5. You click “Submit” and wait by your mailbox for your custom mouthpiece that will answer all your dreams to be delivered.

A third option, is that you can order a SYOS Originals saxophone mouthpiece.  They make three mouthpieces for each saxophone (soprano, alto and tenor saxophone) called Smoky (darker and warmer), Steady (medium) and Spark (brighter and louder).  I have reviewed all of these SYOS Originals saxophone mouthpieces in the past and they were excellent.

SYOS Gabi Rose Signature Series 8* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Here is a few comments about the material SYOS mouthpieces are made from in case you are curious:

We use ABS plastic to craft our mouthpieces: this material allows us to get the highest degree of precision, with an improved resistance and durability. And you can get that in 18 colors to build a perfect style on stage!

The plastic we use to make SYOS mouthpieces has been certified non-toxic in laboratory (EN 71 and CE 1907/2006 standards). In fact, the same kind of plastic is used to make toys for children, which can be put in mouth without any risks. At the opposite, with the “ebonite” plastic, some sulfuric acid releases are observed when the mouthpiece is old, which gives it a yellow-green color.

And finally, here is a quote about the manufacturing process and how the minute details affect your tone which I found interesting:

For wind instruments, it’s the internal geometry of the bore that gives all the acoustic properties. We work at 1/100th millimeter to adjust the shape and the length of the baffle, the chamber section and size, the tip opening, the facing length… We study and compute the effect of all these parameters on the sound, to predict the timbre of each combination of them.

SYOS Gabi Rose Signature Series 8* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Ok, so let’s get to reviewing this SYOS Gabi Rose 8* tenor sax mouthpiece I received. The mouthpiece came in the usual SYOS drawstring bag and was well protected in the package it came in.  SYOS did not send a slide on ligature with the mouthpiece because they are probably aware that I am not a big fan of slide on ligatures by this point. (I’ve mentioned it in almost every SYOS review…….)

The SYOS Gabi Rose tenor saxophone mouthpiece felt really light as you would expect a plastic mouthpiece to feel.  The table had a little bit of texture to it that I could feel with my fingers and you can see in the photos.  Whatever process they use to make these sax mouthpieces does leave some texture marks on the mouthpiece.  You can see fine lines going across the table and fine lines going down the baffle as if the machine that cut the mouthpieces left these lines on the plastic.  This texture does not effect the sealing of the reed to the mouthpiece on all the SYOS mouthpieces I have reviewed though so I personally wouldn’t worry about it.

SYOS Gabi Rose Signature Series 8* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The SYOS Gabi Rose 8* tenor saxophone mouthpiece looks well made.  The table, rails and tip rail look pretty even to the eye.  The curve of the tip rail matches pretty closely with the curve of my tenor saxophone reeds although the outside corners of the tip rail do extend a bit further than the width of the reed but it is nothing to be concerned with as the reed passes the suction test perfectly.

The baffle is what I would consider a medium high baffle that is about an inch long.  At that point, the baffle rolls over and then continues at a greater angle down towards the rear of the mouthpiece chamber.  That baffle slope, through the chamber, has a slight curve to it from side to side and the baffle floor narrows as it descends towards the baffles termination at the rear of the chamber.

The beginning of the baffle behind the tip rail is interesting because it starts descending at a lower angle and then hits that curved line which is a little bit higher.  This creates an indentation in the baffle right behind the tip rail which is about 1/8th of an inch long.  I have sometimes seen this occurring when  players and or mouthpiece craftsmen add baffles to mouthpieces.  The baffle after that 1/8th inch line is almost like an added baffle in shape and size.

I would describe the mouthpiece chamber as a medium to medium small chamber.  From the bore end of the mouthpiece, the chamber looks smaller than a typical Otto Link sized chamber.  When you look from the front of the mouthpiece, it is pretty easy to see how the baffle cuts through the chamber floor to make the chamber even smaller.  The mouthpiece chamber is definitely smaller in diameter than the bore of the mouthpiece.

