Saxophone Forum


by BreckerBrothersaregods!
(23 posts)
20 years ago

Ligaphone

I have become really fascinated with this "Ligaphone" i have been seeing around. Anybody tried one?

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  1. by saxguy9345
    (21 posts)

    20 years ago

    Re: Ligaphone

    Well my computer went crazy on me and displayed an error message every time I tried to post, looks like it worked fine to me! But hey, maybe if I post it 3 times, SOMEONE will read it throughly...

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  2. by Spunky2sax75
    (75 posts)

    20 years ago

    Re: Ligaphone

    I have no idea what a "ligaphone" is, so please enlighten me :-)

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    1. by BreckerBrothersaregods!
      (23 posts)

      20 years ago


      1. by SaxMan
        (559 posts)

        20 years ago

        Re: Ligaphone

        looks like a scam to me.

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    2. by saxguy9345
      (21 posts)

      20 years ago

      Re: Ligaphone

      *you look like a scam* And now for something productive: the first chair alto in WCU's (I believe) jazz band 2 years ago had one of these, and BOY did he wail (probably not due to the ligature, but it sure wasn't holding anybody back). I'm half temped to try one, if only they came for tenor...

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      1. by SaxMan
        (559 posts)

        20 years ago

        Re: Ligaphone

        OMG!!! how can anyone be so stupid...well I guess it is pretty beleivable, more and more people are displaying it more and more often on this board...especially the newbies... First of all, we don't give a damn whether he is first chair in WCU (woot woot, very impressive, I hope you see my excitment in the timbre of my typing.) or 6th grader. The "wail" was from 4 things: 1, the sax 2. the player 3. the m/p 4. the reed. The lig has close to nothing to do with your volume, it only takes off some annoying over tones or adds them usually, on occaision, you will get 3-4, maybe even 6 or 7 ( with a synth reed probably.) decibels more with a new lig, like an expensive one in the class of the ED, the francois, and the olegature.

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        1. by saxguy9345
          (21 posts)

          20 years ago

          Re: Ligaphone

          How can anyone be so dramatic? Someday, when you stop having sleepovers and lip-synching to Britney Speres, you'll take a moment and READ MY POST. Sheesh. Right after my positive comment to the Ligaphone, you know, the one with that figure of speech some saxophonists like to use, sounds like pail, "wail", referring to ones great playing ability (not just VOLUME, there are other things that make someone great, ponder that for awhile), there are these things called Parenthesis. While being seperate from the original comment, they can NOT be ignored. These ones in particular held the statement "probably not due to the ligature, but it sure wasn't holding anybody back". So you throw a hissy fit on this board and decide to ENLIGHTEN us with your end-all of saxophone knowledge, but all you said was basicly the SAME THING I DID *GASP*. "The 'wail' was from 4 things: ........ The lig has nothing to do with your volume." Correct me if I'm wrong (although I'm quite sure you will despite any circumstances), but when you listed those factors that contribute to one's sound on a saxophone, WHY didn't you just say "not the ligature" ? Oh YEAH, because I already did, thus making your last post absolutly worthless to anybody or anything except your ego. Lastly, the topic of adding decibles to your sound was really in left field, and I THOUGHT you said "the ligature has nothing to do with your volume", I guess we'll make up a new meaning of the word "decible" if it figures to our side of an arguement. Some of us need to turn the power OFF and just listen to ourselves once in awhile. If only you'd do that with your computer. Thanks for wasing those 7 minutes of my life, and I apologize extensively to anyone else on the board that has read this far.

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          1. by SaxMan
            (559 posts)

            20 years ago

            Re: Ligaphone

            you just proved your self even dumber, for one thing, there is no such thing as a "decible" and i would really like to know what you are referring to. I said the wail coems from 4 things, I didn't say the lig has NOTHING to do wiht it. dumb mark number 2. lastly, even if I HAD said that the lig has nothing to do wiht your sound, I would ahve been far off, you boviously do not understand the decibel system. 10 decibels is a sound twice as intense as the faintest audible noise at 0 decibels. 20 decibels is a sound twice as intense as a sound at a volume of 10 decibels, and so on and so on...60 decibels is a sound twice as intense as a sound at a level of 50 decibels. 63 decibels is a sound that is only just noticeable to the human ear as being louder than 60 decibels. understand now? 3 decibels might not even be heard to some people, 6-7 might, but it is negligeable at best. though I never said that the lig has NOTHING to do with the sound so that doesnt matter, I just wanted to dedumbify you a little bit.

