Klarinet Archive - Posting 000299.txt from 1994/05

From: Josias Associates <josassoc@-----.COM>
Subj: Ligatures
Date: Wed, 18 May 1994 20:00:03 -0400

The best ligature I ever played on was developed by Franklin Sabin of
Arcadia, California. The device is a wood ring concentrically encased in a
metal ring, and the materials were selected empirically over a period of
years.

My only reservation about the ligature is that, when the
mouthpiece is transferred from one clarinet to another, the reed
sometimes needs to be repositioned. Since I use the same setup for A, Bb,
and C clarinets, whenever quick changes are required, which is frequently
the case in orchestral literature, I use the Rovner ligature because it
fastens the reed more securely. I find the sound produced with the
Rovner ligature an acceptable compromise, although I prefer the sound
produced by the Sabin ring.

About ten years ago, I tried unsuccessfully (along with several other
people) to persuade Sabin to advertise the rings in "The Clarinet." He
did however make some production runs of the rings, and they were
distributed at that time by Dick Charles in Glendale, California. As a
result there are a number of these ligatures now in use in Southern
California and some in the Bay area.

Anyone interested in the availability of these units should direct
his/her inquiry to the inventor,

Mr. Franklin Sabin
38 East Huntington Drive
Suite 9
Arcadia, California 91006
(818) 445-0865.

For those people who have not heard of Frank Sabin, this man, though
now past his prime, was a clarinet virtuoso from the Ralph McLane/Gaston
Hamelin sound-quality mold. In the 1940s and 1950s he was sought by major
orchestras for their principal-chair positions (Boston and San Francisco
were two), but he remained in his home territory of Pasadena, California,
where he performed for many years and where he now continues to teach
(his studio, listed above, is in Arcadia).

His romance with the ligature was related to his perpetual quest
for setup improvements contributing to a more beautiful clarinet sound.
Notwithstanding the need for the occasional readjustment of the ligature
and reed when transferring the mouthpiece, I believe that, for many
players, his ligature does achieve that improvement of sound and
flexibility of play.

Conrad (Connie) Josias