Hi Dave -- I just wrote a post on the Ligatures sub-board. The gist of it is that I was starting to question my alto setup (refaced and opened vintage Lakey 4*4, Rovner EVO-5 ligature, Marca 2-1/2 reeds) because I felt I was not getting the "singing" alto sound I recalled getting once upon a time. (This observed after listening to some recent test recordings.) For the heck of it, I pulled out an old Selmer brass 2-screw ligature and put in on in place of the EVO-5. The sound was noticeably more vibrant, and I was getting overtones I had not previously heard from the Lakey. I recalled that Jon Van Wie had once told me he preferred a regular old 2-screw Selmer ligature over anything else.
By the way... When the original poster first said he had an older Meyer 5M thrown in with his new horn, I thought "hommina-hommina-hommina..." knowing that the REAL older Meyer 5M's were the coveted Phil Woods mpcs that everybody and his brother pays enormous amounts of money for. THEN I saw it was (we assume) from the 1990's. Whew. I was about to tell him he had a very valuable mpc there. But just the same, maybe we better ask ak4president if the shank says "New York," "New York USA," or just "USA." Now I'm curious! :-D
