Category Archives: Vintage Mouthpieces (for sale AND sold)

Current pieces for sale shown on “for sale” page

Otto Link Early Florida Double Ring 9* Masterpiece

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Wonderful early Florida Double Ring 9* ‘marinated’ and labeled “masterpiece” this piece lives up to all the accolades.  This is compact as Florida Double Ring are desired for, focused, organic, colorful and mid-boost presence. It plays fast, extremely clear resonant and detailed throughout the horn with even a beautiful altissimo voice. This piece is NOT shrill or over hyped.  It is not reimagined into a super bright modern piece.  It is rich, complex and projecting and still entirely vintage as it should be.

This piece came to be having been well loved but not abused.  Being an early Florida the indicated tip size of 9* was still Continue reading →

Archetype .099 gold plate

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Lovely .099 (Otto Link 7) sized Archetype finished in very light gold plate ready to purify the cosmic energy in and around your tenor! This piece is of the first generation of Archetype production with serial number 09. These are specifically fast and brilliant pieces with a lot of presence playing in the best possible way we could imagine an early (NY) double ring to respond with their NY production flaws eliminated.  This one has been playtested and ready to go.  I would say this particular piece is really middle of the road on the bright dark spectrum for what the Archetype can be, which generally starts off with more brilliance than a NY Link was made with but has the same depth.

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NEW ‘MoonBeam’ tenor model coming soon!

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MoonBeam is an extremely faithful reproduction and optimization of the best vintage Florida Otto Link I’ve found in over 30 years of hunting, studying and optimizing vintage Links.  This particular piece is a very early Florida model 7* with a serial number.  These early serialed pieces are nearly identical to Florida ‘double ring’ models in the chamber area but trend higher in the floor and baffle areas.  In the end it is always the setup itself which makes the majority of the response as well, and early Florida had a great formula, though greatly handicapped by inconsistency in symmetry and errors in facing curve.  When they had things right they were amazing, but many, including this piece were challenged.

I have had this particular piece for quite some years, as I received it rolling around in the case of Continue reading →

Archetype, Legendary Quad Ring Otto Link Resurrection

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The new Archetype tenor saxophone mouthpiece is a celebratory re-emergence of a historical lost Otto Link prototype, knows as the ‘Quad Ring’.  The Quad Ring as it can be casually referred to was the initial design for Link’s most famous model, the “Super Tone Master”. Link had achieved wide popularity with the Tonemaster model among Jazz musicians from the late 1940’s to the 1950’s with the biggest names associated with the tenor saxophone favoring them such as John Coltrane,

Hank Mobley, Charlie Rouse, and many others.

At this time saxophone models were evolving towards louder and brighter response to follow the evolution of electrical amplification that allowed more volume on stage.  Link’s mouthpiece evolution followed the pace with a new design making the larger Tonemaster chamber slightly smaller and allowing for the possibility of more baffle and a slightly brighter, more focused and projecting sound.  The new design would also have an external aesthetic upgrade. Continue reading →

Archetype .110- the sensitive giant (SOLD- but you can order one)

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This piece was an experiment and a challenge.  Someone had expressed desire for a .110 and I had a blank that might suit that.  I wanted to try it.  Normally the earlier large chamber Links are not always the best candidate for a large tip size.  They tend to play more compact on smaller sizes, but since this is a new species I wanted to gamble.  I set this piece up at .110 with a facing I have had success with before at this size, a great wise old man of a facing.  Well this piece came out shockingly great. Although a .110 it sounds much the same as the smaller examples and feels like a .100, which means it is easy to play and efficient.  I am not usually comfortable at this size.

 

 

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This piece is already sold but the experiment has shown that this turns out very well.  Those of you who want this Quad Ring vibe but play at larger sizes can consider.  We know it works.

 

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