I received this piece in a trade deal for one of my metal Florida Links. It was a hard deal to make but I did it because I was so curious about the “Focustone” mouthpieces. I’ve tried Ted Klum’s work before down at Roberto’s in NYC years ago and once when Bob Ackerman came up to NH with a bunch of mouthpieces. His mouthpieces have always played well for me and I could tell he did great work. This “Focustone” is silver (even though the picture looks gold). It has a high rollover baffle in it but isn’t super bright sounding. I can see why he calls it the “Focustone”.
Ted Klum Focustone Tenor Mouthpiece
It has very centered focused sound kind of in the middle of bright and dark. I would say this is the closest thing I have played to the Florida Link mouthpieces that I have owned. One bad thing about this piece is that it is so hard to find a ligature to fit it because it is smaller than a normal Otto Link. I went through all 40 ligatures I have and couldn’t find one to fit it. I finally tried my soprano ligature which fit well but the plate was not totally flat on the reed. Besides that, this is a great tenor mouthpiece and was a pleasure to play.
Listen………
Audio Player
Hey Steve i love the sound of your Focustone I’m wondering do you know which model is it?
I’m not sure. I didn’t know he had different models.
I think he just makes them out of slightly different material, and some are completely hand made and some aren’t
Hey Steve,
You sound great on the Focustone!
What reeds are you playin’?
Thanks Charles, I can’t remember. I usually say in the audio clip or in the review. If I didn’t then I have no idea. Probably either Rigotti Gold, Woodstone or Vandoren Java’s…………..