Case Study in Vintage Otto Link Find & Restoration:

Here we have an excellent original surviving example of a Florida production Otto Link ‘double ring’ 9 facing.  This is probably a somewhat later model double ring as it has rhodium or nickel plate.  The early models had gold plate (which wore off rather easily).  The  nickel or rhodium does not wear off as easily but when it does it leaves scars in the brass as we see here. We will document the process of restoration as a study for those considering sourcing vintage mouthpieces from the wild world of mouthpiece unknowns.

Many of (maybe the earlier) FL double rings that feature larger facing sizes do not measure at the size we would associate with modern 9 for example.  I have an original early 9 that measures .105 (modern 7*).  I had an early original 7 that measured .095 (6*).  Smaller than expected is to be expected with early double rings.  The nickel plate models, however, I have had a few larger sized models and they do seem to measure rather large, consistent with expectations.  I had a rather large nickel plate 9* in the past and this one here also measures (unexpectedly) at .111 on original facing.

We can see that the mouthpiece overall has quite a bit of surface wear; plating is missing on the barrel, as well as heavily worn on table tip and inside the chamber.  This is consistent with usually a very well playing mouthpiece.  Pieces like this that are played a LOT usually suggest something special. Some of them are played into disrepair.  This one will be quite repairable as there is plenty of metal left on this to work with.

This is a very good example of a normal original find.  I bought this piece from a dealer/friend with a good reputation.  It was honestly presented from the perspective of a seller and player who is skilled but not personally involved in mouthpiece restoration nor evaluation as ‘status unknown’ meaning original or not unclear.  It was described as playing not great. Upon viewing of the images it was pretty clear to me that it was an original with a lot of normal wear, which is the case for most surviving originals at this point.  Occasionally we may find more pristine originals in a better cosmetic state, but this is also common.

It is preferable to me to buy originals because I know that others have not previously removed metal, bent tips or otherwise worked their horrors on the victim requiring weeks of laborious therapy on my part sometimes ending in failure.  While I often do clean up others’ messes I still prefer not to, and a clean slate give me more latitude to produce the result I prefer.  All that being said I often advise customers NOT to try to buy originals because they are often expensive and play badly.  Many originals facings were bad out of the factory.  It is perhaps 1 out of 7-10 that will actually play well enough on original facing (in the FL double ring run). Among the originals that had a well functioning facing setup, at least half of those are so worn by now that the original setup is no longer functioning and needs restoration.  Buying originals with the hope that they will play as intended is a risky gamble, and most often more money will need spent to get them to play and match the fantasy, with quite variable results depending on who one’s refacing oracle happens to be.

In this example I am providing the before pictures illustrating the worn table (facing has no break, just drifting into the table), extremely thickened tip rail showing an actual indentation at location of reed contact, and protruding lip at the end which was in front of reed contact for decades of hard playing.  This will take a patient and expert hand to set it back to original specification but it will be amazing.  As found size is .111 and it is going to come down before it goes up due to the required table leveling.

These are the ‘as found’ pics:

Now onto the restoration:

To start with we have a facing break with an identity crisis, sitting uncertainly at around 57-60 on the guage, where it should be a lot closer to 50.

A few passes on the sanding glass reveals the eroded contour of the table; a “lake” or depression is significantly showing in the middle of the table.  Some folks might like to call this a french curve but it’s much more of a crater.  The so-called “French curve” has only one major effect anyhow, which is to make reeds variable between squeaky, shrill or dead.  This crater is most likely due to the long term owner of this piece leaving a wet reed on it at all times, destroying the surface of the table.

The shiny (abraded) areas are making contact with the sander while the dull brass is elevated (cratered).  The result is a bent reed that cannot seal.  As we progress on the table leveling more of the table will abrade, shrinking the cratered area.

-And a little more…

And the crater disappears, it is quite satisfying.

Now let’s have a look at how the facing break and tip opening have moved:

We have a facing break slanted at now less than 50 and a tip size just over .105.

Now we can start to level and reveal what is offered, what is left at the tip rail as we remove the lip and depressed inner rail area bit by bit along with some super secret leveling techniques.  We also have a pretty deep cut in the left side of the rail and we have to keep grinding away, cautiously until we can reasonably ‘outrun’ that nick such that of present it is no longer in the territory of the desired tip rail.

Now with a rather fat (but level) tip rail we have ended up in the neighborhood of .106-.107 which is quite respectable for this stage in the process. This would be a modern 7**.

Further polishing of the table follows, and then the lengthy process of balancing, and optimizing the facing curve begins.  This is a rather complicated and meticulous process (for me) as I have many special approaches that I use to achieve a specific result and response that is, we could say, not particularly cost effective.  Folks who are making a living, running a business doing mouthpiece facings cannot afford to use this approach as it is too time consuming.  This facing was a bit of a mess.  Unfortunately I cannot document the changes as they are both too fine to see and my hands are too dirty to operate my phone.

Somewhere in this time period I am refining the tip rail to roughly approach the contour I will optimize, and then we measure and see where we have arrived at:
After the rough tip rail contour we have arrived at around .109 which is really an ideal result.  The smoothness of this particular restoration is the result of more than 30 years of practice. This is why I am (not) rich.

After a lifetime of balancing, smoothing and optimizing each functional station of the curve to my preferred facing I hand polish my work areas and finalize the baffle-tip contour, and then polish some more.  This is what I call the “first pass”.  If the mouthpiece plays very well after the first pass I am quite happy.  These days most pieces play great after the first pass.  I kind of know what it’s going to do based on numbers and visual assessment, if I have remembered all the steps, the tricks and that bit of witchcraft.

We have arrived exactly at .110, very satisfying.  I did not try to do that, just the mouthpiece magic of the day and long years of refining methods of restoration. It is not always so smooth though.  Now to take it to the studio to try to play it, but of course reeds are not behaving.  I will try again tomorrow, but for now some more finished pics in a different light:

In closing, hopefully this is all very interested (meaning you are a big nerd) but it is also a cautionary tale for those desperate seekers of vintage Otto Links ready to buy the messed up leftovers of the vintage gear black hole (internet).  People pay a lot of money for these special pieces, and many more people complain with great force about those prices.  The result of this dilemma is that a good number of folks want to be smarter and find better deals so they gamble and try to buy from random folks on the internet.  It is natural to think you’ve done well by buying one of these for less than $1500, but that is usually a tragedy rather than a feel good movie.  The reason they sell cheaply is usually because they don’t play.  The ones that do play may play exceptionally well.  They are amazing pieces, but those are quite rare.

Most of the originals have poor facings or even crooked tips.  Many have been dropped.  Many more of the refaced pieces are totally messed up by people who either cannot play well enough to test them, and/or don’t understand how they were originally intended to be setup.  A significant number of important people in the business also could not afford to put in the time to set them up right, even if they had the specific skillset to do that.  That skillset is not easy to come by because partly it requires acceptance that the original specifications of these pieces are not always in the comfort zone of modern players and so result in less money or desirability.  Of course this is why people modernize them, which ruins them.

The best of these pieces are not inexpensive and usually not even on the market at all.  Most of what we see at bargain prices are that way for a reason- they don’t play.  Be mindful of where/who you buy these from.  The bargain pieces usually cost more in heartache or restorations costs.

And the moment of truth: