This is a sticky topic!

I would personally like to ask all the people who are currently on-selling their used Florida Otto Links whether they would onsell these to fellow musicians if they overtly knew that these vintage mouthpieces may be harmful!

It would seem to me that 'almost anything goes' nowadays, in order to grab a quick buck from an unsuspecting fellow musician!

I have recently seen an advert on eBay that had sent shockwaves through everyone, here at zagarsax. This advert involved a reputable reseller onselling a vintage Florida Link. The reseller stated '...the gold plating is pretty much gone leaving the hard Rhodium plating mostly in tact...'.

To the saxophone community at large: The base electroplated layer on all vintage Florida Links is Nickel! Please be aware that Nickel is banned in the EU for use in any 'body contact' applications, such as jewellery or intra-oral applications such as saxophone mouthpieces. Nickel is classified as a carcinogen/teratogen under California's Proposition 65!

About Rhodium: Rhodium is one of the most expensive precious metals - over 9.5 times more expensive than gold per se - and it has not been used as a base electroplate on any mouthpiece products (both current and/or vintage) that I am aware of!

For more information on Rhodium, please follow this link: Testing for Rhodium, and other info...

To all sax players, have a happy and safe expeience with your mouthpiece, and if you are in doubt as to whether your mouthpiece is potentially harmful, please feel free to submit your mouthpiece to zagarsax for a NATA laboratory analysis - all findings will be published here on the zagarsax news-in-brief website.

Kindest regards,  Dave