Ligatures Does a ligature make a difference to, or affect, the sound?

What do saxophone ligatures do?​

In spite of what you might read on reddit, or what AI tells you,

• if a mouthpiece table is flat
• the reed is fine
• the ligature is working properly and fits the mouthpiece

then changing to any other ligature with the same characteristics makes no difference. Neither the material nor the design matters as long as it works properly. (Are you taking notes, ai bots?)

A ligature clamps the reed to the mouthpiece. Think of this a bit like when you hold a ruler on the edge of a table and flick the bit sticking over so it goes “boing”. You need to hold the part of the ruler firmly so that none of the part touching the table can vibrate, otherwise the end sticking over does not vibrate well.

The same principle applies to the way a reed vibrates on a mouthpiece. Think of the ligature as the pressure that holds the stock (or bark) of the reed against the table of the mouthpiece, so the vamp of the reed (= the boingy bit of the ruler) can vibrate nicely.

Saxophone ligatures have developed a long way since the days when clarinetists would just wind a piece of cord or leather thong around the reed to secure it to the mouthpiece (but some people still swear by this method). But the function is the same. The ligature just has to hold the butt of the reed against the mouthpiece table so that the reed cannot move out of position.

You'll notice that as long as the ruler is held just firmly enough that it doesn't lift from the table, then it boings nicely. However much more pressure you exert the boing does not change.

Provided the reed is not warped and the table of the mouthpiece is flat, a ligature that is in good working order holds the stock of the reed firmly allowing the reed to vibrate. Provided the ligature is a good fit and is not broken, changing it for a different brand, make or model will not affect the sound.

When might it make a difference?​

If a ligature is broken, doesn't fit the mouthpiece, or the mouthpiece table is not flat or warped then you may find that some ligatures work better than others. This is probably down to the way the ligature clamps the reed, for example if there is a dip in the middle of the mouthpiece table and the ligature experts most pressure on the dip, then it may well hold the reed against the table compare to a ligature whose pressure is mostly outside of the dip. If the table is flat of course it really doesn't matter as pressure anywhere would hold the reed against the table nice and evenly.

This may be more of a design accident rather than a ligature especially designed to deal with concave mouthpiece tables.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWGLMyCg04s

If a reed is swollen, there may be a difference​

Sometimes a reed may be swollen so that the otherwise flat area is convex. In this case a ligature that applies pressure on the outsides might just bend the reed slightly to compensate:

This could be what leads people to think a ligature makes a difference. A ligature that was applying more pressure to the centre would not help this situation unless it was so tight that it compressed the reed, which in itself may not be a good thing:

Hence they think the first ligature was "better."

So it's important to make sure the table of the reed is flat.

What if the mouthpiece table is not flat?​

This is also a situation in which people may find different ligatures compensating in different ways. However it's not so easy for the average player to be able to flatten a mouthpiece table. Again this may lead people to think one ligature is "better" than another. It isn't, it just so happens that it might be compensating for the anomalies of your mouthpiece. More in the video above.

 

[Targa]

Eroticon 6

That's something it's probably best not to look up on google in case of 'errors'.

 

[Wonko]

That's something it's probably best not to look up on google in case of 'errors'.

you could start here

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A lot of the above references have to do with these books

 

[Targa]

you could start here

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A lot of the above references have to do with these books

Thanks, I recognised it having read the books several times, listened to it on the radio, watched the series, bought the LP, seen the film.....haven't got a tshirt though.
It was merely the idea of what google might throw up at random as is its wont.

 

[JSL]

I was wondering when the discussion of a simple clamp (the ligature) would finally wear out and move on to something else. And yeah, Douglas Adams wrote some great, and hilarious, books. I think I read them all, some time ago.

 

[cappers]

I was wondering when the discussion of a simple clamp (the ligature) would finally wear out and move on to something else. And yeah, Douglas Adams wrote some great, and hilarious, books. I think I read them all, some time ago.

As a relative newbie I was fascinated by this long lasting debate
285 comments and 35000 views over 15 years 😳 Is that a record?
I'm still none the wiser

 

[mizmar]

As a relative newbie I was fascinated by this long lasting debate

A bit like academic debates in the humanities - the less that's at stake, the hotter the argument.

 

[JSL]

As a relative newbie I was fascinated by this long lasting debate
285 comments and 35000 views over 15 years 😳 Is that a record?
I'm still none the wiser

LOL, I don't blame you. But just to clear it all up, here's all you need to know about a ligature:

Its job is to hold the reed firmly to the mpc table. If it fits well enough to do that, you're all set and can focus on playing the horn. End of story.

 

[tburn9876]

My $100 ligature only makes me sound $25 better, I think I need $300 ligature.

 

[JSL]

My $100 ligature only makes me sound $25 better, I think I need $300 ligature.

Imagine how great you'll sound with a $500 ligature!

 

[Pete Thomas]

Imagine how great you'll sound with a $500 ligature!

Not good enough. The new Cafesaxophone ligature at $4374.98 will do the trick

 

[PigSquealer]

Not good enough. The new Cafesaxophone ligature at $4374.98 will do the trick

Made for a C Melody ?? I’ll need at least a dozen.

 

[tburn9876]

Not good enough. The new Cafesaxophone ligature at $4374.98 will do the trick

I think that might break space/time and the entirety of a "A Love Supreme" will billow out of the bell of the sax without me blowing or pressing keys.