Mouthpieces Interesting item for sale!!

[AndyG]

Just found this on ebay....Wes Magoogan composer and sax player of " will you " fame selling the original mouthpiece he used to record with.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Otto-Link-pie...t=UK_Woodwind_Instruments&hash=item20b2d2cfd5

 

[rhysonsax]

Good spot and definitely an auction to watch ! That solo was one of the reasons I fell for the sax.

I wonder how much of the magic would rub off on me if I bought it ?

Rhys

 

[jonf]

Yes, I saw this yesterday. As you say, interesting item, tinged with sadness. I see he's reduced the starting price since yesterday.

 

[jonf]

Price reduced again, went for £280 in the end....

 

[rhysonsax]

The starting price was reduced again to £250 and I chipped in with a late bid that just managed to win the auction for a bit above that.

Have just paid and am looking forward to it arriving. Do you think I should play on it or just put it on display ?

Rhys

 

[Taz]

Well done Rhys, personaly I think it should be played.

 

[AndyG]

Do you think I should play on it or just put it on display ?

Rhys

Nice one and a good question. I guess you could save it for those special occasions. Well done

 

[jonf]

The starting price was reduced again to £250 and I chipped in with a late bid that just managed to win the auction for a bit above that.

Have just paid and am looking forward to it arriving. Do you think I should play on it or just put it on display ?

Rhys

Ah, Rhys you bounder, you beat me. I was knackered and a bit squiffy, so was asleep at the end of the auction.

I was fully intending to play it, and I think you should too. Have to confess to a touch of melancholy when I watched the vid of him playing it on his Facebook site.

Jon

 

[Moz]

I was curious as to why he wouldn't be able to play again, his facebook page reveals all -- nasty, and one of my own nightmare scenarios!

Martin

 

[Pee Dee]

Interesting and sad. I bought the same mpc for tenor on ebay a few months back for around £80 and it's the only one I use now, fantastic piece!

 

[jonf]

So, Rhys, what's it like? How does it play?

 

[rhysonsax]

Well, I have had a sore throat and a broken finger to contend with, so my sax playing has been curtailed a bit recently.

Anyway, I blew the Otto Link at the weekend, expecting good things but it's not really my style of mouthpiece. The bore is large, so I had to wrap some paper round the cork to hold it securely. It's got a decent facing on and blows quite well, but I think the chamber is quite a bit bigger than I prefer. Maybe it takes more air than I am used to, or maybe I need to try different reeds.

For reference, I normally blow a Lawton 7B or Lawton 6*BB ICON on alto and they are both brighter and more focussed than this Link.

In fact, I get closer to the Magoogan sound on my Lawton than I do on his Link !

You're welcome to give it a blow if you are passing near Farnham.

Rhys

PS I have got a Link STM on tenor that is fine, but I also prefer Lawtons to that.

 

[jonf]

Thanks for the update Rhys. Broken finger, that's a bit of a bummer. A sore throat can always be soothed with whisky, but a bust finger makes it a bit tricky to play the sax.

Funny what you say about your sound on the Lawton being closer to the Magoogan tone. I was really surprised to hear that he made that tone on a Link, it just doesn't seem like the sort of tone I associate with a Link. Still, you've got a genuine piece of rock history.

BTW, I've just got another Lawton, an 8*B tenor from Milandro, who posts here. It looks awful, really battered, but it plays just great. It obviously has become very worn due to being used a great deal, doubtless due to it playing so well.

Hope the finger and throat are feeling better.

Jon

 

[rhysonsax]

Thanks for the update Rhys. Broken finger, that's a bit of a bummer. A sore throat can always be soothed with whisky, but a bust finger makes it a bit tricky to play the sax.

Funny what you say about your sound on the Lawton being closer to the Magoogan tone. I was really surprised to hear that he made that tone on a Link, it just doesn't seem like the sort of tone I associate with a Link. Still, you've got a genuine piece of rock history.

