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Synthetic Redux

Author: SecondTry
Date: 2022-12-01 23:59

What's people's thoughts on the Silverstein lineup--particularly the Primo Vivace, and Blue lines? Are they more D'Addario Venn or Legere like--or in their own league?

Every so often I get in the mood to experiment. I don't know if it's boredom, or videos like Eugene Mondie's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yK4aXpjSxA, which talks about trying new things, or seeing what's changed in the market since the last time I tried new things.

I'm not unhappy with cane. Using Tom Ridenour's ATG system I find myself able to get a large percentage of cane reeds to work for me. Maybe it's in part my reed friendly M15 mouthpiece. Maybe it's making peace with reeds, knowing, like people, they all have their limitations, and good and bad days, etc.

As Paul Aviles has contended, I agree that Legere is the synthetic benchmark right now, it's "Achilles heel" perhaps being the intonation that barrel changes can address. I recently tried a D'addario Venn and was initially disappointed, but not only appreciated the ability to work on the reed (unlike a Legere where perhaps hot water is the only application available to effect its play) but found that after (considerable) sanding the Venn worked better for me.

I recently also bought a Legere Signature but haven't had the time to try and compare it to the European cut, as well as searched here for recent thoughts on synthetics. I've also tried their Soprano sax lineup with an Eb ligature on my Bb. It wasn't bad for me, but it also wasn't a game changer.

All this said: students out there, the greatest equipment ever made for the clarinet was a good etude book and metronome.