I am not sure how long these are supposed to survive, but mine lasted a few years and then the metal thin frame next to the part that touches the reed cracked. I loved this ligature. It provided me great ease of playing and fantastic tone. You DO need to buy a separate mouthpiece cap for it because normal sized caps are not large enough to go around the leather and raised part of the ligature (well, the I guess that would be the whole thing). Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this for a kid since the metal part is so thin and can crack easily. For a kid who wants a nicer one than the old fashioned metal kind that comes with your clarinet, get a Luyben ligature.
