Category Archives: Vintage Mouthpiece Tips

Advice and musings of a long term vintage mouthpiece hunter and restorer

Otto Link FL Double Ring 9 *Original* Restoration Study

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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.

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Selmer MK VI #85000 EU Satin Silver Engraved Massive horn, ONLY ONE!

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This is an amazing rarity; 1960 Mark VI tenor, the exact serial 85000, made in celebratory satin “sable” (sand finish) silver plate and glass accents, an expensive special order option.  This horn lived an active life and does show wear indicating just how great it was (is).  I have done many special restoration projects on this horn, soldered the bow to body, resoldered the failed neck receiver, replaced most of the worn pearls and then finally a vast overhaul.  It originally came to me with black ‘roo pads’ in it, and plenty of key slop.  I did many special jobs on the horn but resisted taking those pads out since they were not old, but the horn always lacked some resonance, sort of a deflating kind of feeling rather than the power we might hope for in 85k.  I finally did surrender and did a whole job on it with my treated pads and special setup.  Now it is blasting, bright and powerful as expected.  Moral of the story- please don’t use roo pads.  They suck.

Aside from that, this is just that amazing actual 85k tenor the only one with the perfect number (HAH!) and it plays every bit as amazing as we imagine.  I did somewhat of a silver polish on this after I allowed it to turn black over several years and it was already a lot of work.  I will just let it go black I guess from here on in.  I took a quick set of pics before it turns totally black again.

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Excellent Early Berg Larsen Type (mixed?) Font Tenor 105

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Here we have a very nice find, early Berg Larsen 105/1/M.  This piece has the original denim table milling marks and a wonderful delicately finished tip rail and baffle quite likely faced by Berg Larsen himself.  This is the style all the early ones are done in, by, I think, himself.  Unusually this piece actually measures right at .105 on my tools.  The slant signature Bergs and pieces near that time period usually measure exactly as stamped but slightly later ones (like this should be) trend .005 smaller. This one is accurate to the stamp, no idea why.

The font on the shank seems to have SOME of earlier serif font. I believe someone has replaced the biteplate with a modern marbled rubber.  I see no evidence of any other work done.  This piece plays rather huge and fat.  It is pretty accurate for a #1 baffle being brilliant while also not excessively bright or at all shrill.

There are many of destroyed, later model, etc Berg Larsens to be found but the Serif Font denim table originals are few and far between now.

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Otto Link Double Ring NY .100 Marinated & Excellent Rarity

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Here we have a very rare and wonderful tenor piece; Otto Link NY double ring with the outlandishly long biteplate.  Who’s idea was the long biteplate?!  That long biteplate is the reason these pieces are the least common to be opened up to large sizes (or any sizes) by ambitious refacers.  Of course that can be a good thing, meaning there are still some originals left out there, or at least some pieces that are not huge sizes.  it is pretty common for people to mess them up or just tear them all open to huge sizes because currently only a few people know how to play 5-6 facings like the old days when these were made.

I very careful restored and optimized this to .100 (7) from the original dinged up 5 and it’s really quite a player.  Slightly darker and wider than a FL double ring, it has a beautiful complex tone and an ease of play that is extremely satisfying.  Good luck finding early (New York) double rings that are not totally destroyed or play in any kind of near decent way.  This is definitely among the best!


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Selmer “Super Sax” 14xxx Baritone, beautiful early Bari (on hold)

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Wonderful early Selmer Bari, “SuperSax” in fine condition.  I cannot say if the lacquer finish is original or not but it’s a nice color and looks correct.  This horn has seen some life, easily at this age, but it is also in quite good condition for its age.  It has some normal dings, not very significant.  Someone, sometime in the past fabricated really nice extra supports for areas on the upper bows.  These supports appear to me to be silver, or nickel silver and they have quite nice rounded contours.  It appears to me that these were preventative rather than the result of any damage, just due to the size of them and the high quality of workmanship.

The original neck is present as is the case.  The pads are OLD and will absolutely need work.  I would not call this ‘playing’ at the moment at all, but everything is present, and in quite good condition.  I think most folks know these early Selmer Bari’s have a specially great warm tone.

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Gear Nerd Summit

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Had a really wonderful hang with Josh Redman, fellow tone & subtlety aficionado; inspiringly great player and exceptionally good, smart and fun person to be around. Being able to share that level of appreciation for detail in sound is why we do this, but some people are just plain cool.

Otto Link Tonemaster Marinated Masterpiece .097

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This is a wonderful player, “Bluetrane” period Otto Link Tonemaster restored to a tip size of .097.  I would classify this as a chocolate butter rich complex tone. It has more clarity and projection than an original Tonemaster by a large measure, but is also not a super bright modern vibe at all.  It is very much accurate to the aesthetic of the original Tonemasters but extremely clear and brilliant with a true facing making it very reed friendly and not stuffy in any way.

For modern mouthpieces this would be considered dark I guess, but for a vintage Link this is probably in the middle tonally, and for a Tonemaster it might be just a bit bright and shimmery- still not a bright piece.  It is very organic and flexible.  It’s a joy to play this one, no effort was spared in making it the best it could possibly be without hyping or altering the inherent character.

Obviously not a whole lot of plating left on this one.  Biteplate shows some use (because it really was always just an inherently great piece) but the biteplate is functional and I will leave it.  Will work fine with or without a patch.

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