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RE: Bass Clarinet Ligature(s)

Author: Stephen Froehlich
Date: 2001-09-25 03:45

No, don't go for a tenor sax lig. I don't think it will fit, besides you can mail order ligs safely. If you're stuck with Rico's, I'd also consider mail ordering reeds. The only reason IMO to go to a store to buy reeds is to visually eliminate all of the lop sided ones and the ones that have the grain running at wierd angles (See Larry Guy's reed book.)

It is perfectly viable to buy from mail order. Check out the sneezy sponsors. I generally look two places <a href="http://www.woodwindbrasswind.com/">The Woodwind & Brasswind</a> and <a href="http://www.weinermusic.com/">Weiner Music</a>. WWBW is solid service, Weiner is somewhat cheaper. Mail ordering reeds or ligatures will be pretty much the same from either, though. WWBW, being closer to you, will ship faster. (Generally they ship faster anyway.)

OK, on ligatures - they're secondary to reed choice. Once you settle on a reed/mouthpiece combination, you can tweak the sound by changing ligs. There are basically two kinds of ligatures: those that damp high harmonics of the reed and those that encourage them. The ones that damp the high harmonics can also slow articulation some. The ones that damp tend to try to couple themselves to the reed over a large area and are either soft or have some mass at the reed. The ones that encourage free vibration have small contact area and/or little mass.

In the former category are the Rovner and the Vandoren Optimum. In the later are the Bondade and the Bay light.

I personally have two ligatures - at the extremes. A Rovner and a Bonade. I don't have a lot of need for fine adjustment between the two. The right reeds make more of a difference, and the right mouthpiece yea even more so. Note: I generally play my rovner inverted as the impact on articulation is a little much for me with just the cloth coupled to the reed. Have you tried both configurations?

It would help if we knew what kind of Bass Clarinet you had and where your sound was compared to where you want it to be.

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