Here we have a truly rare find, a King SIlversonic with original gold plated body, neck and keys and gold inlay on the engraving. These were custom ordered from King back in the day and we know of one other in existence. Finding this was just a happy accident. These pics are as found-
105xxx Selmer MK VI, this is a sweet spot vintage of MK VI right after 100k. Most everyone who is experienced agrees that these are especially good; punchy, focused, on the brighter side yet still complex sounding. This is one that I restored years back and put a lot of meticulous care into. It has large domed brass resonators and (gold) painted pads with a really beautiful tight concise feel. In the years since I set this up I feel it has not changed much, still plays like a new horn. I recently received it back on a trade and was happy to get a chance to play it again. I’ve gone through and updated one pad and done a little adjustment.
This horn has that wonderful dark lacquer, some normal blemishes for a played horn but is in very good physical condition. It plays very powerfully with a fundamentally dark core and very cutting edge. It is a very fast and precise horn.
Very clean untouched 6* Florida slant signature Link. Clear milling lines on original table, unaltered tip and baffle. Finding nice original examples such as this is now quite rare. This has obviously been played and has some minor cosmetic blemishes but the functional areas are all quite clean.
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.
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.
Wow, I was shocked by this test.. amazing horn, excited to overhaul:
Here I have compared the closely preceding late Tonemaster to the Quad-ring and then NY Double ring, then transitional Double ring for chamber size and internal machining.
I just got this amazingly rare and special piece, an otto Link 4-ring transitional piece from Tonemaster to ‘Super’ Tonemaster; this is the first Super Tonemaster before the ‘Double Ring”. It is a NY production piece from the Otto Link (not Florida, Ben Harrod). This has the first super tonemaster body and from my feeling a slightly different chamber from Tonemaster as well, but not exactly the same as double ring. Of course the double rings models vary plenty amongst themselves but this still feels a bit different to me.
This type of piece was immortalized in photos of John Coltrane, specifically this set by Charles Stewart taken in 1964. He was always switching mouthpieces of course but it is interesting that this is somewhere near the ‘Love Supreme” recording time period.
Here is a FL Otto Link ‘USA’ stamped tenor piece faced at 7*. This is basically original in every way except for a very very subtle rail balancing I did many years back, just received in trade from a Ny pro. Great piece as I remember.
Marin Spivack, veteran restorer of vintage mouthpieces takes an in-depth journey through the different models of vintage Otto Link tenor (because they are a lot less famous for alto) saxophone mouthpieces. We will cover the 1940’s to the 1970’s. Not ALL models and examples will be featured but plenty of detail based on what is available. Be prepared for corny humor and some time wasting, it’s a bit long, but you may learn to identify and understand the differences in the models. There may be mistakes and contradictions, we do our best. This is for the true nerds and enthusiasts.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
