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 Steve
Hi Steve!
Awesome playing!
What reed and ligature did you use on this record?