This is an old slant signature 5* hard rubber link that was refaced by Ralph Morgan. I just bought it and am getting used to it. Ralph opened it up to around a 7 and put a metal band around the shank. When I first got the piece the bore was so small that I couldn’t fit it on my neck (I just put a new cork on). I knew that I would crush my cork just to try a piece out and I wasn’t very happy about it. I decided to take a chance and got a drumstick that just fit into the bore. I wrapped really fine sandpaper around it so it fit snuggly into the bore, inserted it and I turned it a few times. I did this 5 or 6 times each time washing it out and then trying it on the neck. I made sure I didn’t go any further than the mouthpiece would sit on the cork because I didn’t want to enlarge the chamber. At the end it fits perfectly on the cork and I can get it in tune. It plays great on my Reference 54. It’s cool……with a harder reed it gets a kind of Paul Desmond type singing quality to the high notes. I just played it for an hour or two so I’m still getting use to it. It plays very differently than the Freddie Gregory link 7 I have. It doesn’t feel as open as that to me nor as loud but it has a lot of potential I think. Can you tell I’ve been practicing my diminished scales lately?
About SteveSteve Neff has been playing and teaching saxophone and jazz improvisation around the New England area for the last 30 years. He is the author of many effective jazz improvisation methods as well as founding the popular jazz video lesson site Neffmusic.com.
Hi Steve!
Awesome playing!
What reed and ligature did you use on this record?
I’m glad you have a 54 too now I can hear what all these pieces sound like on my horn. What has been your favorite. I am looking for less expecnsive option to the Meyer Bros alto pieces.
In fact, Steve, I was thinking that my playing with medium tip openings on the tenor is a way to get a sound somewhere between alto sax and tenor sax.
Hearing your nice sound for the clip of this nice mouthpiece with a large tip opening for a alto sax, 7, I had confused it with a “delicately” played tenor; this made me think about my choice not to have a big baritone sound but a nice sound on the tenor that can also remind at an alto sax!
Giuseppe.