Klarinet Archive - Posting 000186.txt from 2004/08

From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Tony=20Pay?= <tony_pay@-----.uk>
Subj: RE: [kl] Ligature preferences
Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2004 10:02:35 -0400

--- Karl Krelove <karlkrelove@-----.net> wrote:

> Is there a problem with string when you have to make a quick instrument
> change (assuming you move one mouthpiece among Bb, A and perhaps C
> clarinets)? I've even found some commercial ligatures slip more easily than
> others when I try to pull a mouthpiece out quickly - unless I've had the
> foresight to grease the corks REALLY well beforehand. I've always imagined
> string would slip very easily.

It occurs to me that it would be very easy to make a small gizmo attached to
the very bottom of a mouthpiece -- just above the barrel -- that supported a
protuberance on the 'audience' side and allowed you easily to get hold of and
twist the mouthpiece without touching whatever ligature you were using. (You'd
put your thumb over the bottom of the reed, and use your index finger on the
protuberance.)

And, for you opportunists out there, and judging by the 'clarinet
support/knicker elastic' phenomenon, the fact that you can probably do such a
thing yourself for a few cents wouldn't deter hordes of 'clarinet-gear
aficionados' from spending ten dollars or even more, given appropriate
marketing. (Start at $50 for the gold-plated version, and come down, I'd
recommend;-)

...Ah, the 'Great American Dream' -- or at any rate the great market/sucker
foundation of our so-called 'culture'...

But remember, you read it here first -- for free.

Tony

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