 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: wjk
Date: 2003-01-06 22:58
The Optimum ligature metal insert with four dots leaves imprints on reeds. This condition may be referred to as ORLDS as above. Is this condition harmful to reeds? Does it affect their tone? Should my reeds all be lined up to match the marks on the ligature? Paging all reed and ligature specialists! (please be assured my reeds have good health insurance!)
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Author: Simon
Date: 2003-01-06 23:15
WJK
For what is worth from an amateur, I know this doesn't answer your question, but it is something.
I just descovered a ligature that performed just as well if not better than the bonade and a plastic ligatures I currently have, and didn't cost me anything.
It is a rubber cylinder/band that had come off the legs of an old exercise bike. These rubbers are basically there to protect the floor where the bike sits. It fitted perfectly on my B45. Tried it and it played beautifally.
This ligature doesn't leave any morks on the reed or mp.
Just shows we can get carried away with these things.
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Author: Fred
Date: 2003-01-07 01:46
You must play on a symmetrically-faced mouthpiece if the ligature leaves symmetrical dots. Conversely, asymmetrical dots require an asymmetrical facing. If the spacing between the front dots and the rear dots exceeds 1.5 times the distance between the front dot pair, a long facing length is indicated. If the distance between the front dot pair isn't the same as the distance between the rear dot pair, the instrument will play flat. Other than that, it really doesn't matter.
(And thus begins another saga in the Annals of Great Urban Legends.)
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Author: bob49t
Date: 2003-01-07 06:01
wjk,
Once you've racked up the pressure on your Optimum, surely then the dots embed themselves in the reed and it's the whole of the plate that sits flat on the reed, countering the principle of point contact for optimum vibration ?
Simon,
What have you started ? - I can foresee a worldwide shortage of properly balanced exercise bikes - good on you - apart from us equipment junkies, there are a few practical people out there - well done. Just stay out of the sun - the rubber'll perish but then the next "leg-end" you use will balance the bike. There you go - as Fred says, you've contributed to the true "LEGEND" of the ligature ??????!!!!!!!!!!
BobT
Now, anyone writing a booklet on 101 things to do with an Optimum Ligature. ?
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Author: d dow
Date: 2003-01-07 13:17
I think the Optimum lig is really very poor considering the price and gadgetry it takes to get them working. My studnets on the other hand really like them.
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2003-01-07 13:44
Fred's advice is correct so far as it goes, but unhelpful to our Aussie friends. As a result of Coriolis forces, asymmetric facings will play sharp in the southern hemisphere. Indeed, at the South Pole, an A clarinet will play in Bb.
Mark C [webmaestro] will shortly write:
Any more of that and you'll be the one with the asymmetric face.
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Author: Josh Schultze
Date: 2003-01-07 20:58
A friend of mine lent me her optimum ligature, she didn't like it. I noticed that when first I used the plate with the four dots that my reed sounded great. After playing for about a half hour the sound became a slightly deader. After using the ligature for several weeks all my reeds had many little holes on them. I tried to line them up put I ended up with many little indentations so close together that they looked like mini crator clusers. Perhaps once these little indentations are made then the full plate rests against the reed restricts vibrations, rather than just the tip of the pointy metal thing. I later chose the plate with the parallel ridges because it was easier to line up. Eventually I returned the ligature to my friend.
Josh
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Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2003-01-07 21:15
Thi syndrome is not confined to Optimum ligatures. Otto Link Sax ligatures do the same thing. The syndrome may be renamed Otto Link or Optimum Ligature Reed Dot Syndrome or OLOOLRDS. Much more poetic.
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Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2003-01-08 03:48
actually, i think it does matter- it means that once the dots appear, you can't easily move the reed around on the table (for those minute adjustments from side to side etc) without having to move the whole ligature. i regard this as a huge disadvantage to using the plate with the dots. Plus, if the dots sink into the cane (i think you know what i mean) then the whole plate ends up touching the reed... when the idea is suposed to be that the only contact points are where the four dots are....
i know, it would have been more fun to write an AMUSING post, but i think the "plate with dots" is pretty annoying.
donald
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Author: John Elison
Date: 2003-01-08 22:15
I just switched from rails to dots and so far I like the dots better. You have get the alignment perfect the first time. Then it's easy thereafter. The plate always goes into the same holes. I find it easy to make small adjustments to the reed. I also find the dots don't sink into the reed far enough for the plate to make contact with the reed. I've been playing the dots for about a week and thus far I like them better than the rails.
Best regards,
John Elison
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Author: Bob
Date: 2003-01-09 10:57
Maybe it's VD's answer to poor reed quality
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Author: Karel
Date: 2003-01-11 10:34
Is it necessary to exert so much pressure that the "dots" produce permanent imprints? I have not noticed any on my reeds so far. I guess I will just have to get more muscle behind that lig screw.
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