French or American

[Frank Basamania]

I recently purchased a Berg Larsen mouthpiece. The flyer that was inside the box explained two different facing lenghts SMS, for use with French type reeds which is shorter than the M, for use with American type reeds. I’ve never paid any attention to this issue before. I did buy a SMS and I do use VanDoren which are made in France so I guess I’m OK. Has anyone ever had any problems or issues with this? Also, is there a noticeable difference between the two types? Does one play softer or louder, etc.?

[john]

Sorry I haven’t heard of that before. Did play a Berg years ago, what size did you get?

[Anonymous]

check out the vandoren website for a description of all their reed types. Some are suited better for classical & dark sounding mouthpieces (soft playing) and others are more suited for bright projecting loud jazzy sounding mouth pieces.

traditionaly european mouthpieces were made & tested with vandorens,
which i why a lot of orchestras use the vandoren range – for my classical grade exams, i had to change to a selmar mouthpiece & use vandoren reeds (v16 or normal vandoren reeds, and la viz reeds work just as well) otherwise i wouldn’t be able to play softly
classical wise and get a more classical sound.

Some of the other vandorens work well for bright loud mouthpieces,
and the Ricoh jazz reeds work as well.

If you use the basic standard reeds in any make, they tend to be aimed at learners and usually cover a wide range of playing – but when you get more experienced and you are looking for a specific sound – then you pick the mouthpiece in mind – and match it to a more specific reed type.

Welcome to the setup nightmare/joyous world – and then to cap it all – what ligature are you going to use with your setup?

[Frank Basamania]

I got a 95/0 metal. Now I have that edgy sound but I feel like I’m starting all over again. I had a Selmer HR S80 C*. I think that had a 75 tip opening. I’m glad I didn’t go for a larger tip opening than 95. I’m having trouble getting the lows and I’m squeking a lot around high G. I’ll just keep working at it.

[Frank Basamania]

The mouthpiece came with a traditional looking metal ligature that fits the MP well. The sides of the reed don’t touch the ligature. I purchased a Rovner Light that suppose to maintain the lighter sound but it makes it sound darker so I went back to the Berg ligature. I also have a Fortissimo that has three different supports, I get a good sound with that but I’m tired of messing with it all the time I’m using it, it always seems like the reed is loose, it moves around no matter how hard I clamp it down.

[Anonymous]

yeah – one of my leather ligatures
kept slipping around – in the end i chucked it away! The rovner one
i use at the moment, i have to
re-adjust a few times to get the
pitch sounding right with my tuner.

[Z]

I’ve had problems with a metal berg larsen too. I ordered a 105/1 a while ago and I’ve played it every once in a while to try and get it to sound good but it just doesn’t. It’s like I’m fighting the mouthpiece. It squeaks all the time in the high register and it’s literally impossible for me to play quietly. I’ve given up; metal mouthpieces just aren’t for me.

[Michael]

Hey Frank–if you’re looking for a good ligature, which I believe may help you solve your problem, check out the Francois Louis ligature. I put the link below. I was turned onto to them from a friend of mine through youtube and they’re awesome. They allow the reed to vibrate like crazy and tend to make MPs with bigger tip openings/chambers much easier to play. As you know, having the right ligature is very important. The only ligature I have heard of players saying to be better than these are the older Winslow ligatures like Johnny uses. There is also a company called Saxxas Ligatures that produces a replica of the Winslow ligatures and great things are being said of those ligatures too. I have never tried a ligature like a Winslow or Saxxas, but I do own a Francois Louis with my Guardala Studio and it’s fantastic….WAY better than Rovners for sure. Francois Louis ligatures are very good for MPs like Guardala, Bergs, etc.. because they allow the reed to resonate freely; which means improved sound….provided our tone has developed to a point where we can play bigger MPs like this. Check out the reviews that players who bought them are giving the ligature, all of them gave the ligature a 5-star rating. Playing one myself, my rating for this ligature would be 5-star too.

http://www.wwbw.com/Ultimate-Ligature-Francois-Louis-Saxophone-Ligatures-472130-i1429270.wwbw#/product-details

[Anonymous]

For my classical setup I use a rovner ligature, and I noticed when i played in a jazz/swing band last week. My sound was exactly like all the experienced sax players around me. So based on that – i don’t need to change from using a rovner.

As for squeaking in the high register that sounds more like an embouchure not used to a wider mouthpiece – seen a lot of demos of that on youtube with professionals trying out mouthpieces that they don’t use when they play professionaly.

[Frank Basamania]

I was thinking it was embouchure not used to a wider mouthpiece. I think I just have to get used to it. I do like the ligature that came with the Berg. I like the sound I get overall but I know there’s a better setup for me. I’m just working my way up little by little.

[Author]

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