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        2. by saxguy9345
          (21 posts)

          20 years ago

          Re: Ligaphone

          How can anyone be so dramatic? Someday, when you stop having sleepovers and lip-synching to Britney Speres, you'll take a moment and READ MY POST. Sheesh. Right after my positive comment to the Ligaphone, you know, the one with that figure of speech some saxophonists like to use, sounds like pail, "wail", referring to ones great playing ability (not just VOLUME, there are other things that make someone great, ponder that for awhile), there are these things called Parenthesis. While being seperate from the original comment, they can NOT be ignored. These ones in particular held the statement "probably not due to the ligature, but it sure wasn't holding anybody back". So you throw a hissy fit on this board and decide to ENLIGHTEN us with your end-all of saxophone knowledge, but all you said was basicly the SAME THING I DID *GASP*. "The 'wail' was from 4 things: ........ The lig has nothing to do with your volume." Correct me if I'm wrong (although I'm quite sure you will despite any circumstances), but when you listed those factors that contribute to one's sound on a saxophone, WHY didn't you just say "not the ligature" ? Oh YEAH, because I already did, thus making your last post absolutly worthless to anybody or anything except your ego. Lastly, the topic of adding decibles to your sound was really in left field, and I THOUGHT you said "the ligature has nothing to do with your volume", I guess we'll make up a new meaning of the word "decible" if it figures to our side of an arguement. Some of us need to turn the power OFF and just listen to ourselves once in awhile. If only you'd do that with your computer. Thanks for wasing those 7 minutes of my life, and I apologize extensively to anyone else on the board that has read this far.

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        3. by saxguy9345
          (21 posts)

          20 years ago

          Re: Ligaphone

          How can anyone be so dramatic? Someday, when you stop having sleepovers and lip-synching to Britney Speres, you'll take a moment and READ MY POST. Sheesh. Right after my positive comment to the Ligaphone, you know, the one with that figure of speech some saxophonists like to use, sounds like pail, "wail", referring to ones great playing ability (not just VOLUME, there are other things that make someone great, ponder that for awhile), there are these things called Parenthesis. While being seperate from the original comment, they can NOT be ignored. These ones in particular held the statement "probably not due to the ligature, but it sure wasn't holding anybody back". So you throw a hissy fit on this board and decide to ENLIGHTEN us with your end-all of saxophone knowledge, but all you said was basicly the SAME THING I DID *GASP*.

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          1. by chiamac
            (586 posts)

            20 years ago

            Re: Ligaphone

            "looks like a scam to me." (saxman) then almost any lig is a scam. right? they all make clames and promises...

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          2. by sax_maniac
            (984 posts)

            20 years ago

            Re: Ligaphone

            Unless you're using a rubber band or duct tape to hold your reed onto the mouthpiece, fretting over what ligature to use to make your sound better is like fretting over what "tuner" muffler you want to put on your Ford Escort to make it go faster. As far as ligature affecting sound, proper tightening and placement is probably more of a concern than anything else. Have you seen the old Selmer flexible metal ligs - no screws? From an engineering perspective, they are functionally no different than a hose clamp, but because it says "Selmer" on it, goobers will pay $100 for one and they probably believe it makes them a better player. I've found all they do is scratch up a perfectly good mouthpiece. I think I'll do a duct tape/Rovner .wav demonstration for anyone interested...

