The Clarinet BBoard

Re: M/o ligature

Author: WhitePlainsDave  Date:   2015-02-01 22:00 Aclarinet: I'm going to not answer a different question. : "Can someone tell me the how the different platings of this ligatures will affect my play, especially the pewter and silver?" I cannot. I'd like to help you, but we're all different. I can tell you that posters to the board have found subtle differences in play between the different ligature platings, but I question the accuracy of their reporting, particularly as it translates to another player's likely experiences, given that such tests were not done by you, nor like done blindly by others, across a large sample size of people, reeds, mouthpieces, instruments, and time. While on the subject of biases, it's only fair to disclose my own. I am not someone who has been able to feel enormous difference between one decent ligature and another. I'll define "decent" as a ligature that reliably holds a reed in place, without prohibitive amounts of adjustment to place, hold, or remove a reed. Bear in mind that other posters will have vastly different opinions on this the me, and deserve to be heard no less. I'll even concede that its plausible that my accumen here isn't as refined as some of theirs, and explains our different impressions. I can appreciate that for various reasons you might not be in a position to try all 4 before you buy. I too am interested in buying an M/O ligature, attracted mostly (and quite frankly) by its single, but otherwise double threaded screw. Both of these attributes suggest to me that minimal twisiting of the screw is necessary to quickly tighten and loosen a reed: a useful thing when working on reeds. But I remain in the dark (accoustical pun not intended) as to why this ligature, and a special version of this ligature no less, is the only one that Vandoren wants its Masters mouthpiece players using, barring flexible ligatures like leather or string ones. Will all matter implode into a black hole if a special M/O ligature, designed for the Masters mouthpieces, is used on a non-Masters mouthpiece? Same question only the ligature is an ordinary M/O ligature, and the mouthpiece is EITHER a Masters or not. Finally, (tongue in cheek) while I am only a test size of one, I can confirm that such dire consequences didn't happen for me when I accidently stuck an inverted Bonade on a Masters mouthpiece. Prior to that I had been using a non-Vandoren leather ligature on this Masters, consistent with Vandoren's usage instructions. (I enjoy the Masters mouthpieces but not as my primary: which currently is an M15.) === I have to wonder if one truly gets a ligature that's worth $10 more in choosing silver plating over pewter. Then again, I have to truly wonder just how much better a new Silverstein ligature is over an "old" one whose metal, that doesn't even touch the reed, has been brought down to -300 degrees F first. For both these manufacturers and many others, while I think they produce quality products, I truly have to wonder how much of their hype is backed by objective and reproducable clinical research, and how much by profit. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for innovation that improves musicality. And I do take seriously suggestions from, for example, Clark Forbes and Brad Behn to play Ishimori ligatures on their mouthpieces. I believe they say this because they truly believe this ligature blends best with their mouthpieces, and not because it offers them the greatest possibility for profit (although both are nice and fine.) Post Edited (2015-02-01 23:10)

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