I've found the perfect alto mouthpiece!

My search for the perfect alto mouthpiece is over! I bought an Otto Link Tone Edge hard rubber piece and it sounds amazing! I really put this mouthpiece to the test, trying it out on 10 different saxophones; My 1950 Conn 6M, 1953 Buescher 400, 1952 Selmer SBA, 1926 Conn Chu Berry, 1922 Conn New Wonder, 1908 Conn Wonder, and a few at the shop, including a nearly-new Cannonball, a Yamaha YAS62 Series II, A Selmer Series III and Ref. 54. Unfortunately I couldn't find a Keilwerth SX-90 alto to try. The biggest surprise was with the oldest horn; my 97 year old Conn New Wonder. This horn doesn't get played a whole lot. The intonation is a shakey and the action.....well, what do you expect from an antique like this. I was really surprised thought that the horn played reasonably in tune; much better than with any other mouthpiece that I have ever tried. This sax has the original style pads with no resonators. I wanted to keep it as original as possible. The mouthpiece gave it a nice dark mellow tone. The mouthpiece really made the New Wonder Series I and the Chu scream! It really seemed to bring out the characteristics of each horn. Same with the Buescher 400 and the Conn 6M. I was surprised how well the 6M responded in the upper octaves. I could play altissimos with ease. The Selmer SBA went from sounding a little stuffy with the original mouthpiece, to singing like a sweet canary! While keeping that warm silky Selmer tone, it gave the horn much better projection, and just an added touch of brightness. On the Yamaha, the sax took a slightly darker tone, and seemed to resonate and project better. Being a brand new saxophone this horn played so easy! I am really impressed with the new Yamaha models, and I think they are the best value of any of the new horns I have tried. The Series III and Ref 54 also responded very well to this piece, particularly the Series III. The large open chamber on the Otto Link Tone Edge gave this Selmer consideably more volume and projection, and gave the sax a sweet, darker tone. The difference in tone wasn't as noticable with the Ref. 54 as it was the Series III, but it definately added volume and projection. Last but not least, the Cannonball. While I'm still not a big fan of these saxophones, the Otto Link helped this horn tremendously. These horns have a tendency to sound a bit tinny and obnoxiously bright. With the Otto Link, this horn kept the brightness, volume and projection, but the tinny sound was replaced with a darker, fuller sound. The Cannonball really sounded sweet with the Otto Link. It kind of reminded me of the old King Silversonics. The Cannonball was a silver plated model. You've got to try one of these!!! No matter what horn you play, this mouthpiece just seems to work magic! Jim

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