[jmathesonjr]

Yesterday was not a good day for me. The Winslow Ligature that I had been using for the last 25 years broke. It is no longer. That was when the panic set in.

I have tried so many other ligatures over the course of my life. None came close to this ligature.

I did some searching here at SOTW and found a post from 2004 that had the address and phone number for Winslow Ligatures. I took a chance and called.

THEY ARE STILL AROUND!!!

If you want a great ligature, call John Winslow at: 608.241.1124.

These are well worth the price. I think these ligatures are $90.00. I cannot say for certain because some questions arose about the ligature I am replacing that we need to figure out before a price is set. I will explain later when I update this post.

His company is

Madison Enterprises
P.O. Box 8434
Madison, WI 53708-8434

These are great, free blowing ligatures that have lasted 25 years for me.

 

[John Laughter]

These are great, free blowing ligatures.

Absolutely!

 

[jmathesonjr]

I received my new Winslow Ligature today. Man, does this thing play!! I cannot imagine playing another ligature ever again. The freedom of articulation, dynamics, color, tone, and flexibility it gives me is unmatched by anything made by Vandoren, Francois Louis, SAXXAS, Oleg, Harrison, Ishimori, BG, Silverstein, or Rovner. I have tried them all. This one cannot be beat. If you are looking for a truly responsive set-up, get one of these ligatures. They are a game changer and well worth the money. Although, they are cheaper than most of the ones I have listed here. Call them. They are still around and will to work with anyone interested. You will not regret it.

 

[Reedscraper]

Winslow rules! Since the 80's I have played them on soprano, alto, tenor and a Saxxas copy on bari. I've tried many others but Winslow is the best of the best.

 

[decade]

Mine is over 25 years old, might have to call them for some replacement parts.

 

[Reet McVouty]

Nonsense. Complete and utter nonsense. I've been playing saxophone for 50 years and other than the fact that some ligatures hold the reed better on the mouthpiece than others, I have never experienced in any way shape or form a difference in sound production or the operation of any of my horns. And, just how do you play a ligature?

 

[daviderato]

I remember those phone calls. Did the conversation go like this:

Hello.....(long pause)...Let me check.....(long pause)...Yes....I remember....let me check your card.....(Long pause).....

I owned several Winslows, but I didn't like how the scratched up my mouthpieces and ended up being more trouble.

 

[jmathesonjr]

Nonsense. Complete and utter nonsense. I've been playing saxophone for 50 years and other than the fact that some ligatures hold the reed better on the mouthpiece than others, I have never experienced in any way shape or form a difference in sound production or the operation of any of my horns. And, just how do you play a ligature?

I thought the same thing over the years, until I had to go back to a non-Winslow lig. Trying to get some semblance of sound out of my Harrison lig, Saxxas lig, Vandoren lig, Rovner lig, and a few ligs that no longer have names on them, I realized I was wrong. The ligs do make a difference because these pieces of metal, wood, string, leather, and plastic come into contact with the reeds we are playing. The ligs affect the sound like the weather does. The lig is a part of the WHOLE saxophone. My like the pads, resonators, felts, and cork mechanisms affect the sound. The lig mnakes me sound like I want to sound in this case. The Winslow lig helps make and control the sound I want. Those others I mentioned did not. Believe it or not. That is up to you. I know this lig works ofr me, allows me to do what I want, and is a smart investment in my saxophone.

For the record, the WInslow people do not take anything other than Money Ordere, Cashier's Check, or Personal Check. I have never known them to take a "card." I have also used this lig on three different kinds of mouthpieces and they have not left any scratch on the mouthpieces. I did have a Rovner tear the top of one of my hard rubber mouthpieces all to crap when the screw threads came into contact with a mouthpiece of mine and I tightened it without realizing.

These are great ligs. Well worth the price.

 

[SimonJazzSax]

Nonsense. Complete and utter nonsense. I've been playing saxophone for 50 years and other than the fact that some ligatures hold the reed better on the mouthpiece than others, I have never experienced in any way shape or form a difference in sound production or the operation of any of my horns. And, just how do you play a ligature?

Everyone's mileage varies, but ligatures definitely affect response, articulation, tone (to a lesser degree than the other elements), ease of altissimo, ease of low notes, resistance level.

For some I'm sure it's less than others, but the effect is there and I haven't met many, if any, great players that would deny that claim.

I do know great players that prefer to not mess with gear or go down that road, but most I've had the pleasure of meeting and playing with will tell you ligature is really important.

I know my response probably won't change your mind, but it's always interesting to note when people don't perceive the same thing as many in the sax community and it makes me want to hang and play and find out why!

Finish of a ligature, I can see the argument, but I digress.

Have a good week!

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[Guto]

@OP, how do you feel the Winslow perform WRT to function? I.e. how well does it hold the reed when you need to grab the mouthpiece to adjust it on the cork and how easy is it to use? Compared to a Rovner or a 2 screws for example. These are my references for practice ease of use.

