Klarinet Archive - Posting 000322.txt from 2000/12

From: "Don Yungkurth" <clarinet@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Legere Reeds
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 10:54:25 -0500

Walter Grabner wrote:

>I was testing the mouthpiece with a 3 1/2 Legere as I worked on it.

>As I adjusted the tip opening and the width of the tip rail, the tone of
the
>Legere reed went from acceptable but slightly stuffy, to extremely BUZZY.

>A little more work, and some balancing of the facing, and the reed smoothed
>out and sounded fine.

>I'm trying to isolate out all the variables of mouthpiece design that make
>the Legere reeds work extremely well (or vice versa). I have not got there
>yet, unfortunately, as it seems to be one of many projects I set myself to.
>Maybe someday soon I can come out with a little article about precisely
what
>works best.

Guy Legere gave a talk about his reeds at the Clarinetfest in Oklahoma this
past July. He stated that his reeds were made with mouthpieces like the
Vandoren B45 in mind. I play on a B45 or a Marcellus (I don't know how
these differ, but they seem much the same to me) and have found the Legere
reeds to sound the same as cane reeds. Some of my severest critics agree
that my sound does not change when I use the Legeres (no apostrophe - OK?).

I had been using Vandoren V12 reeds, either 4 or 4-1/2 strength, but these
were always conditioned, flattened and adjusted, so my actual "playing
strength" was no doubt less than the "box strength". At the Clarinetfest I
tried various strengths of Legere with my Bb (R13) and settled on a 3-1/2.
When I tried this on my "A", it seemed too hard. I ended up buying a 3-1/4
strength also, as this played better on the "A"

I've been playing on these two reeds ever since. The 3-1/4 worked well on
the Bb as well as the A, so it tended to get used most. It eventually
softened to the point that I clipped it (against the advice packaged with
the reed) and it is back to playing well, much as it did after the first
few hours when it was originally "broken in". I should mention that
clipping the Legere must have taken about ten times the effort it does to
clip a cane reed.

The 3-1/2 didn't seem to "break in" easily, so a resorted to a suggestion I
read about on "Klarinet", after checking out with Guy Legere that this
would indeed be OK to do. This consisted of dipping about 2 cm. of the tip
into boiling water for one second. The effect was as promised - it softened
the reed to play about the same as the 3-1/4.

I've recently purchased two more Legeres - another 3-1/4 and 3-1/2. They
respond pretty much as the original pair did when new. Just for the record,
these reeds have been used primarily for orchestral and chamber playing.

Don Yungkurth (clarinet@-----.net)

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