Warburton LA

True or false: the Warburton LA has a long facing.

Here's why I ask - I tried one of these back in May. It was a 7 tip opening; I'm used to playing a 7* or 7**, (.105-.108) so I figured a .100 wouldn't be too different. However, it was whiny and thin-sounding for me, and the owner told me that it really preferred harder reeds. At the time I was using a mixture of Rico and Rico Royal, all 2.5.

I played with a few other things over the summer (Drake metal, Wanne Brahma, Sakshama Z), and recently found what I think will be my main piece for a while - an EB Link STM worked by Erik G. A couple weeks ago I landed a Warburton LA, this one an 8*, thinking the bigger tip will work better with my reeds (though I'm now using V16s, still 2.5). Interestingly, it sounds very similar to the Link though maybe a bit more focussed than the Link.

However - it seems to like the harder reeds in the box, while the Link prefers the medium and softer reeds.

I've been told that longer facings make a given reed easier to play and all of this makes me think that Eric Falcon is putting a long-ish facing on these mouthpieces. Can anyone verify this impression? I don't have the tools or brains to measure a facing, nor do I even own a tip-opening gauge at this point...