Category Archives: Vintage Mouthpiece Tips

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

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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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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Otto Link “Missing Link” 4-Ring Transitional Rare Mouthpiece (Part 1)

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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.

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Horned Toad’s Vintage Otto Link Survey Videos!

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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

Vintage Saxophone and Mouthpiece Currently For Sale

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For availability of vintage saxophones and mouthpieces in stock please see the above link: “Vintage Saxophones & Mouthpieces For Sale”.  That will show current offerings, sold and on hold offerings, as well as up and coming “in-shop” projects.  Please feel free to ask about future offerings.  Additionally there are many items that ARE NOT listed on the for sale page that are packed away, not operational yet, or just not fit into the schedule to list. Early inquiry is a good way to beat the crowd to get the special item you have been searching for.  Thanks!