Today is my first review, and will start with a disclaimer, I am a Conn-Selmer Artist, and was sent this ligature to review due to my experience with many other various high end ligatures on the market, such as the Silverstein and Ishimori. After reviewing it I was also graciously allowed to keep it, though I received no remuneration for my initial review of it, and did not know I would be allowed to keep it. I am writing now because the ligature is now showing on the Yanagisawa website. My experience of testing this ligature did not include an external recording source, though I did play it on stage and have colleague feedback, so my experience is based on how it sounded and felt to me as the player, and to colleagues on stage.
Thank you for your time and interest.
The Yany Sixs gives a light, vibrant sound, with a quick response. The ligature gives a brilliance that isn’t found in similarly priced competitors. The same reeds seemed to play softer with the Sixs, compared to my Solid Silver Pink Gold Ishimori (which is my normal ligature), but because of this it also allows you to play a harder reed and maintain a brilliant sound that isn’t stuffy or too resistant. The lighter sound was a different aesthetic than I have normally gone for, but with slightly harder reeds a clear crisp sound and articulation.
It is a wonderful, aesthetically pleasing (both visually and aurally), addition to the ligature market and will a great option for many. The way it hold the reed and sonically, it reminds me a bit of a Winslow, but rather than looking like an ungainly part you might find in the plumbing section of a hardware store, it is a lovely gold plated ligature, with hard rubber spacers, and a flower engraved on the screw.
The responsiveness of this ligature was something that was quite noticeable, it had a very ‘positive’ feel, where one felt exactly that what they put in was exactly what came out, from low Bb through altissimo. This is in contrast to my SSPGP Ishimori ligature, where I feel like I get more feedback and perhaps in someway there is a bit of a filter, where the sound becomes a bit denser. Because of the lack of feedback I found octave slurs to altissimo to feel less fluid than on my Ishimori, though not overly difficult. The response through altissimo was commendable as the sound stayed full and brilliant the entire time. In my experience, some ligatures tend to change the sound throughout the range of the instrument, that isn’t the case with the Sixs, it maintains and even and clear sound and response throughout the full range.
I thoroughly enjoyed playing the Sixs, and think it is a great addition to the saxophone ligature market.
Here is a link to the Yanagisawa website.
http://www.yanagisawasax.co.jp/en/ligature.html
I would appreciate any feedback about how to make my review more helpful.
Thank you again.