Ligatures An Experiment - Can you hear a difference?

[DavidG]

'hear'

 

[ProfJames]

'hear'

Pardon?

 

[DavidG]

Just correcting a typo in the previous post.
🙂

 

[Jeanette]

I'm curious to her whether or not @Nick Wyver has changed his view on Ligs as a result of the experiment.

I am sure he will be along sometime to tell us 🙂

Jx

 

[Jeanette]

Just correcting a typo in the previous post.
🙂

Lol you should be able to edit it 🙂

Jx

 

[ProfJames]

Just correcting a typo in the previous post.
🙂

You what?

 

[DavidG]

Lol you should be able to edit it 🙂

ohh...
(I didn't know that)
🙂

 

[David Roach]

....
All others, including the likes of me for whom the bells never quite stop ringing, should be directed towards lacky bands and bits of string

Isn't that what the Silverkrin lig is?😀

 

[Ivan]

I think I know why the experiment failed my ears. The ligs were not supported by tone enhancement:

 

[ellinas]

Congratulations to Targa!
I admit in the second part I couldn't understand much more than that the horn is the same. 🙂

 

[davidk]

So the pairs I identified were nicely muddled up, and I didn't match a single pair of ligatures. I suppose that means that a player can play openly or with more resistance given any decent setup.

Are you sure Nick didn't have cheese down his bell for any of the clips?

I grouped the two players together more by their playing style rather than by their tone.

Yes, thank you players and organisers.

 

[aldevis]

Are you sure Nick didn't have cheese down his bell for any of the clips?

To be fair, he never touched a Sequoia before.
I am looking forward to the ultimate @Nick Wyver comments

 

[kevgermany]

He's unusually quiet. Maybe he's in shock from the ligature experience.

 

[Nick Wyver]

I've been away.

I'm curious to her whether or not @Nick Wyver has changed his view on Ligs as a result of the experiment.

No. I've still got cloth ears.

I am looking forward to the ultimate @Nick Wyver comments

I haven't got a great deal to say.
I still can't detect a difference. Which doesn't mean there isn't one, just that the difference is too small to bother me (ie. smaller than the difference between 2 reeds from the same box).
If I hadn't been around musicians long enough to discover how pernickety, superstitious and clutching at straws they are then I might be inclined to say that I'm surprised that anyone bothers, but I'm not.

 

[ProfJames]

Nick...I love your attitude, superb and it makes sense!

 

[Pete Thomas]

What many people forget, don't know, ignore, about ligatures is that on some mouthpieces the condition, design, tightness or placement can make a difference to the sound. On other mouthpieces those factors can make no difference, or no significant difference.

Plus the mere act of taking a ligature off and putting another one on (or the same one for that matter) can make a difference purely because the reed may be in a very slightly different place - something that can make a much bigger difference than any ligature.

I've done my own tests, but even if double blind it's a flawed test because of having to remove and replace the ligature and so possibly compromise the position of the reed.

Thinking about it, there must be a way to secure the reed while changing ligatures.

Another issue that people seem to not think about is the tightness of the ligature. This is crucial on any lig made of stretchier material as opposed to metal ligs. metal ligatures tend to be either tight enough or not tight enough. Fabric ligatures have many degrees of tightness in between those toiw extremes.

 

[Bolding]

Thinking about it, there must be a way to secure the reed while changing ligatures.

You just encouraged me to do a prototype. I'm thinking of just making a square at the lowest part the mpc, where the reed could slide into, and two bumps at the side rails centering the reed, close enough to the tip, not to interfere with the ligature, but still far enough away not to interfere with embouchure.. Hmm... This might actually work! To the drawing board! ...

It just hit me, that any modificationc made in this direction, will make it very hard to reface the particular mpiece.
Unless, I made it detachable!.. Hmm...

 

[aldevis]

What many people forget, don't know, ignore, about ligatures is that on some mouthpieces the condition, design, tightness or placement can make a difference to the sound. On other mouthpieces those factors can make no difference, or no significant difference.

I willingly choose the mouthpiece that is more sensitive to small variations.
I also think that some players are more reactive to equipment than others.

My ideal experiment (I am slightly serious now) would be multivaried. Three (similar) mouthpieces, three ligatures, 9 combinations.

 

[thomsax]

What many people forget, don't know, ignore, about ligatures is that on some mouthpieces the condition, design, tightness or placement can make a difference to the sound. On other mouthpieces those factors can make no difference, or no significant difference.

Exactly. Then the ligatures makes a difference to the sound.!?!?! I'm on Rovner Deep-V (the left one)

and a std 2-screws ligature is out of question because they don't fit. The mouthpiece "sings" best with a ligature like this

The ligature that came along with the early Deep-V was a ligature with changeable plates but something in the same styles as the one above is better.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Exactly. Then the ligatures makes a difference to the sound.!?!?! I'm on Rovner Deep-V (the left one)

and a std 2-screws ligature is out of question because they don't fit. The mouthpiece "sings" best with a ligature like this

The ligature that came along with the early Deep-V was a ligature with changeable plates but something in the same styles as the one above is better.

With that enormous window, any ligature that presses down centrally is likely to distort the reed.