{"id":13004,"date":"2013-11-11T12:33:18","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T17:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/?p=13004"},"modified":"2013-11-11T12:55:22","modified_gmt":"2013-11-11T17:55:22","slug":"silverstein-saxophone-ligature-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/silverstein-saxophone-ligature-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Silverstein Saxophone Ligature Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, I am reviewing a new ligature made by\u00a0 Silverstein Works<\/a>.\u00a0 For years I have heard about the amazing results that musicians would get from string ligatures. \u00a0 These whispers and rumors were usually heard on different clarinet boards and forums that I would visit.\u00a0 These posts were\u00a0 so compelling and convincing that I had to try using one.<\/p>\n

\"SilversteinPhoto\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are some statements I found doing a quick search on Google:<\/p>\n

“This allows maximum vibrations, while preventing unwanted dampening caused by the “clamp” of a metal ligature”<\/em>.-Wurlitzer Clarinets America.com<\/p>\n

“The response is fantastic! When people first see the string, they are dumbfounded then amazed. I first learned about the string Lig from Jimmy Giuffre of the Woody Herman Thundering Herd.”<\/em>-King Koeller (SOTW)<\/p>\n

“I have yet to find a clarinetist who has judged the sound and response of the string ligature to be anything but unparalleled”<\/em>-Will Cicola
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Of course, quotes like these are all subjective opinions, but they did make me curious…………<\/p>\n

Years ago, I remember trying to wrap a shoe string around my mouthpiece to see how it would play.\u00a0 Needless to say, after 15 minutes of trying, and the reed slipping and moving, I gave up……….
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Silverstein Saxophone Ligature
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Doing a search online for “string ligature clarinet” I found a couple of links that show the complexity of\u00a0 creating a string ligature<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 As well as this one<\/a>. \u00a0 There is even this video on how to create a string ligature on Youtube<\/a>. \u00a0 It only takes a few minutes to read these pages or watch the video to know that this procedure is complex and takes time and patience.\u00a0 Too much time and patience for me that is for sure.\u00a0 I want to wet my reed put the ligature on and play as fast as I can.\u00a0 I’ve never been much for reed working or ligature tying so I gave up on the string ligature idea……………until……..<\/p>\n

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Silverstein Fancy Box
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Lately I have been hearing a lot of buzz about Silverstein’s new string ligature on Facebook and I just had to try one out.\u00a0 Silverstein Works was good enough to send me an alto and tenor ligature to review. These two ligatures are sized to fit on a hard rubber Otto Link sized tenor mouthpiece and a hard rubber Meyer sized alto mouthpiece.<\/p>\n

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Silverstein Personal Touch<\/strong><\/p>\n

They come in a very fancy metal box that is elegantly wrapped and has the personal touch of having your name printed on it.\u00a0 This really has nothing to do with the ligature but the fact that they took the time to personalize the ligature box coupled with the various correspondents back and forth prove to me that this is a top notch company that takes the time do things the “right” way.<\/p>\n

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Silverstein Saxophone Ligature<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you can see from the pictures, the ligature has a strong black string that loops through a silver metal device at the top of the ligature.\u00a0 The string is not flimsy or lose but is nice and firm.\u00a0\u00a0 The top screw mechanism has rubber pads on the area that touches the mouthpieces to avoid scratching and gouging of the mouthpiece which is appreciated.\u00a0 (There’s nothing worse than trying a new ligature and finding scratches all over your expensive mouthpiece when you are done………….)\u00a0 There are two metal bars that are on either side of the ligature and rest on the sides of the mouthpiece. These bars are movable and can be positioned closer to the reed or farther apart.\u00a0 I am told that the placement of these bars can affect the brightness, darkness and focus of the sound.<\/p>\n

