[DryMartini]

What are the odds of ordering one and it not needing any work?

 

[MojoBari]

How picky are you? Do you adjust your reeds to compensate for their unevenness or the mouthpiece unevenness? Do you have a few mouthpieces you already like? Are they hand finished/refaced or stock? Mass produced or high end CNC or boutique hand made?

I think a majority of sax players using Babbitt made mouthpieces are playing unaltered mouthpieces and just going soft enough on reeds until they can play them. They have bigger problems than their mouthpiece choice. Leaks, practice.

I think you need to try 5 Babbitt mouthpieces to have a good chance of getting one that does not benefit much from a refacing to remove the irregularities in the facing. So I would say 20% or so are decent. Another 20% might be pretty bad. The rest are “ehh?”.

 

[1saxman]

Sad tale but true of most mouthpieces.

 

[KMR]

Ive tried 3 of them.

Two were as they left the factory/unaltered. Didn’t like either of them.

The third had been refaced by Morgan Fry. I really liked it, and bought it.

Not definitive, but may be of interest.

 

[Saxydude]

I play a "new vintage" Slant Tone Edge 5*. The facing has visible imperfections, but it's a very good player. I was prepared to hate it but ended up buying it. Even with the crooked facing, it's the best modern Link I've played. Reed picky, though - likely due to the facing issue.

 

[DryMartini]

Thanks guys. I don't have enough money to order multiple ones. Heck I can't afford one right now, but I just can't get the Retro Revival 7 Super D (Dex) to sound goo in the palm keys. (Too bright). I have to use a really hard reed to sound decent....I've been playing mainly tenor for the past few months. Guess I'm going to roll the dice and keep exchanging them if they don't work. I wanted to call a shop and ask them to try them for me but I thought that was being a little inappropriate. Does it matter where you order new ones from?

If anyone one has a good one to sell me, let me know! I may be willing to trade my Super Dex (Value of $350-$400) for a 5* hard rubber link of equal value that plays good. I don't have the chops for the metal 7 piece I have and it's brighter in sound concept that I'm going for. I like Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Melissa Aldana, Seamus Blake sound wise.

I think I need to call Eric Drake. Man I sold a 7 1980's hard rubber link when I was playing tenor a couple of years ago on here. That was a huge mistake. I'm listening to my recordings back then and I sounded like Joshua Redman! haha. Oh well at least it went to forum member.

I think though a small tip is more suited to my sound concept. I notice most people on tenor play 7 and up. Why is it on alto folks go for 5 Meyer but on tenor the go for 8* Link? My friend is a top alto player and he said on alto people who get bigger tips are not good enough to hear that they can't control the sound. He uses a Meyer 5 and will knock down walls with his sound! Just an interesting thing I've been thinking about.

Thanks for reading. I've been a bit distressed since I had to sell my alto and have only a tenor now and having to figure things out again in the palm keys. I'm pretty confident I'll get the 5* link working well up there. I have a Ref 36 tenor. I've only been able to try one mouthpiece on it so far.

 

[Dr G]

Check out Morgan Mouthpieces - they are especially good in that size range. They use high quality hard rubber, and have considerable experience with Otto Link mouthpieces.

https://www.morganmouthpieces.com/pages/morgan-mouthpieces-history

https://www.morganmouthpieces.com/collections/all?page=2

They have a good trial policy too.

https://www.morganmouthpieces.com/pages/trial-policy

I used to play their 6C on my Ref 36 for classical quartets and small jazz gigs.

G'luck with your quest.

 

[Dexter94]

I second the Morgan recommendation. I play a tenor 5M and am always amazed at how responsive and huge the sound is whenever I compare it to any other mouthpiece at that size (.85). They have a bunch of models that go as bright or dark as you could ever want. Really great customer service as well- I'm surprised they aren't more popular.

 

[warp x]

I second the Morgan recommendation. I play a tenor 5M and am always amazed at how responsive and huge the sound is whenever I compare it to any other mouthpiece at that size (.85). They have a bunch of models that go as bright or dark as you could ever want. Really great customer service as well- I'm surprised they aren't more popular.

Probably because they don't do a lot of marketing and when they do they don't shout. I really like their pieces, I had an Excalibur that I should have kept.

 

[CashSax]

Recently I wanted to try the softer volume level small tip concept for restaurant lounge gigs I play.. I ain't rich either so I picked up a cheapie Ebay $35 Brilhart Ebolin tenor mpc.

The pics looked good, real clean facing, thin tip rail. So for fun I grabbed it, I got lucky maybe, blows super easy, moderate volume, it gets the authentic Getz vibe. And I didn't mortgage the farm either..

FWIW on my saxes I play some great custom Boutique (expensive$$$) mpcs too, but the humble Ebolin blew me away..

Actual quality sound for pennies. I see some old HR Brilharts going for a fortune ..hmm

For reference I bought a "New Vintage" STM 7* Link a couple yrs back, the thing proved unplayable for me.. I tried for several months and spent a ton on reeds, Ugh.

Currently on my 2 tenors (MKVI-Big B) mainly I play a (guardala) Jen Price Vigilante NYSV, but I also have a vintage scoopbill 110/2/M SS Berg which I love, or sometimes my ancient HR Lakey 9*3, and now the recently acquired Brilhart Ebolin

The Brilhart gets me what I was looking for on the expensive Link I bought and dumped, the thick and woody sound is there down low, and yet it will speak really well up high..no it won't throw down for a real big stage or a horn section gig.. but hey, I played it last weekend and made money on this bad boy already..