The sidewalls are scooped out nicely from the tip to the chamber area.  The sidewalls look to angle in slightly as they connect to the medium-small chamber on the sides.

There is a nicely engraved S (SYOS) on the top of the sax mouthpiece and a Gabi Rose signature on the side of the saxophone mouthpiece.  The tip opening is marked with a 8* on the bottom side of the shank of the mouthpiece.

SYOS Gabi Rose Signature Series 8* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The first tenor saxophone reed I tried on the SYOS Gabi Rose 8* tenor saxophone mouthpiece was a Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Strong tenor saxophone reed. The Rigotti Gold reed played great on the Gabi Rose mouthpiece and is the reed I used for the sound clips below.  The 8* tip opening (.115) played really well with the 2 1/2 Rigotti Gold reeds!

SYOS Gabi Rose Signature Series 8* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

I found the tone of the SYOS Gabi Rose signature 8* tenor saxophone mouthpiece to be darker and warmer than many of the other SYOS tenor saxophone mouthpiece I have tried. I think the only other SYOS tenor sax mouthpiece I have played in this darker side of the tone spectrum was the SYOS Tivon Pennicott tenor saxophone mouthpiece.  Unfortunately, it has been so long since I tried the Tivon Pennicott mouthpiece that I can’t remember enough about it to really compare that mouthpiece to this Gabi Rose tenor mouthpiece.

While this mouthpiece did have a some brightness to the tone when pushed,  it still retained a beautifully fat tone that had a warmness that was complex and rich.  This balance of the warm, complex and rich with the slight brightness made the brightness more balanced and beautiful to listen to in my opinion.

SYOS Gabi Rose Signature Series 8* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Usually, mouthpieces with this type of baffle and chamber have a low end that is wanting, but the SYOS Gabi Rose mouthpiece had a gorgeously fat low range of the saxophone that I really enjoyed.  The fatness and warmth of tone really helped the fast lines to sound smooth and the notes flowed together like butter.

The higher baffle and medium-small chamber definitely gives this mouthpiece some nice power and focus when the mouthpiece is pushed.  The SYOS Gabi Rose signature model has a nice brightness when pushed while still remaining warm and fat but one of the best attributes of this mouthpiece is that the high notes and altissimo notes didn’t get all thin and weak sounding.  They still retained a thick, full core to their tone and were round and full sounding.

The intonation was excellent and within normal parameters and the tone was even and balanced throughout the range of the saxophone.  The articulation was clean, immediate and nice and smooth when playing fast jazz lines with jazz articulation.

SYOS Gabi Rose Signature Series 8* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

The SYOS Gabi Rose tenor saxophone mouthpiece is a great mouthpiece that balances on that fine line between a fat, warm tone with added brightness and power for jazz playing.  Check out my sound clips below of this SYOS Gabi Rose tenor sax mouthpiece and decide for yourself.

If you like the sound and look of the Gabi Rose signature model 8* tenor saxophone mouthpiece by SYOS, you can find them at the SYOS website.  (Neffmusic also gets a small commission from each sale when you use this link which helps support this website).

The SYOS website has a ton of artists and signature models available so if the Gabi Rose model isn’t your cup of tea, there are a ton of other saxophone mouthpieces to choose from.  Or, like I wrote above, you can be courageous and go for a custom sax mouthpiece made specifically for you.  The amazing thing is that SYOS has a 30 day return policy which is unheard of in the sax mouthpiece industry.

If you have played or end up playing a SYOS Gabi Rose Signature tenor saxophone mouthpiece or have any other thoughts or comments about this review, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below.  Thanks,   Steve

SYOS Gabi Rose Signature Series 8* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Strong Reed-No Reverb Added

SYOS Gabi Rose Signature Series 8* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Strong Reed-Short Altissimo Clip-Slight Reverb Added

Gabi Rose Playing the SYOS Gabi Rose Signature Series 7* Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece