Author: donald
Date: 2021-08-28 01:25
In about 2003 I designed a spring loaded ligature with a soft pad as the only contact with the reed, and called it "The Thumb". My friend, an engineer and instrument maker who apprenticed in Germany building bassoons from scratch, costed up how much it would be to make the prototype and then production models, and we decided to have a beer instead and just do more practise.
I've played a million ligatures, these days I settle for one of 3 depending on what I need.
- 90% of the time I use a Nova ligature from Bambu that has a metal place with the two "Bonade like" parallel strips in contact with the reed.
- If playing 2nd clarinet to my wife I use the Vandoren Leather ligature with the soft leather plate (which I would categorise as "most thumb like")
- when I last played a concerto, and maybe if this ever happens again, I used the BG Tradition (I was gifted one with gold plating, but for years used one with silver). This was in a Church with a very live but murky acoustic, and the BG Tradition just added a little more ring to the sound that was useful.
I've sworn to never buy another ligature again. Let's see how that goes but I've been pretty good over the last 5 years....
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The Clarinet BBoard
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