Klarinet Archive - Posting 000163.txt from 2005/08

From: "Lacy, Edwin" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] Ah, ligatures....Gold vs. Silver
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 14:30:14 -0400

<<<one day I got a little over-zealous in my tightening and the poor
thing snapped at one corner of the "X"(or "H", I suppose).>>>

I use the Harrison gold ligature for both clarinet and alto sax, and
like it very much. I also did a side-by-side test, and preferred the
gold one to the silver. At the time I first tried these ligatures, I
thought that they made more actual difference in the response and sound
of my instruments than any other brand I had ever played. But, that was
25 years ago or more. Since then, there has been a lot of trial and
error going on in ligature design and manufacture, so this may not still
be the best thing out there. But, I still feel very comfortable with
them. I haven't yet tried the Rico copy of the Harrison, but plan to do
so soon.

A couple of mine have broken as you described. However, I found that my
local instrument repair shop can fix them. They braise the two pieces
of metal at the point of the break, and it doesn't seem to affect the
characteristics of the ligature at all. In fact, I think the place
where they fixed them is now probably the strongest point on the
ligature! I think I paid about $4 to have each one repaired.

So, I would recommend that a break of that sort doesn't mean that the
ligature has to be trashed.

Ed Lacy
University of Evansville

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