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          3. by heise
            (1 post)

            16 years ago

            Re: Ligaphone

            A hose clamp (spring type) is a good idea! One uniform band of pressure on the reed at a single point, strong enough to keep the reed stationary, but focused on a single longitudinal point to avoid dampening the full vibrations of the cane.... Perfect! I've found that it's not as much about how a ligature can *help* you as it is about how a ligature can *harm* you. This is somewhat subjective, but all I want a ligature to do is hold my reed steady.... and that's it! No dampening (Rovner), no fancy "tone" adjustments (name your expensive brand)..... I am just curious enough to try the hose clamp idea. Downsides might be scratching of the mouthpiece, and maybe it wouldn't hold the reed steady (clamp would lack a flat surface to provide good "gripping" action). FWIW, I've been using a Pomarico light ligature (for clarinet) on my Lakey Aluminum tenor piece, and the bass clarinet model for bass clarinet. They are a simple, narrow band that fits the criteria I described above. They are not made specifically for saxophones (although the clarinet model does fit my tenor piece), but they serve as a prime example of what __I__ like in a ligature --- or put another way, they avoid the "features" of ligatures that I try to avoid. -DH

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          4. by SaxMan
            (559 posts)

            20 years ago

            Re: Ligaphone

            no, you have to set a limit somewhere, those cheap metal ones they make today are just junk, they pinch the reed at different pressures so you might have a good reed and not know it. (but what are the chances of a reed actually being good?) 40 dollars for a ligature is rediculous. The word en francais ligature literally means strings or bindings, it is meant to hold your reed on. These ligs that get more and more expensive do less and less and less, espcially the francois. there is not any single lig out there that will beat the bg or rovner. The both do their job, and do them right, they use even pressure that doesnt fail when you take your piece off. The ED is what I would say about the limit is for a lig is, it does a noticeable amount to the player, and perhpas to the audience, but anything more is superfluous.

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          5. by marksc
            (5 posts)

            16 years ago

            Re: Ligaphone

            I just purchased the ligaphone and I could tell a difference immediately over both the rovner and the bg. I also have a cansoli and it was quite a difference from it as well. The basic differences that I could tell had to do with the focus of sound, low-end response and the focus of tone in the altissimo register. Regardless of it's word origins and personal belief systems, ligatures DO make a difference. As was mentioned in a post above, positioning and tension does matter....but I have seen through the years how different ligatures do change the sound and focus. As was also stated above, using a different ligature can bring to life reeds that were previously deemed worn-out or bad, to life and usable. Not trying to convince.....just stating my experiences over the past 25 years of professional playing career.

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          6. by Saxdragon
            (22 posts)

            16 years ago

            Re: Ligaphone

            I have a Selmer MkVI and a Dukoff D6. For a long time I used a Rovner open style lig and it worked well. I stopped playing for a while and when I came back to it, I found myself preferring the Dukoff lig that came with the mouthpiece. Even afteryears of playing and with my chops back in shape and all. I tried 3 other types of ligs and came back to the Dukoff lig because it played easier and with a better tone and response. What do you make of that?

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          7. by marksc
            (5 posts)

            16 years ago

            Re: Ligaphone

            The embouchure is an everchanging element, especially when you aren't playing 100% of the time. Even with pro players that play consistently, it changes slightly here and there and is never ALWAYS the same. Things like musical styles, role you are playing within the group, soloist etc.....will also dictate how the player expects the set-up to respond. My guess is that you have internalized a different perspective, playing a different style of music or could be that your paying more attention to aspects of your sound that you haven't noticed as much in the past. In my experience, I have noticed that some mouthpieces respond better with certain reeds and ligatures. (Let's not also negate the reed consideration.....that is always an unknown variable in the equation) I have had the best success with metal ligatures on metal mouthpieces (a la my Link and a B&G, the traditional Link ligature and now the Ligaphone which I really love) ........but I also play mostly in the studio which is a more controlled setting. "Live" I use the same set-up but rely heavily on my in-ear monitors to provide me the desired sound feedback. Those are my initial thoughts....take them for what they are.

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          8. by sslavoix
            (32 posts)

            16 years ago

            Re: Ligaphone

            i totally agree but people stop arguing were here to give this guy advice not our opinions on embochure no offense to anyone and i agree with marksc i changed from a metal standard lig that came with my soprano and then changed to a rovner my sound changed it didn't sound reedy like before i love it and still do

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          9. by sslavoix
            (32 posts)

            16 years ago

            Re: Ligaphone

            i totally agree but people stop arguing were here to give this guy advice not our opinions on embochure no offense to anyone and i agree with marksc i changed from a metal standard lig that came with my soprano and then changed to a rovner my sound changed it didn't sound reedy like before i love it and still do

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