Keilwerth saxes (S/A/T), Selmer clarinets (S/B), Altus Azumi flute
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4,675 Posts
+ 1.I have a bunch of ligatures that can move if I grab the mouthpiece around the ligature. Yes, the enlightened ligature can move but I just use cork grease and move the mouthpiece by grabbing it by the shank of the mouthpiece so I am not touching the ligature at all. I don't really find it that big a deal. The enlightened ligature is the ligature I use most on soprano and alto sax just because I like the way it responds and how "lively" the response is for me on those horns. I would in no way call this ligature defective or faulty, it's just the nature of the ligature. I have some that are solid as a rock when tightened down and some that aren't.
There's a lot more to a ligature than "can I accidentally move it when the mouthpiece is tight on the neck cork?"
Two types of ligatures that are rock solid (in terms of not moving) for me are Rovners and the BG Duos. However, I hate them both (the Rovner for the poor response/reed seal, and the BG Duo for how difficult it makes slight reed adjustments). Like Steve, one of my favorite ligatures is the FL Ultimate (I have at least six of these). It can sometimes move, but I find that it seals the reed well and makes it really easy to make minor positioning adjustments.
This is the one place where I disagree. Unlike Steve, I do like to clamp my ligatures down (nearly) to death. For me "reed freedom" = bad seal = poor response. The heel of your reed should not be able to move while you play.[...] The fact is that I don't like my ligature clamped down to death so it kills the freedom of the reed
In any event, I've found that one solution that works pretty well to keep the the FL Ultimates from moving is to to cement a piece of 0.5mm tech cork onto the underside of the pressure plate. For me, this solves two problems:
- It provides additional friction (against the reed bark) and thus keeps the ligature from moving
- It keeps the reed bark from getting gouged or distorted when I clamp down the ligature "to death".