BTW, I've just got another Lawton, an 8*B tenor from Milandro, who posts here. It looks awful, really battered, but it plays just great. It obviously has become very worn due to being used a great deal, doubtless due to it playing so well.

Hope the finger and throat are feeling better.

Jon

Ah well, broken finger is the result of trying to play footy when I should be wrapped up warm with a nice cup of cocoa. It was my left little finger (G# etc currently difficult), which I have bust and dislocated before playing cricket !

The throat is fine now which is just as well as big band started up tonight after our summer layoff and I was a bit rusty.

My very favourite tenor piece is my Lawton 8*BR which is superb. Bigger than I had played before but a great balance between edge and warmth and surprisingly easy to play too.

Rhys

PS Where does Surrey/Sussex borders place you ?

 

[milandro]

.......BTW, I've just got another Lawton, an 8*B tenor from Milandro, who posts here. It looks awful, really battered, but it plays just great. It obviously has become very worn due to being used a great deal, doubtless due to it playing so well.

Cheers, Jon, I am happy that you like the mouthpiece, I too thought it was great player but just a little too open for my comfort and I'll stick to my Ponzol M1. Stan, a friend of mine in Italy , who is , among other things, also a re-facer, told me that the piece could be brought to a nice looking state if one wanted to. On the other hand, if one doesn't mind its battle axe look.......

Ah well, broken finger is the result of trying to play footy when I should be wrapped up warm with a nice cup of cocoa. It was my left little finger (G# etc currently difficult), which I have bust and dislocated before playing cricket !

I wish you a speedy recovery and a quick return to the full functionality of all your bits and pieces

 

[jonf]

Stan, a friend of mine in Italy , who is , among other things, also a re-facer, told me that the piece could be brought to a nice looking state if one wanted to. On the other hand, if one doesn't mind its battle axe look.......

I don't mind how it looks, to be honest, as long as it plays well. Which it does.

 

[jonf]

Rhys

PS Where does Surrey/Sussex borders place you ?

Just North of East Grinstead, in a small village called Dormansland. Just next to Lingfield Park racecourse. I like it there, it suits me.

 

[rhysonsax]

A Strange Coda to this Tale

A strange conclusion to the story of Wesley Magoogan's mouthpiece .......

I recently got my tenor Otto Link STM back from Morgan Fry who has done a great refacing job on it. It suddenly occurred to me to compare it to the alto STM that I bought from Welsey back in August.

Lo and behold, the alto STM is exactly the same length, bore size, table size and everything as my tenor STM. In fact, it isn't an alto at all !

I contacted Wesley through eBay, and he initially thought it was a wind-up, but then soon offered me a full refund (without admitting to any mistake). The mouthpiece is now back with him and he has emailed me that the "Will You" mouthpiece must have somehow been sent to New Zealand. My thought is that he was selling three of his pieces on eBay at the same time and must have confused the alto and tenor STMs, which do look very alike. So now some Kiwi has a piece of saxophone history without even realising it.

That explains what I noticed when I played on the "alto" STM, that the bore was much bigger than normal and the sound was really dead. In fact the tuning was awful as well.

I'm surprised that I didn't realise this sooner - in fact I might never have found out....

And so ends my brief contact with saxophone fame.

Rhys

 

[Pete Thomas]

And so ends my brief contact with saxophone fame.

Ah well, back in the 70s I met Stan Getz and we nearly swapped mouthpieces. It was probably the one he'd used on Ipanema.

 

[jonf]

Thanks for the update Rhys - a really strange end to the tale. I wondered if this was going on from your posts here and at SOTW about the size of STM mouthpieces.

It could so easily have been me! I remember at the time of the auction that he had three mouthpieces for sale - if memory serves me right, two STMs and a Tone Edge, although I was only bidding on the 'Will You' piece. I wonder if he'll try to get the alto STM back from NZ?