{"id":25765,"date":"2015-04-17T08:56:57","date_gmt":"2015-04-17T13:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/?p=25765"},"modified":"2015-04-17T08:57:16","modified_gmt":"2015-04-17T13:57:16","slug":"ken-okutsu-traditional-ii-tenor-saxophone-mouthpiece-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/ken-okutsu-traditional-ii-tenor-saxophone-mouthpiece-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Okutsu Traditional II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Today, I am reviewing my second\u00a0hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece from Ken Okutsu in Japan. It is the Traditional II\u00a0model and has a\u00a07\u00a0tip opening which is .104. ( I call it a 7* tip in the recordings below because .104 is close to the traditional 7* size). \u00a0I hadn&#8217;t heard of Ken Okutsu before but he emailed me asking if I would be willing to try his mouthpieces.\u00a0\u00a0 I of course said &#8220;Sure!&#8221; \u00a0I already reviewed my\u00a0first Okutsu mouthpiece a few months ago which was a great\u00a0high baffle model. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/ken-okutsu-high-baffle-tenor-mouthpiece-review\/\" target=\"_blank\">High Baffle Model Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTwo.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTwo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Ken Okutsu Traditional II Tenor Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">Here is the description and features from the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/okutsumouthpieces.com\/english\/\" target=\"_blank\">Okutsu\u00a0website<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n<h1><em>Features<\/em><\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Traditional II model has long rollover baffle which is higher than traditional model.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>The brighter sound and more versatility.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Round inner side walls and large round chamber. It makes alive and fat modern sound.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>All mouthpieces are crafted by CNC machinery for incredible accuracy and finished by hand carefully.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><a title=\"Concave Table\" href=\"http:\/\/okutsumouthpieces.com\/english\/concave-table\/\">Concave table<\/a>. It makes the tone full and rich. The practical life span of reeds is lengthened.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Material is the highest quality <a title=\"Material\" href=\"http:\/\/okutsumouthpieces.com\/english\/material\/\">ebonite<\/a> (hard rubber).<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTRad2Top.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTRad2Top.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Ken Okutsu Traditional II Tenor Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Okutsu mouthpieces are hard rubber and come in a protective plastic case. \u00a0Within the case they are wrapped in a black velvet bag. \u00a0I received 3 tenor mouthpieces and one alto mouthpiece from Mr. Okutsu. \u00a0The tenor mouthpieces are the Traditional model, the Traditional II model and the High Baffle model. \u00a0I kind of like how simplistic and straight forward the model names are. \u00a0 The Traditional model looks to the darkest, then the Traditional II looks to have a slightly higher rollover baffle. \u00a0Finally, the High Baffle model has the highest \u00a0baffle as the name implies.<\/p>\n<p>The mouthpieces look good to my eye. \u00a0The hard rubber is shiny and without any imperfections. The gold engraving is neat and clean. \u00a0The rails, tip rail, table and baffle look very well crafted and even.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTrad2Table.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTrad2Table.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Ken Okutsu Traditional II Tenor Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Traditional II\u00a0model was very reed friendly to me. \u00a0I had no trouble trying different reeds on it and all the reeds passed the suction test when first put on and then later after playing awhile. \u00a0The Okutsu mouthpieces have a concave table which many player&#8217;s and mouthpiece manufactures have preferred over the years. \u00a0In recent years,\u00a0\u00a0it seems like I am getting a lot of mouthpiece with flat tables instead of concave. \u00a0Now that I&#8217;m writing this review, I am curious \u00a0as to what the differences are \u00a0between the two table in regard to playability, response and sound&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.In the Okutsu bullet points above, the Concave table is listed as making the tone full and rich and increasing the life of reeds&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.Interesting!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTrad2Baffle.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTrad2Baffle.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Ken Okutsu Traditional II Tenor Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I thought the Ken Okutsu Traditional II tenor mouthpiece played great. \u00a0Mr Okutsu did a great job in creating a mouthpiece that\u00a0has a bit of that high baffle edge and brightness mixed with a tone that can be used for more laid back straight ahead playing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Okutsu Traditional II model had a nice\u00a0focused core to the sound. \u00a0I would say the tone was in the middle of the dark to\u00a0bright. \u00a0If you blew hard it got brighter, if you laid back it got darker. The tone was smooth and consistent from note to note throughout the range of the horn.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The intonation was great\u00a0and\u00a0I felt comfortable playing the Tradition bII from the first try. \u00a0I feel like the tone of these mouthpieces has a vibrant brassy kind of ring to it which I really liked in the higher register and the altissimo notes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTrad2Cham.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTrad2Cham.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Ken Okutsu Traditional II Tenor Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Ken Okutsu Traditional II\u00a0Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece was great\u00a0to play. \u00a0This \u00a0Okutsu mouthpiece is a good choice for players who want the best of both worlds. \u00a0It&#8217;s not as bright as the Okutsu High Baffle mouthpiece I reviewed earlier but it has plenty of guts and power when you blow hard. \u00a0 Lay back just a bit and it gets more Linkish sounding to my ears.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If you like the sound of the clip below and the mouthpiece catches your interest then please contact Ken Okutsu\u00a0and give it a try. You can contact Mr. Okutsu\u00a0at his website at <a href=\"http:\/\/okutsumouthpieces.com\/english\/\" target=\"_blank\">Okutsumouthpieces.com<\/a>. Tell him Steve sent you&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.Great work Mr. Okutsu!!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Let me know what you think in the comments below. Thanks, Steve<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-25765-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTradII.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTradII.mp3\">https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/April\/KOTradII.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Ken Okutsu Traditional II Tenor Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, I am reviewing my second\u00a0hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece from Ken Okutsu in Japan. It is the Traditional II\u00a0model and has a\u00a07\u00a0tip opening which is .104. ( I call it a 7* tip in the recordings below because .104 is close to the traditional 7* size). \u00a0I hadn&#8217;t heard of Ken Okutsu before but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":25766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[487,1120,45],"tags":[129,1233,239,72],"class_list":{"0":"post-25765","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mouthpiece-reviews","8":"category-tenor-medium-baffle-reviews","9":"category-tenor-mouthpieces","10":"tag-hard-rubber","11":"tag-ken-okutsu","12":"tag-saxophone-mouthpiece","13":"tag-tenor-sax","14":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}