I'm in the process of comparing some mouthpieces I've picked up used, and a couple of them are Griego Artist series--one marked A5C, and one marked simply 5E.

I just read on this forum that the throat bore went from 0.283" to 0.279" at some point (around the switch from Alessi to Artist branding?). Is knowing the throat bores of my Griego Artist mouthpieces as simple as whether or not they say Alessi on them?

Thanks,

Louis

Or as simple as measuring them.

I use drill bit shanks as a close approximation.

J bit = 0.277"

K bit = 0.281"

That’s incorrect info on the throat changing with the rebranding. Check out the Griego website. He has written about that very topic. The section for the Artist Line still has the throat specs for the large tenor pieces at 0.283. That’s the same as the old Alessi line.

Where the confusion comes in are the two models listed under the classic large bore line; “Artist Series” 55 and 56. Those models do have different throats; 0.279 and .280 respectively. They’re not the same as the Artist (formerly Alessi) line. Along with different throats, they have different rim contours, diameters, etc. and were influenced by the original classic pieces.

Hope it helps. Have a good one.

J

Last year, I bought some pin gauges with 0.01mm accuracy. There are some measurements of Griego Alessi 5C and Artist A5C/5D for your reference.

1. Jasper's Alessi 5C = 7.19 ~ 7.20mm

2. My Alessi 5C = 7.18 ~ 7.19mm

3. My Artist A5C = 7.20 ~ 7.21mm

4. YJ's Artist A5C = 7.17 ~ 7.18mm

5. FB's Aritst 5D = 7.09 ~ 7.10mm

Btw, I used 60 steel balls to measure the inner contour inaccurately, and found that the Rim and Cup of Artist A5C are a little smaller than Alessi 5C. (Same feelings on mouth.)



The rim diameter sequence of these five mouthpieces from largest to smallest, GB NY5, Griego Alessi 5C, GB 4.5G-5G, Griego Artist A5C, Griego 4.5 NY.



The backbores are almost the same.

[quote="JMudge"]That’s incorrect info on the throat changing with the rebranding. Check out the Griego website. He has written about that very topic. The section for the Artist Line still has the throat specs for the large tenor pieces at 0.283. That’s the same as the old Alessi line.

Where the confusion comes in are the two models listed under the classic large bore line; “Artist Series” 55 and 56. Those models do have different throats; 0.279 and .280 respectively. They’re not the same as the Artist (formerly Alessi) line. Along with different throats, they have different rim contours, diameters, etc. and were influenced by the original classic pieces.

Hope it helps. Have a good one.

J[/quote]

This is incorrect. You can find posts from Christan about tweaking the artist series, both in throat and the shank “engagement” or length into the leadpipe. He keeps the website as-is for his own reasons, whatever they are.

At first it was only with the “E” cups, but it might be all of the artist series now. It’s not as simple as the stamped marking, but if it says Alessi it’s definitely a .283 throat. If it says artist, it could be either. If it only says “5E” my experience has been that it’s a newer one with .279, but I’d use a drill bit as recommended above just to check.

Ok….fair enough. Thanks for the correction and updated info. I definitely missed those posts. The 5D I picked up several months back did “feel” smaller. Maybe that’s why. Oh well.

Louis…..apologies. There’s better info for ya.

J

Thanks for the replies. No apologies needed, JM. You see the problem I'm having. I'll look into the bits, but I think I might also give them a call and ask some questions to be sure I'm making properly-informed decisions.

Louis