Mouthpieces Cheap Otto-Link

dref

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I have just discovered a brand new Otto-Link OLMT RG 128 tenor mouthpiece on the internet for £57:78. this is an incredible price. I wonder if the reason that they are almost giving it away is the very wide tip.I wonder if anyone can advise me if this would be a good buy or would it be a real struggle to blow for a guy who alternates between a Windcraft Etude and a Eugene Rousseau JDX7. Dref
 
I bought one early last year as they were being sold off cheap at my local stockist. They just never took off, not sure why. Worth £60 though. I paid £90 but my mpc was a 7 and not a 10. May explain the extra discount
 
Thanks for your kind reply Colin and Profjames you echo my concern that this mouthpiece would be far to wide for comfort It makes me wonder what kind of musician plays these ultra open pieces and for what reason.Is it a macho thing or merely for loudness and projection.
 
There have been various comments on mpc opening and reed strength from far better players than myself. That leads me to believe that it how you sound with what you are happy with that counts!
 
You are dead right Prof. How it sounds with what you are happy with = Mouthpiece Nirvana. How can one acheive this without GAS raising its expensive head and without wondering what other people are doing.
 
You are dead right Prof. How it sounds with what you are happy with = Mouthpiece Nirvana. How can one acheive this without GAS raising its expensive head and without wondering what other people are doing.
I agree with you! Get the basics right first, some lessons, a good tutor, practice, practice and practice more.....then start experimenting!
 
That's good advice prof I have a good tutor and after 2 years of practice I find that my fav mouthpiece, the windcraft etude, tends to sound weak in the upper registers. I have tried various strenghth reeds from 2 - 3.5, I get best results with Vandoren Blue no 3.hence my feeling that a different mouthpiece may help. Maybe i should practice long tones more.
 
That's good advice prof I have a good tutor and after 2 years of practice I find that my fav mouthpiece, the windcraft etude, tends to sound weak in the upper registers. I have tried various strenghth reeds from 2 - 3.5, I get best results with Vandoren Blue no 3.hence my feeling that a different mouthpiece may help. Maybe i should practice long tones more.
Why not try out a few new mouthpieces? Costs you nothing to nip down to your local retailer and try out several!
 
a .128 is a bit big for tenor - I never went above .110 - the Link RG seems to be similar to a Berg Larsen, brighter and louder than a regular Otto Link, I don't think they're very popular, so they may be being sold off cheap on Amazon and elsewhere.
If you like the Rousseau, stick with it, they're good mouthpieces, I think you'd struggle on the .128 RG - I know I would. One of my mates who plays tenor for a living reckons anything above .115 is too much for him.
I'm not sure why some players favour huge tip openings - more volume, bigger sound, more control, macho - take your pick..
My experience of large tip openings on alto and recently on soprano is that the sound seems to open up in a way that's difficult to describe and it's definitely louder, but I have to use softer, more flexible reeds, although some people can apparently play hard reeds on big tip openings.
 
Until I got a Theo Wanne Durga my main piece was a modified Otto Link 0.125. I'm not even slightly a macho kind of guy - it just suited me, and was a very easy blow. I use it with a Rico Jazz Select 2 Soft reed, which gives loads of flexibility and a wide dynamic range. If anything it's an easier blow than the Durga, which is a 0.115. There are all sorts of influencing factors n how easily a mouthpiece blows - how it curves, length of lay, baffle, etc. The only answer is to try.
 
Until I got a Theo Wanne Durga my main piece was a modified Otto Link 0.125. I'm not even slightly a macho kind of guy - it just suited me, and was a very easy blow. I use it with a Rico Jazz Select 2 Soft reed, which gives loads of flexibility and a wide dynamic range. If anything it's an easier blow than the Durga, which is a 0.115. There are all sorts of influencing factors n how easily a mouthpiece blows - how it curves, length of lay, baffle, etc. The only answer is to try.

What he said. I came at it from the other direction, always played closed tips, still do on my altos. I came across Pillinger 10 which had been modified by Kay Siebold a respected German refacer to an 8, such an easy blow and with a Plasticover 3 lovely and smokey (my perception of smokey is Ben Webster), would never have looked twice normally but bought it on a whim and it worked.
 
You got me thinking now. Visited amazons webpage and the price of the Otto-Link has gone up to £181.71. They must have priced it wrongly. sax.co.uk are selling Selmer Soloist tenor j mouthpieces for half price at £78. I wonder if this would be a good buy
 
I don't think the facings on Links are in the same league as the top quality work done by Ed Pillinger or Kay Siebold.
If you look on his website, a Kay Siebold 8 is .106 - http://www.tittmann.de/SaxophonShop...ONSE-Tenor-Saxophon-Mundstueck-Metall::4.html
at least on the mouthpieces he makes himself

Pillinger's website only lists his own mouthpieces up to a 9* at .130, so a 10 must've been enormous - http://www.pillingermouthpieces.co.uk/page11.html

the numbering systems used by different manufacturers are not in the least bit standardised, which is rather confusing and exasperating when trying to compare mouthpieces

My 'Early Babbitt' Link Tone Edge 9 (~ .120) is not an easy blow and I use soft Fibracells

I agree that the tip opening is only one of many parameters that should be taken into consideration when determining the suitability of a mouthpiece, but how many mouthpiece makers ever say what the facing length is?
Tip opening and some vagueness about the chamber size and baffle and a few photos are all you can go on and I still think that a stock, unmodified Link in a .128 tip is a bit big compared to a .110 Rousseau 7.
Of course sending it to Morgan Fry or Ed Pillinger for a reface would sort it out, bu that'd add about £100 to the cost and it wouldn't be a bargain any more...

oh, I see it's not even a bargain in the first place now 😉
 
What's wrong with your Rousseau? They seem like quite decent mouthpieces to me
What is it you're looking for in a new mouthpiece? You do have to ask yourself these kinds of questions or you could end up with 20+ mouthpieces sitting on the shelf and only use one of them, like me.
Sensible sax players (not me, obviously..) would tell you to stick with one mouthpiece and really get to learn what you can do with it.
It's when you've pushed it to it's limits and want that bit extra that things can get GAS-sy
Of course when you see a bargain it's difficult to resist - hence my alto mouthpiece collection via 10 years of Ebay hunting.
I've heard music students who could get a nice sound out of a basic Yamaha 6C or other cheapo mouthpiece - it's the person on the blowing end that makes the difference
 
Stop... Why not buy a PPT?

I have a Tenor Etude and a Soloist F, can't choose between them really but I don't play tenor much.

However, from what others here say who have a tenor PPT, it is THE one!

I can echo this with my PPT alto MP. Having tried Yam, Bari, Selmer, Sharkbite, Yani, the PPT stopped my search dead. Just an idea...
 

Similar threads... or are they? Maybe not but they could be worth reading anyway 😀

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