Klarinet Archive - Posting 000581.txt from 2000/05

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] beer, ligatures, and Albert
Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 22:37:29 -0400

Susan Geisler worried:

<<<I just don't trust Luybens not to strip out at the screws, although I
have never actually seen it happen.>>>

. . . and Bill Hausmann noted:

<<<My Luyben is 31 years old, and still going strong. :-)>>>

I have been an off-and-on Luyben user for 30 years. Not the same one, mind
you -- I usually end up giving away the one in my case to a student -- but
I've had a number of them, and never had any problem. As I've posted
before, I switch from one ligature to another depending on the weather (that
is, to get the favored response from a particular reed at a particular
time). Nothing magic, or very complicated: if there's an annoying "buzz" in
the sound, switching from the Bay to the Luyben usually makes it go away. I
always have a spare ligature in my case, because I always have a spare
mouthpiece in the case and need something to keep it from rattling around.
Invariably, the spare is a Luyben.

I have had metal ligatures snap in performance, usually where the "nut" is
soldered to the strap. I have certainly seen mutilated metal ligatures in
my students' cases -- face it, they get dropped and stepped on. Stepping on
a Luyben won't hurt it. As far as I can tell, they are impervious to
anything short of military attack.

My main complaint of the Luyben after all these years is that they're only
made for Bb clarinet -- no Eb, no saxophones. Pity that.

kjf

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