Metal Florida Otto Links

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[@saxdidg2133]

Awesome Derek, can’t wait to hear you on the Tonemaster🙏 Love the DR

[@saxdidg2133]

You sound great Derek, you will love the Tonemaster! Hope you keep it all original. It plays great as is🙏

[@Wunktheskunk]

Someone’s been doing his long-tones! If someone doesn’t have a good tonal concept, it doesn’t matter what mouthpiece they use. Because you do, we can hear nuance in the pieces. Nice vid!

[@Stephan-Kammerer]

Man, your videos are super helpful!

[@zqa12swx]

That double ring link is the ultimate tenor piece. Period. lol. The sound is "alive" in that piece.

[@jonathanmorrison112]

would love to see an alto version of this! (maybe different meyers or Brillharts)

[@Dr.RolyndDellaSylvan]

@SaxSpy Due to your wonderful insights and playtests (and your time and energy to create these helpful videos!), you inspired me to find and choose one from John @ JL Woodwinds NYC. I chose the No USA Vintage Metal refaced by Tommy Occhiuto to an 8* and the Ishimori (Woodstone) ligature for my Mark VI. I wish you health and joy. And, many more rapturous musical moments. -Dr D

[@SaxSpy]

no usa, fantastic!🔥

[@kpoudavoff]

All Florida Double Rings and ALL Florida STM’s were nickel plated under the gold layer, not Rhodium. Mine is original and has 90% of gold intact. That’s just the matter of how much it was played. Lots of Florida links are bare brass nowadays, and it doesn’t mean they were silver plated as you say. The chamber thing varies too. I have three USA Floridas, and two of them have almost as big chamber as the DR which was pretty surprising. Refaced ones, indeed, play much better than original ones. Sometimes they need a lot of work, sometimes they don’t. Yesterday, an original 8* USA came in. It was too shrilly, so I just adjusted the curve that was opening too slowly, and it turned out a very very well playing mouthpiece, even though I kept everything else original.

[@ngtamphuong]

Does the DR have higher floor than other Links Kirill?

[@SaxSpy]

You're probably right about the rhodium vs. nickel and timing. I read a lot of contrasting things there. Theo was pretty confident but made no distinction between NY/Florida double rings, so that wasn't as clear to me. Here are some of the things I had found. "• Vintage New York and ‘Double Band Super Tone Master’ Otto Links had a Silver substrate under the gold. • ‘No USA’ and ‘USA’ Metal Super Tone Master Otto Links prior to 1973 had nickel plating under the gold. A nickel substrate along with the bore size of 0.662” are the true ‘marks’ of a Florida Otto Link. • In 1973 all Otto Links where plated at Anderson Silver Plating (right next door to JJ Babbitt in Elkhart Indiana) who has never, and still does not, use nickel. Hence, all post 1973 Otto Links have silver plating as a substrate underneath the gold plating." "Otto Link also made changes in the way they plated their mouthpieces during the end of the "No USA" models and into the production of the "USA" vintage models. They began using Nickel, or Rhodium plating underneath the gold plating. Before they used to use silver plating."

[@kpoudavoff]

@@ngtamphuong I wouldn’t say so, no. I haven’t seen much DR’s so can’t speak for all of these, but I recently made chamber molds of DR and Florida for my project, and other than the chamber size I didn’t see any difference at all.

[@kpoudavoff]

@@SaxSpy interesting information! I recently started diving into plating stuff, and all my vintage links happen to have nickel under the gold. All of them - DR, no USA and USA. Afaik, the best underlayer for gold is nickel as it’s cheap, very durable (very hard to buff even using a wheel), has a very deep color and shines bright like a diamond which is perfect for further plating.

[@LA-hx9tx]

Double Ring winner. The NoUSA has a bit more edge, but the DR has better clarity and consisency from note to note. It could be that you're most comfortable on the DR, but in any case, that one has a sound you just want to keep listening to.

