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Mouthpieces Tone Edge early Babbitt?

altissimo

altissimo

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do you know anything about Otto Link Tone Edge mouthpieces? I'm trying to identify what era mine is from - I think it's a late Early Babbitt with 'denim' machining marks on the table
 
altissimo said:
do you know anything about Otto Link Tone Edge mouthpieces? I'm trying to identify what era mine is from - I think it's a late Early Babbitt with 'denim' machining marks on the table
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No, sorry I can't help on this specific model. Have you already tried on the saxophone mouthpieces museum?
 
I didn`t get on with the 90s Alto one I had either, though I`d got used to larger tips in the mean time, saying that , don`t get on with Graftonites either, it must be the lay .

I can`t say I`d even entertain another Tone Edge with excellent pieces like those D'Addarios about
 
Tenor and alto pieces are regarded very differently in terms of their desireability. I had an alto early babbitt and it wasn't great.
Regards to the Tenor Pieces...
Give us pics Ads.

Clearly you don't have the slant sig or you wouldn't need to ask.
Present day TE's have a reputation for having an extremely small roll over baffle behind the tip which then dips so far into the material that it is described as a 'lake'.
So thats the 2 extremes in terms of age.
In between these 2, you have at least
a model that is recognisable by the steep drop from the body to the beak,
a model that changed font size on the USA stamp on the shank,
a model that has a very small number cast into the chamber right behind where the window ends.

In any event, the more material in the floor (extending from the roll over baffle) the more likely it is to have some of the character/projection that began the appeal for older links compared to a modern TE
 
Saxlicker said:
Tenor and alto pieces are regarded very differently in terms of their desireability. I had an alto early babbitt and it wasn't great.
Regards to the Tenor Pieces...
Give us pics Ads.
Click to expand...

Of what ? , I`ve never had a Tenor one and the Alto one (a bog standard 90s Tone edge) was sold a few months ago

No I`ve never had a slant, never had the disposable income to try one , what I don`t get is why every tone edge made isn`t a 100% Copy of the slant sigs everyone is chasing , I mean Link make no money from used slants, they would if they made new 100% Copies that were just as good
 
Ads said:
No I`ve never had a slant, never had the disposable income to try one , what I don`t get is why every tone edge made isn`t a 100% Copy of the slant sigs everyone is chasing , I mean Link make no money from used slants, they would if they made new 100% Copies that were just as good
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Making a mold is quite expensive and they are selling the Tone Edge.
Pillinger copies of Slants are wonderful (I know players that use the copy rather than the original).
Phil (Tone) Englemann has an original blank made in the Babbitt factory, but his hand finishing is extensive. It is supposed to be more in th the EB direction, rather than Slant.
I reviewed it it the Resource section.
 
I'll post a few pics soon...
Actually I've got 2 Tone Edge Links - a 6* alto one, probably from the late 80's, which is wonderfully dark and not at all edgey - great for an old fashioned ballad type of sound (not that I play many old fashioned ballads..)
A decent Link on alto isn't something to be ignored if you want a dark rich sound.
As with all Links, you need to really use your embouchure and give it plenty of breath support and all those other virtuous things that we're all meant to practice - they're certainly not 'plug and play' mouthpieces.
The whole 'Meyer for alto, Link for tenor' thing that seems to be on every sax website means that a lot of alto players may be missing out on the richness that a large chamber roll over baffle mouthpiece can bring to your sound - if that's what you like.... people who like it bright and thin won't get on with a Link

