Next up, one of my own Early Babbitt Otto Links.  This tenor piece is one I did for myself years back, never even wrote anything on it until yesterday.  It was original a 6 but I’ve set it up at .097 so like a big 6* facing.  There are few mouthpieces more satisfying to play on tenor than a well setup EB Link and this one shines.  This has the appropriate longer and high baffle and it an early enough blank with the longer somewhat slim body and high cut above the beak.  The quality of response, tone and feel and the precision are as expected with my work.

This is an old mouthpiece and someone lived for a long time before I even got it to restore, so there are of course scratches and wear to the surface as well as a bit of tooth wear, but I did not feel this was any kind of both in playing so I’ve left it as is.

The tone this piece can produce is very warm and rich.  It has enough power, but is not among the shrill, more of a very lyrical and organic sound but in no way weak.  I would say it produces a very traditional vibe, but not that generic buzzing one-dimensional sound of modern ‘please-all’ reproduction mouthpieces.  This is not a reproduction, it is not a pretend piece.  This is a real VINTAGE Otto Link with an older vibe, not simply a ‘point and shoot’ simple sound.  It is actually a complex and deep sound that is hard to find in anything new.  This is for someone serious about tone.