[@nickpilgrim1966]

Great tone man. Can't believe how you switch between HR and metal mouthpieces. Also nice tip on the selmer screws :)

[@SaxSpy]

Thanks! A flat reed and flat table makes just about anything play

[@Danox94]

You killed it with the Double Ring! The tone was, well I'm not too familiar with the proper terms, but I'll say 'colorful' , rich, complex... Just lovely across the full range!

[@SaxSpy]

thank you!

[@sorenfuhrer401]

Choosing Sam's transcriptions is brilliant. He is like the definition of that classic metal link sound.

[@DmitriiSergheev]

Otto Link USA sounds great for me! You have great full ,reach amd colorful sound!

[@SaxSpy]

thanks!

[@matthewfontana9776]

Awesome man

[@leanmchungry4735]

Your DR has a pure and lyrical tone which is very nice, but the no usa sounded great on the fast bebop. All three were terrific I thought. In my experience none of these pieces sounded like original examples though. All of the original DRs I've owned had a small rollover behind the tip, even the ones in big tip openings, it gave them a distinctive EQ, they had some tops and bite, and a focus. The DR you played sounded particularly good, but it's really a new kind of piece I think. The other great STM, if you are lucky enough to find one, is an original EB. Brandon Fields plays those in a 7 tip, but says you need to find originals to hear what they really sound like, great ones are hard to find but I think he's right. Great to hear your clips on that killer mkvi.

[@kpoudavoff]

Well, it’s really hard to tell which mouthpiece could be an “original example”, because the finishing work done by the company was SO inconsistent, especially on the No USA pieces; I had dark, bright and medium bright No USA original Floridas (not refaced), and it’s really impossible to judge if the refacer’s work sounds authentic or not, it’s just the matter of their own preferences in sound and an approximate idea of how each particular mouthpiece should sound like, depending on the era.

[@selmconn8699]

wow. great sound on all mouthpieces but my favorite is florida with usa

[@joshmomify4477]

Great video Derek! How can I protect the table from corrosion? . I have a refaced link, but I notice the bluish copper coloring on my reads. Perhaps some type of food oil?Thanks!

[@jameshowe8996]

Thanks!

[@SaxSpy]

thank you!

[@jizhou7262]

Could you make a review of the 40s tone master model? I just got one of those and I'd like to know how to make the best use of it!

[@vikingwind25]

Great Review! Could you comments on the NY Tonemaster VS the Florida models? I have NY Tenor #6, Serial number 1. I am very new to this level of MP detail and review and was wondering why the NY versions are not mentioned. Thanks!

[@SaxSpy]

Once I get my hands on one!

[@RashithaMaduranga2022]

how to find the right one for Alto ? I mean what's the main difference between alto and tenor mouth piece ?

[@MrGuto]

5:25 the 404 is back in manufacturing as of last year or so.

[@wilfredoalfaro]

Great video as usual, SaxSpy. Question: how do you deal with keeping the bare brass Double Ring clean? what sort of solution can you use that's not to abrasive as to mess up the facing of a bare brass mouthpiece?

[@SaxSpy]

I use a really fine microfiber cloth and occasionally some diluted dawn with water

[@josecervando786]

Buenas dígame la diferencia de metal a pasta soy principiante sax tenor

[@brayanfelix8502]

Please review the WCW Bright jazz MP. For Alto and Tenor. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@jameshowe8996]

Hi I am new to your channel. Do you know for fact that the new stm and new vintage tone master are brass with sterling silver then gold plating on top? I am impressed with your channel and I wish you continued success. James

[@SaxSpy]

I know that's what they claim and seemed to be my experience owning a handful that were refaced and showed through to the brass layer

[@jameshowe8996]

Thanks for the confirmation. Do you know the approximate year OL stopped using nickel under the gold layer.?

[@Moonshine54321]

Don’t pinch, and get some resonance by activating your sinus cavity like a good singer. It’ll make your tone ring. 👍

[@tenortones2]

Try not to reface these pieces unless they're really bad. There's only so many of them.

[@SaxSpy]

right, I try not to reface willy nilly. I played both original for a while to see and unfortunately there was a lot wrong. My tonemaster plays fine, so I'm keeping it as is