[pumseig]

I recently picked up this bari sax Otto Link STM. I'm not very knowledgeable on Links. I searched the identification
websites online and now I'm even more confused. Anyway, I was told this piece is at least 20 years old.
Is this considered an "Early Babbitt" or just a

normal modern Link?

 

[KeithL]

I'm not sure what is confusing about this. It looks like a standard Link STM bari piece made between the late '80s and today. I don't believe they've changed these much and I don't think there's anything special about this one. For it to be an early Babbitt it would have to be closer to 40 years old and I'm not sure that would matter much anyway. It's probably been laying around someplace largely unplayed for 20+ years because its a 9 tip. Impossible to say for sure without actually playing it but there's a good chance a small rollover baffle with a medium-large chamber design like this in a .130 tip would be a very resistant mouthpiece requiring a strong player with a lot of air and probably a fairly soft reed as well.

 

[mrpeebee]

This is indeed a normal modern STM (from after 1980).

Early Babbit's have the tip stam at the side of the chamber, not on the shank (like yours.).

Check also this thread:

Improvements on the metal "Otto Link...

Dear all, I recently made some additions to the original "Otto Link Identification" chart in >this< thread. Here is the latest version: One member commented on the Transitional (or Long body) models as having no tip stamp on the side but on the shank (like modern STM's). That's the kind of...

www.saxontheweb.net

(It has a good chart attached, but showing old attachments doesn't work yet on the new forum.)