 

[Reet McVouty]

Perhaps I lack the sensitivity to distinguish the minutiae of all the attributes that have been assigned to ligatures, heavy mass screws, Klangbogans and any other gizmos that some folks claim make a difference in playing a saxophone. My first saxophone I purchased new sometime around 1970 was a Conn-Selmer made Buescher Aristocrat. It came with a #3 Goldentone mouthpiece and a standard two screw ligature. At that time the majority of my practice consisted of playing along with records trying to sound like the masters that inspired me. Doing this I was able to develop a really nice tone rather quickly. Being only 15 at the time I never considered that different horns or mouthpieces made a difference, I just played what I had and was happy with it. Well of course as time went on I began to fall under the influence of other players and teachers and like most I began to experiment with all types of equipment. Over the years I've owned horns of just about every major brand. I've played a bunch of mouthpieces and have used quite a few different ligatures. The end result to this is, after a few weeks I always sound like me. Yes of course there are those minute differences based on the equipment being used but not enough for me to obsess over. My advice to anyone is find a comfortable set up and go immerse yourself in the music. Stop wasting time looking for the magic solution through equipment and just play. Now that I'm old and on a fixed income I have no plans to change any of my equipment. Now, if only I could find a good reed...

 

[SimonJazzSax]

Perhaps I lack the sensitivity to distinguish the minutiae of all the attributes that have been assigned to ligatures, heavy mass screws, Klangbogans and any other gizmos that some folks claim make a difference in playing a saxophone. My first saxophone I purchased new sometime around 1970 was a Conn-Selmer made Buescher Aristocrat. It came with a #3 Goldentone mouthpiece and a standard two screw ligature. At that time the majority of my practice consisted of playing along with records trying to sound like the masters that inspired me. Doing this I was able to develop a really nice tone rather quickly. Being only 15 at the time I never considered that different horns or mouthpieces made a difference, I just played what I had and was happy with it. Well of course as time went on I began to fall under the influence of other players and teachers and like most I began to experiment with all types of equipment. Over the years I've owned horns of just about every major brand. I've played a bunch of mouthpieces and have used quite a few different ligatures. The end result to this is, after a few weeks I always sound like me. Yes of course there are those minute differences based on the equipment being used but not enough for me to obsess over. My advice to anyone is find a comfortable set up and go immerse yourself in the music. Stop wasting time looking for the magic solution through equipment and just play. Now that I'm old and on a fixed income I have no plans to change any of my equipment. Now, if only I could find a good reed...

I can completely respect this. Short story about gear and then I'll come full circle to ligatures.

I had a setup that was given to me, by my parents from a teacher recommendation, and didn't even realize I could change gear until I was around 21 years old. So I went through school and college with the same setup. I started playing professionally at 20 and when I was on my way to a gig at 21 years old my case strap broke and my case slammed on the ground. To make a long story short, I went to a guys house to get it repaired and he had a ton of vintage saxes laying around. Told me I could play them while I waited for him to adjust my sax. Played a buffet super dynaction tenor and he came running back and said, what is that son? It was at that moment that I realized, not only could I buy other gear, but it did make me sound different. I bought it for $900 and went to the gig with it. I had to drain my bank account and eat peanut butter for weeks. LoL. I became fairly obsessed with owning all the historic models, to see what they played like, as well as the historic mouthpieces. It sent me down the gear highway. I never looked at it as searching to make me better. I looked at it, and still do, out of curiosity and inspiration. It was and still is so much fun and so inspiring to play a piece of history that makes me play lines a certain way or shape the sound a different way.

I know a ligature is a different type of equipment compared to the horn and mouthpiece, but I separate it from the heavy mass stuff etc. It shapes things much more than the heavy mass stuff does, in my experience.

I meet guys and gals that want to use gear to solve problems and that is not the right way, but I also meet guys and gals that get inspired by gear and use it as inspiration.

Everyone's mileage varies and some players like Trane and Sonny went down this road and some players like Joe Henderson didn't.

The important thing to remember is that in most cases, gear won't solve your problem, practice will.

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[super20dan]

i found the winslow killed reeds fast

 

[HeyJoe]

I have a drawer full of ligatures that I fell for as a kid...Harrison's, Winslow's, 404 selmer ligs, Charles Bay, etc...you name it, I got itsome day I'll get rid of them!...now I use just a standard lig for alto, and a berg lig for tenor. I think the mpc and reed are of course very important, the lig, hmmm, so-so...I would rather use a Walt Johnson case instead of a Winslow lig anyday!

 

[Guto]

i found the winslow killed reeds fast

in what way? did it dent or cut the reed somehow?

 

[super20dan]

the metal bumpers crushed the fibers of the cane . it had to be really tight in order not to slip. didntlike the lig in its response either.

 

[Dave Dolson]

I've posted this years ago. It was at least 30 years ago when I bought a full set of Winslow ligatures (sop HR and metal, alto HR, clarinet). Over time, they didn't play for me any better than Selmer's two-band/two-screw metal ligatures. Plus, they impeded my ability to tune the mouthpieces requiring me to re-set the ligature every time I tried to move the mouthpiece.

After a while, those little rubber cushions softened and turned to a gummy, sticky substance which flowed all over the pins. Even the back-up rubber cushions turned to gum without even using them. I quit using those ligatures and finally gave them to a visiting Australian gal who was sitting in with our band. DAVE