Author: SecondTry
Date: 2021-05-01 03:54
The following is my review of the Luyben ligature. It arrived in the mail today and features the new knurled ligature screws as purchased directly from Luyben.
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In fairness, please know this upfront: I'm not a gear guy. Well, at least I don't think of myself as one. I mean it's not like I'm playing same "lime green clarinet" I got off of ebay: I play a golden era R-13 with a Vandoren M15 mouthpiece.
So sure gear matters, and has limitations. More important than anything, I think, is for you to assess where you think I stand on the topic of gear wars.
But I don't think of myself as a gear guy because of philosophies, correct ones I firmly believe, set in my motion by my teachers of years gone by, that advocated that advancement on the instrument lies in the the disciplined application of lessons within the well known study guides of our craft, with near religious adherence to the metronome.
Sure, a good reed and some tricks to make it better get thrown into the mix, better still a strong mouthpiece, but I'll take Bearman 3, a metronome, and that cheapo ligature on ebay, over a Silverstein and limiting myself to Rubank Volume I (no disrespect to that study series.)
Still more, within the gear space, I'm most critical of ligatures. This isn't to say that I haven't noticed differences. And in fair disclosure I do play a name brand one, a Vandoren M/O to be precise, but not for sound, but rather its dual threaded ability to quickly grab and release a reed with minimal torque, for purposes or replacing or adjusting it. So know that I'm attracted to the M/O for purely practical reasons, not based on how I think it plays or responds.
So that's where I'm coming from as I rate this ligature and compare it to Paul's opinion of it. I'm about to praise a piece of gear. That praise won't be as zealous as Paul's, but for me, such praise at all, is huge.
Still more, as mentioned, I've hardly given it weeks of play, nor let it conform to my mouthpiece as instructed--but I don't think I have to, simply because, surprisingly enough for me to say, I do think Paul is on to something. Were I negative, I do think such break in period might only be fair before commenting.
Again, I'm not as zealous as Paul is in the ligature's affect on improving Legere's, but make no mistake, I do concur with him that Legere reeds (Signature in my case) are improved by it, and that I may need to tweak my beliefs a little, that ligatures matter little.
With both Legeres and cane reeds, there is more vibrancy for me with the Luyben ligature. For me, this is a good thing for Legeres and may be neutral or possibly unwanted for cane. Still more, I'm still not convinced to move off of cane with this synthetic reed and ligature combination, but I can see why some professionals might do so. To any extent that there is somewhat of a performance hit using synthetics over strong cane, consistency with synthetics may outweigh this for pros with limited time to tend to cane.
So I agree with Paul and I think the Luyben a great ligature, especially for its price. I think that I will definitely give the device a run for its money, especially on cane I wish was more responsive, and switch it up with my regular ligature. I'm glad to have it in my arsenal. And especially at its price, I would recommend it.
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