Otto Link Tenor Sax Mouthpiece, Hard Rubber, Connoisseur Early Babbitt

The Connoisseur Series Otto Link Early Babbitt “EB” hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece is a reintroduction of the same mouthpieces manufactured in the Early Babbitt days, from 1975 to 1979. It utilizes the same mold with the same cores, vulcanized to the same specifications, manually machined and expertly hand-finished just like they were years ago. They were made famous by Stan Getz, Mark Colby and so many others. This model is available in six facings: 5*, 6, 6*, 7, 7*, and 8. 

Staff Review

For comparison reasons, I thought I’d put it up against a regular Link Tone Edge and I have to say that there is quite a marked difference between them.  Overall, there is so much more presence of tone, more core, and more projection.  Each note through the range can be played with definition and clean articulation.  Studying the internal geometry reveals that the first half centimeter of the baffle has a noticeably higher angle than the regular Link.  This angle then continues into the chamber.  There is also less scooping of the sidewalls.  The chamber appears to be of a similar size but possibly slightly smaller.  All these factors add up to give a noticeably different result, and in my opinion, offers a much more versatile piece.  I would consider the regular Tone Edge a good first upgrade mouthpiece, but this one is in a different category – if you’ve had experience on various hard rubber Links and found them to be stuffy and one dimensional then you will be pleasantly surprised when you try this one as the overall quality is on a much higher level.

Jim Cheek