 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2006-03-19 18:57
I've been getting good results with gold Charles Bay ligatures on clarinet and tenor saxophone. However, a recent experience planted a doubt in my mind. One of my sax buddies uses a Morgan Excalibur mouthpiece on alto and has been using a silver FL clarinet lig. The clarinet lig doesn't fit quite right on his alto mouthpiece. So, out of curiousity I loaned him a gold Bay clarinet lig to try out. I was shocked at how much it darkened his sound and to my ears lowered his level of projection. When he switched back to the silver FL lig -- even though it wasn't a perfect fit -- his sound was bigger and had much more projection. I did not expect that to happen!
With that in mind, I've been wondering if the Bay lig may be having a negative effect on my sound. So, yesterday I tried an experiment with playing several notes on tenor with just my right thumb sealing the reed. It sounded alright...nothing special to my ears. Then, when I put on the gold Bay lig my sound had much more radiance and projection. So, I'm scratching my head over this -- ie, why the Bay lig didn't work that well for my friend on alto but seemingly makes a positive difference on my tenor set up.
BG ligature ads have a statement that "The higher density of gold enhances the resonance transfer of the reed to the mouthpiece/instrument". Any thoughts about this? When I compared silver and gold BG and BAY ligatures last year I definitely prefered gold as to having the richer and most vibrant tonal qualities....and I prefered Bay to BG.
Finally, I'm curious about how the Bay tenor lig has more metal on the middle sides of the lig than the Bay clarinet lig. The tenor lig says "Custom" rather than "Medium" (as does the clarinet lig). Are there both custom and medium tenor ligs?
Thanks for your help!
Roger
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Author: contragirl
Date: 2006-03-19 19:34
I know this experience. Everyone in the clarinet studio would look at my Bay lig and be like "That is so pretty, can I try?" (It <i>looks</i> pretty... lol) Anyway, they would try it, and it would suck for them. So they would give it back kind of disappointed. One friend used it and really liked it at first, then hated it after a couple other tries, then went back to his Vandoren Optimum.
I dunno about the custom or medium. :P I use a medium though, only from a suggestion from my old private teacher. lol
--Contragirl
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Author: Ed
Date: 2006-03-20 01:20
Sometimes it is not worth it to think too hard about these things. If it works for you, then go with it. Not all equipment works equally well for all people or on all set ups.
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Author: ving
Date: 2006-03-20 05:24
I agree, sometimes thinking too much has been my downfall. I have noticed that different ligs work better on certain mouthpieces, due to the dimensions of the piece itself, or even placement of the lig. Of course, strength and type of reed matter too. I think I reed something that Don Byron had mentioned about choosing different ligs based on the season... As if there wern't enough variables already! I usually like the Bay silver when reeds seem to be playing stiff, but I recently had a batch of soft reeds and went back to an Optimum and it seemed to provide a little extra resistance and locked in the center a bit better...
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Author: BobD
Date: 2006-03-20 14:07
Reeds do tend to change shape under ligatures and a lig. change doesn't remove the reed shape immediately leading to poor sealing. One's thumb absorbs some vibration just like Rovners do leading to a "darker" sound. To overcome this some soft ligs. have metal inserts! Oh, also, all reeds don't vibrate the same.
Bob Draznik
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Author: nickma
Date: 2006-03-20 21:48
The Bay is great for a centered, fine tone.
I use a Rovner Eddie Daniels Mk 1 for a more resonant, freer feel.
Nick
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