The one I was enquiring about is a tenor 9 I got off ebay a while ago, in a last ditch attempt to rekindle my interest in tenor playing. It's a straight sig USA and seems to have the horseshoe baffle that is shown in pictures of early Babbit pieces. I've no idea if the lettering is small or large since no one gives any measurements for how big the lettering should be to fir those criteria. It came in an orange printing on white box with the 2201 Industrial Parkway, Elkhart IN address. I can't see any obvious signs of a mould number inside, but there are a variety of scuff marks and I'm not sure what I'm looking for
What I do find curious is the 'denim' machining marks on the table, like on a Berg Larsen, but running straight rather than at a slight angle. The Alto one I have has straight line machining marks running lengthwise. This is the detail that I'm having difficulty photographing.
It plays really well and has plenty of oomph and can get a bit Coltrane-y, albeit in a darker manner.
There doesn't seem to be as much info on Otto Link ebonite mouthpieces compared to the metal ones. Since I'm thinking about selling this and the rest of my tenor gear, I was trying to find out if this one's at all rare or desirable...
comments along the lines of 'I'll take it off your hands for a fiver' will be ignored
 
I actually used two great alto TE. One might be an EB, quite edgy and fat, that I actually bought for the interesting baffle shape.

Do you have feeler gauges and a caliper?

altissimo said:
The one I was enquiring about is a tenor 9 I got off ebay a while ago, in a last ditch attempt to rekindle my interest in tenor playing. It's a straight sig USA and seems to have the horseshoe baffle that is shown in pictures of early Babbit pieces. I've no idea if the lettering is small or large since no one gives any measurements for how big the lettering should be to fir those criteria. It came in an orange printing on white box with the 2201 Industrial Parkway, Elkhart IN address. I can't see any obvious signs of a mould number inside, but there are a variety of scuff marks and I'm not sure what I'm looking for
What I do find curious is the 'denim' machining marks on the table, like on a Berg Larsen, but running straight rather than at a slight angle. The Alto one I have has straight line machining marks running lengthwise. This is the detail that I'm having difficulty photographing.
It plays really well and has plenty of oomph and can get a bit Coltrane-y, albeit in a darker manner.
There doesn't seem to be as much info on Otto Link ebonite mouthpieces compared to the metal ones. Since I'm thinking about selling this and the rest of my tenor gear, I was trying to find out if this one's at all rare or desirable...
comments along the lines of 'I'll take it off your hands for a fiver' will be ignored
Click to expand...

See you in the yardsale (I am seriously interested), but you will regret selling your tenor stuff.
 
Send me a detailed picture of the baffle area and I will tell you how it plays ;) I am also curious to see the table. It tells more than you can imagine...
 
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The real problem with HR Links is the "fingerprint" in the baffle region which makes them stuffy and with no projection at all. I've also noticed a degradation of the ebonite quality maybe due to safety reasons? Anyway it looks softer and pigmented. Also the craftsmanship is not great. Facing is usually perfect, that's why they play in any case in a decent way. Anyway if you can find a new HR Link with enough material in the baffle it can be easily refaced and worked and will play like a dream. It has no sense to me to spend top money in a slant model or in an Early Babbitt and so on...
 
Danny@HSM said:
Send me a detailed picture of the baffle area and I will tell you how it plays ;) I am also curious to see the table. It tells more than you can imagine...
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I have seen different baffle designs in HR links. I am also suspecting that the one I have can be due to a close facing opened up to an 8* before they changed the mold. After all big facings were not common at all.
Similar shape is on an metal alto piece I didn't buy (but I might)

@Danny@HSM the are various rumours about how Links are/were vulcanized. Do you have any idea, without revealing your trading secrets (I looked into the subject on behalf of Mr. Pillinger and found that many Italian rubber-related companies use Hamburg NY)?
 
Danny@HSM said:
Send me a detailed picture of the baffle area and I will tell you how it plays ;) I am also curious to see the table. It tells more than you can imagine...
Click to expand...
I already know how it plays and it ain't stuffy and lacking in projection... although those terms are highly subjective and it;s more down to the player than the equipment - sax players in the 1920's and 30's must've been able to project over a noisey audience without any PA system, long before any fancy baffle designs emerged
 
altissimo said:
sax players in the 1920's and 30's must've been able to project over a noisey audience without any PA system, long before any fancy baffle designs emerged
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This is one of my favourite subjects:
My theory is that the world wasn't so loud.
 

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