The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jacob R
Date: 2023-04-10 20:53
So,it just came to mind.With a ligature,should the screws be facing towards the player or away?I see some people with a leather ligature that has the screw facing away the player, and I see people with a metal ligature with the screws facing towards them.Does this affect the sound and what's the difference?
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Author: kdk
Date: 2023-04-10 21:08
Most modern ligatures - going back to the 1960s or '70s, are made to go one way or the other. In general (as was mentioned in another recent ligature thread) the screws are meant to be on the right, to be tightened by the right hand. So, you can fairly confidently set the ligature up with the thumb screws or knurls pointing to the right, which will determine if they go on top or underneath.
The difference, in theory, is in the direction and location of the pressure the ligature presses on the reed. Also, it's usually possible to bring the clarinet down closer to you with the screws on top of the mouthpiece, where they don't jut into your chin. Whether it matters in practice with your specific setup is to be determined by your own ears and by the way the reed responds.
Karl
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-04-10 23:11
Of course this brings me back to my early days of playing, well before the "inverted ligatures" (screws on the top) came more into fashion. You could take the standard metal ligature with two screws and just flip it (of course you are then tightening the ligature with the holes of the clarinet facing you.....if you're right handed).
The advantage of doing the above was (in theory) that instead of having some of the force in the tightening going toward the center of the reed (pinching it), you were literally just tightening DOWN on the reed. I was one of those who did this until I got my first dedicated inverted ligature..........and that's how my "gear headedness" began.
..............Paul Aviles
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