Bonade Inverted Soprano Clarinet Ligature

The inverted Bonade ligature. The O.G. Everyone wanted one of these in the 1980s when I was in high school because it was a sign that you were a "serious player." Like, you "took private" (as in, private lessons). 

These fell out of favor for a while, because everyone and their cousin started making ligatures, and each of them had various bells and whistles that made them seem more advanced than that Bonade you had in your case. But recently, people have begun to flock back to Bonade, because they are simple, inexpensive, and really, really good.

These are the inverted version of the ligature, meaning that the finger screws go on the back of the mouthpiece. Does it matter, inverted or non-inverted? Not really, though I am sure that some people think it matters. 

One thing that does matter is how tightly you screw the finger screws. Generally speaking, the conventional wisdom is to tighten the bottom screw fairly tight, to hold the bottom of the reed tightly against the mouthpiece. Then, for the top screw, you can experiment to find the ideal tightness for a specific reed, to let it vibrate more or less near the vamp (the cut) of the reed.

Does the plating make a difference? Honestly, only in price and aesthetic. Though again, I'm sure there are players would vehemently disagree with me, given that the plating metals (gold vs. copper vs. silver vs. nickel) have a different MOHS hardness, where gold and silver (2.5) are softer than copper (3) which is softer than nickel (4). 

Anyway, these are now available here, and I am very excited to bring them to you direct from France!