 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Aussie Nick
Date: 2001-09-20 00:19
I was wondering what people's opinions are of the Bay inverted (reversed or whatever its called) ligatures are in comparison to other ligatures like the Optimum and maybe the Rover Eddie Daniels 2. I mainly use the Rovner but sometimes I change to the Optimum. Do the Bay ligatures come with many different variations? for example do they come in gold or silver.....do they come in different sizes? Or is there just only the one ligature?
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Author: William
Date: 2001-09-20 02:03
Bay ligs come in one style with either gold or silver plating and, from personal experiance, seem to play about the same--not much more responsive than your average stock lig. The metal construction is quite thin and combined with the rather deep etching, they are prone to breaking if tightened too much. My preference is for the Optimum with the parallel rail insert or the original Bonade reverse. I've never had much success with the Rovner or BG ligs, although lots of other clarinetists give these"hybreds" positive reports. IMHO, the main thing is to have a good mouthpiece (Greg Smiths are prime examples), a conditioned reed of moderate strength properly balanced to your mouthpiece and a good concept of sound "in your mind." Any good metal ligiture will do if your "set up" is sound. Then, like the street musician answered when asked how to get to Carnegie Hall--"practice, man, Practice!!!!"
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Author: Aaron
Date: 2001-09-20 03:16
I have been using the Bay lig for about a year or 2 now. I converted from the BG Super Revelation. Yes, the Bay lig is made from thin metal that if tightened tooo tightly is prone to cracking/tearing. However, I have never had my Bay tear/crack on me in that past year or so. When in comparison II have played Bonade ligs in that past that all they did was break.
The main reason for the thin metal on the Bay is to allow for maximum reed vibration while providing maximum securness to the table of the mouthpiece. The Bay lig gives a very "live" sound to the tone, where a Bonade gives a more focoused base to the tone. I love both ligatures however would use them both for different situations. Dont take the "live" comment about the Bay to literally.The sound gains life and vibrance, and a certain "ping" to the tone, as I like to call it. Not that any well balanced reed/mouthpiece combo couldn't prudice, but the Bay give a certain character to the tone.
To each their own. I have nothing bad to say about any of these ligatures mentioned. Find what helps you make your ideal sound the most efficent way. If you don't have to fight your equipment while playing, the less you have to worry about. So I say try the Bay, to me the gold plating or the silver, or whatever make no real differnece, but at least give it a try. Also Bay makes the same lig in a "covered" model. I saw this for the first time in Chicago last year. He had a few covered ligs out for testing, so I did. To me the covered models take away the exact reason for why the standard mmodel BAy ligs were designed, but it gives it's own unique sound.
Aaron
PS......I do have a second Bay lig for an emergency in case the one I'm using now breaks, but after 2 years I haven't had to use it.
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Author: Aussie Nick
Date: 2001-09-20 03:36
Thanks for the replies. I recently (in the past month or two) changed from a Pomarico ebony wood -1 mouthpiece to a Viotto B3 which I am very happy with because it gives me a similar (possibly better) sound which I liked about my Pomarico, but I also am having much more luck with finding consistantcy in reeds because in the Pomarico the wood was always changing because of the weather here. Anyway, what exactly is the covered model? I did try a friends silver Bay lig once and I thought it was quite nice and somewhat smooth to play.. maybe it was my imagination. If I wanted to try the ligatures, how would i go about doing that? I don't know anyone who sells them in Australia.
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-09-20 04:16
Charles Bay has LOTS of different ligatures. I have 1 that he hasn't begun to sell yet that I got at ClarinetFest in Norman, it's a prototype. Maybe (?) what you guys are saying is that he has many VARIATIONS. I have seen 5 or 6 different styles. particularly in soloist category. best, mw
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Author: Ed
Date: 2001-09-20 14:15
I have always found the Bay ligature to be very responsive. I played them for years and never had any problem with cracking. A ligature only needs to be on snug, don't over tighten and ligature.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-09-20 14:36
As we used to joke about my old company's product, "You can buy a better product, but you can't pay more!" [lol]
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Author: Peter
Date: 2001-09-21 23:22
To each his own, but you are the first one I have heard of to go back to a Rovner after having used an Optimum!
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Author: dan powell
Date: 2001-09-22 00:53
THE bay clarinet lig is the best i have used so far.berofe i used a bonade. i am a jazz player and i like the brighter sound they give
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Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2001-09-22 11:38
well, i have to say that i use Bonade- screws under, but it's been "bent" with pliers to ensure that the bands of the lig don't touch the reed, only the rails (touch the reed). Plus i don't tighten the screws very much. Then- when i want to "play under" my colleagues, or want to be able to really meld into the sound of the ensemble, i use good old fasioned STRING. i actually have some real German string (made by Yamaha i believe!) that somehow makes it seem a little more kosher...
you wrap the string around, tie it off, and then push the string down the mouthpiece (which is of course conical, thus the string gets tightened a bit- mainly at the top end). This is a very resonant set up, very smooth, and i'll swear it sounds better than Rovner (where you don't have the extra grab at middle of the reed, caused by "pushing the string down"). Not as much "kick" or "jump" as with a metal ligature, but a the resonance is great- you get a ring in the sound that is very even as you move from note to note.
i have recently used this for Brahms Fminor (with a really loud pianist too!), Telemann solo flute pieces (played on Clarinet), Schikele Quartet, Mozart Concerto slow mvt in a gala concert, Schubert Arpeggione (transcription, living hell to be honest), AND in an orchestral audition (that i didn't get, but was complimented on my E flat playing) i used it on the E flat clarinet- in fact i always use it on E flat (got a good review in Music in NZ "spectacular e flat playing" so i must be good, right?).
on the other hand, many players sound good on Rovner and Bay etc. I know of at least one really kick arse great player using Bay. I even know a good player who swears by a Luyben plastic ligature, and he has a really good tone. Maybe if these players experimented a bit they would sound BETTER, but they are satisfied and sound pretty darn nice, so there it is.......
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