Otto Link Tone Master 7 Metal Tenor Mouthpiece (refaced by Freddie Gregory)

I bought this mouthpiece on eBay on March 26, 2006, for 510$ from a player from Italy. It came in Freddie Gregory's box with his signature initials on the side, new "7" stamped on the table and shiny new gold plating. It had a sign of repaired shank, nothing major. Now, Freddie did a great job with this piece. It was my main piece for ~8 years. The tone is magnificent, spread, warm, with a hint of sweetness. You can subtone it for a great ballad, then push it strong. Mouthpiece is so easy to blow. Large chamber, small roll-over buffle... Every fellow player that gave it a try now stands in line to buy it should I ever decide to sell it. I mostly play it with Hemke's reeds, or Rico Jazz select.

Over the years gold plating fell off so in March 2014 I sent it to Brian Powell to flatten the table and check on the rails. Brian did a nice touch to it restoring it to its original shape. This is by far the best mouthpiece I ever tried. You can see report from Brian below.

Here is what Theo says about these:
"TONE MASTER" METAL: Otto Link started putting a ridge on top of their metal mouthpieces to make it easier to center the ligature. These mouthpieces were made in New York and had a bit more projection then the older models. They had very long and deep facings (like the older models), playing better with small tip openings. They did, on rare occasions, make larger tip openings, such as a 7 or 8. However, these mouthpieces still retained the very long and deep facing, which curtailed their responsiveness. The TONE MASTER models had silver under gold plating. The serial numbers were on the side and the tip openings were stamped on the table. The ligatures truly improved at this point. The reed contact plates were much thinner, allowing the reed to vibrate more freely. The top of the thumb screw now read, OTTO LINK. The first models had four smaller digits for a serial number. The later models had three larger digits. Some of the musicians that used the Otto Link "TONE MASTER" included: Ben Webster (tenor) Lester Young (tenor) Coleman Hawkins (tenor) Georgie Auld (tenor) Buddy Tate (tenor) Charlie Barnett (tenor) Benny Carter (alto) Vido Muso (tenor)

Finally, here is one very old recording of mine playing "You don't know what love is" on it. Note, I am not playing in time with play-along CD, but you can get the flavor of the piece nevertheless.

Vintage Otto Link - Tone Master - New York Metal Tenor Saxophone in excellent condition Facing n. 7 - Refaced and Goldplated by Freddie Gregory (www.freddiegregory.com) Look at the picture below to see the FG signature engraved by Freddie on the mouthpiece If you are looking for a dark sounding vintage mouthpiece this may be one. This mouthpiece plays really great, very easy and direct response, very rich and deep timbre. With over 40 years experience, Freddie Gregory is one of if not the finest craftman in the business. He did on this mouthpiece a wonderful work.