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Silverstein Saxophone Ligature
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When I first tried it on my Early Babbitt hard rubber Link and 10mFan Robusto mouthpiece it was a bit tight.\u00a0 At first,\u00a0 I got worried that it was too small and that they sent me the wrong size.\u00a0 I slid it on as far as it would go and then tightened it a good amount.\u00a0 I loosened it and then found I could slide it on a little farther.\u00a0 After doing this a few times it now fits comfortably on my hard rubber tenor mouthpieces.\u00a0 Silverstein Works says that this is normal and that there is an initial break in period when the ligature is brand new.<\/p>\n

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Silverstein Saxophone Ligature<\/strong><\/p>\n

I want to quote from the Silverstein website as their impressions of the ligature and the difference between the different ligature makes and materials is so beautifully written:<\/p>\n

“Feel what pure reed sound is like. Metal vibrates along with the reed, adding unwanted noise. Metal ligatures have become thinner to try and minimize surface contact as a result. Non-metal ligatures are often too soft to hold the reed tightly in place, while also dampening the sound with an over-abundance of surface contact. They often add metal studs to try and alleviate the problem, once again giving you unnecessary and unwanted noise from metal vibrations. Silverstein Ligatures have the perfect balance of strength to secure the reed and minimize surface contact, while allowing it to fully vibrate with no metal on the reed.” <\/em><\/p>\n

I thought this was a great summary of the effects that different ligatures and materials can have on a reed.<\/p>\n

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Silverstein Saxophone Ligature
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My personal findings with this ligature is that it is great!\u00a0 I found that it darkened the sound slightly from my metal ligatures but didn’t deaden or dampen the sound at all in my opinion.\u00a0 In the past,\u00a0 I have tried using Rovner leather ligatures and I liked how they darkened the sound on many mouthpieces but I also noticed that it seemed like many of the higher frequencies and partials in the sound were dampened.\u00a0 The sound wasn’t as “lively” for me.\u00a0 The Silverstein ligature doesn’t do that.\u00a0 Although the sound is darker it is still very much “lively”\u00a0 and “resonant” which for me is the optimal result a player should want!
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The other thing I love about this ligature is that there seems to be so much more variation in how tight or loose you can adjust it.\u00a0 Metal ligatures have a little bit of\u00a0 adjustment room but not much.\u00a0 If you tighten it you very quickly get to a point where the ligature is pressing and gouging into the reed.\u00a0 The Silverstein ligature can get tighter but you never have to worry about that gouging affect.\u00a0 You can experiment with how tight or loose it is and it makes a big difference in the sound and focus.<\/p>\n

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Silverstein Saxophone Ligature<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are interested in the Silverstein Saxophone or Clarinet ligature contact\u00a0 Silversteinligature.com<\/a> to get a list of their distributors.\u00a0 These ligatures are on the high end price wise but they are top quality products and come with a life time warranty which protects against any breaking, stretching, morphing or unnatural changes to the cord.\u00a0 This type of warranty is rare in the saxophone world and again speaks to Silverstein’s commitment to excellence and customer service.\u00a0 Contact a distributor and give one a try.\u00a0 Let me know what you think……….\u00a0\u00a0 Steve<\/p>\n

P.S.\u00a0 If you don’t think a ligature is worth this kind of money or doesn’t make a difference at all you can also check out my other two blog posts on this subject:<\/p>\n

What difference does the ligature make-Part 1<\/a><\/p>\n

What difference does the ligature make-Part 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, I am reviewing a new ligature made by\u00a0 Silverstein Works.\u00a0 For years I have heard about the amazing results that musicians would get from string ligatures. \u00a0 These whispers and rumors were usually heard on different clarinet boards and forums that I would visit.\u00a0 These posts were\u00a0 so compelling and convincing that I had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":13005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[119,314,1105,1106,72],"class_list":{"0":"post-13004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-saxophone-stuff","8":"tag-alto-sax","9":"tag-saxophone-ligature","10":"tag-silverstein","11":"tag-string-ligature","12":"tag-tenor-sax","13":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}