 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2016-04-02 06:42
A music products producer recently announced a ligature made of jewels.
I guess for that 1 in a million player they decided to pull out all the stops and harmonically balance it for unprecedented resonance for that soloist who not only appears in front of large ensembles but records their artisty.
Sources close to the manufacturer said that its metal is brought down to temperatures near -300 degree F so that it can chill beverages even months after its owner, for which it is hand made, customized and engraved, pulls it our of its equally hand made leather pouch.
...and you want to know the ultimate April Fools quality of the above???....
it's not an April Fools joke:
http://www.silversteinworks.com/maestro/
although I'd like to suggest that those which buy it in "the month of 4" are indeed April Fools.
I will acquire this after every human being...no, every being on planet earth no longer goes hungry.
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2016-04-02 06:52
If anyone is envious, I'd be glad, for 1/2 the price of this item (whose price is not disclosed) to borrow my daughter's Bedazzler TM and line your ligature with colored jewels. I'm even running a sale where at no additional cost I'll stick it in my freezer for you overnight before sending it back to you.
Silverstein--no joke; I went to your website looking for good April Fool's material, and you did not let me down. You've really outdone yourself. I can't even imagine how you will enhance this product line beyond this point, short of throwing in a built in Cern super collider with each purchase.
Quite literally, I plan on checking the Silverstein website tomorrow to see if THIS was actually an April Fool's joke.
Perhaps the only Buffet that best be associated with this lig would be Warren Buffet; who by the way, in his stock Ford vehicle driving /Gates Foundation benefactor way, wouldn't be caught dead playing this lig. if he played clarinet.
Post Edited (2016-04-02 07:24)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2016-04-02 08:31
What I haven't figured out yet is why the heck you care so much. Don't buy one. But I for one am tired of the "joke" - it is what it is, a high priced ligature, that a bunch of people l9ve. Why go after them constantly? It's gets old very fast.
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2016-04-02 16:11
Mark: When free markets work vendors are free to introduce product, and properly informed consumers get to spend money on them as they see fit. I know you appreciate this.
Trading items is normally a good thing--and therefore restricting it bad. Each transactor views what they get to be worth more than what they give up and is happier as a result. I have never said that Silverstein wares are anything but good. It's their price I've found absurd, particularly, now that I know it, the Maestro's--much that I stop no one from buying it or present conflicting financial interest with the information I provide: my stock in trade, and which like this new product, people can consume as they see fit, and vendors (many good ones have) can comment on. I know it may come across as the stuff [insensitive] "jokes" are made of, but I truly want to know if Silverstein will speak here on the clarity, cut and color of the diamond, or even what "extended cryogenics" is.
Thank you for providing a forum to do so. I hear your concerns over the repetitive nature of this theme; inspired from the no less repetitive nature of bboard viewers (in any forum) who pass thru unaware of 411 that might help them. Barring April Fools I've tried to limit lig. talk to that previously initiated by others.
In the same spirit I glean from your thoughts about 'letting people do what they want and don't trash vendors,' I know you appreciate that free trade and free ideas run "part in parcel" with each other.
The fly in the ointment though is that the consumer isn't properly informed here. I care because as a lover of the instrument I want to see players guided in the right direction. Sometimes that involves not merely informing learners, but holding vendors to task on absurd decibel charts that quite literally show that "jeweling and engraving their product doesn't negatively affect its ability to produce sound when compared to, not its competitors, but its own next best product offering." That vendors as result think twice about introducing "features" at the risk of diluting their brand: consumers benefit.
Too many players, unwilling to accept or understand that repetitive metronomic and etude intensive multi-hour/day practice is the key to success, tend to seek the next greatest product under illusion it will help them--when so few do, not entirely unlike, IMHO, how a clinically obese patient, having never sought out diet and/or exercise counseling first, thinks bariatric sugery will solve their problems.
Were it neither April 1st, nor had I just first viewed this particular product's new launch yesterday, Silverstein (not the only [ligature] vendor I've addressed, and several I've praised) would have not been in my cross hairs. But come next year, if they introduce a Blue Tooth TM version around this time, I'll have to "bite my tongue," and suggest others quite literally do same, so as to be unable to play clarinet, use this product, and sync it to their mobile phone.
Sad truth: some ligature vendor just asked themselves "can we really in fact wirelessly integrate technology into our lig., and what information can be exchanged?"
Sadder still: If prices on ligs rise further in real dollars, said information may be tracking based for theft and recovery, sooner than performance enhancing.
Post Edited (2016-04-02 20:25)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2016-04-02 21:09
WhitePlainsDave wrote:
> The fly in the ointment though is that the consumer isn't
> properly informed here. I care because as a lover of the
> instrument I want to see players guided in the right direction.
>
I'm not sorry, that argument is pure BS. You've stated your opinion multiple times, there are a number of professionals that use them and love them (and they're not all getting them for free.) Whether or not they're worth the price, puffery notwithstanding, is in the eye of the beholder - and your thinking anyone who bought one is patently stupid or uninformed ... well, I'm glad _I'm_ not the one who's calling them stupid. They're making their living playing clarinet, and if that ligature gives them an advantage, even psychological, then it's doing it's job.
I see plenty of Veyrons and Aventadors in my neck of the woods. Perfectly beautiful cars, perfectly unusable in South Florida traffic. People buy them - some for the status, some for the adrenaline, some because they really think they can drive. I think they're the most stupid things to own out here, but after I've had my say I shut up about it. I'll spend my money on things more reasonably priced. As will you. But believe me, those buyers are informed, they know exactly what they're doing.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2016-04-03 00:34
String is free and works just as well or maybe better, since it's lighter..
Ken Shaw
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2016-04-03 03:17
I use a Silverstein ligature I bought at a discount for $100, just before they came out with the next higher level of models. Worth every penny - to me. As with many if not most high-end specialty products, you spend more and more at the top for options with smaller and smaller degrees of improvement, sometimes nonsensically so. Often it's nothing but hype or silly "bling value", but sometimes there's a significant difference in the quality of results if you are skilled enough for it to matter.
As a Silverstein user I found this post hilarious. I know they've been poked fun at before on this board, but I haven't seen it as an annoying motif. Maybe I just haven't paid enough attention to care, since I like what I have and am not interested in buying more ligatures right now. I also don't need anyone to validate my experience with a product or make me doubt it at this stage in my development. To each his own. I'll never spend anywhere close to $1000 on a ligature. Many players will never spend close to $100. I do think it's a fair point that it's ridiculous for just about anyone to spend $1000 on such a thing, and so much nicer to do it in a fun way rather than a bitter one.
Anders
Post Edited (2016-04-03 03:19)
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