 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2023-12-07 22:04
I'm a longtime Legere Euro Signature user. I consider the Euro cut to be 90-95% of what I expect of a (rarely obtainable) ideal, perfect reed. I know I give up to 10% in playable for consistency and always having a functioning reed no matter what's going on with endless variables effecting a reed's performance.
The French Cut Legere seems to delivery as advertised. Great response with more 'ping' and color to the sound. The tone struck me as more nuanced vs the Euro Cut's duller quality in my opinion. The French Cut was like playing the mythical perfectly balanced cane reed with amazing response that maybe happened once a year for 15 minutes on Sept 8th at 2:17pm.
If a cane reed was this good, I'd try to save it for important, special occasions. The new cut removes this caveat. (FYI, my experience with VK1 left me feeling meh.)
The French cut I sampled ran soft like a Behn Aria or Brio. I've been playing on 3.5 Euros and ordered a 3.75 French. It was about perfect on my Behn Vintage, if not a still a touch soft...a wiggle up on my mouthpiece quickly solved the softness problem immediately.
Intonation? With a quick check on a tuner, it seemed terrific. Altissimo was higher in pitch and less 'thuddy' compared Legere's Euros. Response seems instantaneous up to C6. Though I'd admit I never really experienced the intonation problems with the Euros others disliked.
I'm curious to hear y'all thoughts and impression.
Happiest of Holidays to you all!
~Robt L Schwebel
Mthpc: Behn Vintage
Lig: Ishimori, Behn Delrin
Reed: Legere French Cut 3.75/4, Behn Brio 4
Horns: Uebel Superior (Bb,A), Ridenour Lyrique, Buffet R13 (Eb)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-12-07 22:50
I hadn’t commented on pitch because that’s part of what will take more time to assess properly (how we respond to new equipment is heavily influenced by what we did on the old equipment). I would say after about a week on the French Cut that the pitch tends to stay higher than the Euro Cut and Signature Soprano saxophone reeds I have been using.
The sound of the Euro or Signature Soprano saxophone reeds really could never be called dull or thuddy as one would easily characterize the competition such as Venn or Alta. In fact up to about two years ago (give or take), the Signature Soprano Saxophone reeds could be counted on to have even more “bite” in the sound. Unfortunately Legere decided to alter that product’s material formulation to make them much closer to the Euros.
The big question is how well the present overtones of the French Cut serve in projecting within the context of large ensembles either band or orchestra. My retirement prevents an accurate trial myself so I’ll leave that for others to provide comment.
…………….Paul Aviles
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Author: Reese Oller
Date: 2024-04-23 23:03
After going through two whole boxes of reeds and not finding a worthwhile one, I'm considering synthetic as well. I'm currently in disbelief that I didn't find even a single good reed.
$50 USD down the toilet.
Reese Oller
Clarinet student (performance major at Millikin University)
I can play bass clarinet, Eb clarinet, BBb contra, alto saxophone, bassoon at a decent level, and flute in a pinch.
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Author: shmuelyosef
Date: 2024-05-03 00:49
I have completed my "roll-over" from cane to synthetic...and am close to using Legere as my only reed supplier. (includes SATB saxophone, soprano and bass clarinet)
The improvements they continue to make really are getting better with each generation, but they now last so long, that I don't bother to catch up with the "latest thing"
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Author: Jarmo Hyvakko
Date: 2024-05-08 16:37
Having played euro cuts, since they came on market, i have now tried french cuts too. They give promise, good solid forte, nice piano but i find difficult to find the "fifty shades of grey": all the delicate nuances between mp and mf. Perhaps too hard reeds? Or a good mouthpiece fit? For me, playing #4 euro cuts, trying #4 frenchies feel a bit hard. Legeres' suggestion to try 0,25 harder ones doesn't seem a good idea...
Jarmo Hyvakko, Principal Clarinet, Tampere Philharmonic, Finland
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Author: David Eichler
Date: 2024-05-15 05:00
I have not yet tried the Legere French cut on clarinet. I tried a couple of the French cut on alto sax, and they don't seem to work for me. The tips seem very soft. I had been playing a #3.75 Signature on a Meyer 5M alto mouthpiece. I tried French Cut #3.75 and #4 on that mouthpiece and found the tips to be too soft. The #3.75 French Cut even closed off easily. Not good. Of course, different instrument and only two samples of a new product.
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Author: lydian
Date: 2024-05-15 22:35
You should give the clarinet ones a try. I've never liked Legere, or any synthetic for that matter, on sax. On clarinet, they're still inferior to cane, but tolerable, especially for someone like me for whom clarinet is an occasional double, not my primary instrument.
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Author: ScottS
Date: 2024-05-16 03:24
My experience with the French Cut Legere compared to Euro Cuts which I've now been using for about 2 years ~ is that for me they actually ran hard. My 3.5 Euro seemed softer to me than the 3.5 French Cut. Legere kindly did the replacement thing for me for free (which I really and truly appreciate!) and the Legere French Cut 3.25 is comparable (for me) to my Euro Cut 3.5.
The jury is still out for me on switching. I'm really used to the nuances of the Euro Cut and don't hear a large enough tonal difference yet...will keep playing the 3.25 to see if I develop a new take on that.
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Author: Mojo
Date: 2024-05-16 17:41
How about on Bass Clarinet? French compared to Euro?
MojoMP.com
Mojo Mouthpiece Work LLC
MojoMouthpieceWork@yahoo.com
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Author: NOLA Ken
Date: 2024-05-16 18:06
My current best Aria 3 reed started to go soft on me mid-concert the other evening. I quickly grabed what I thought was a Legere Euro Cut 2.75 (my usual backup for the Aria 3). I was surprised at how much it articulated and blew like the soft Aria 3, but I suddenly found myself having difficulty matching intonation (mostly flat) with the rest of the section as well as in blending in tone. (We have been blending very well.) I pulled it off at first opportunity and discovered that it was a French Cut 2.75 (a fairly new one), not a Euro Cut. I finished the concert with the Aria.
My recollection is that in my earlier experiments with the French Cut of several strengths around 2.75 I found that it was pleaant enough when playing solo but somehow it just didn't seem to blend with the clarinet section of the band I'm playing in (all seasoned players, mostly R13s). This recent happenstance trial seems to confirm that. I can't describe the tonal problem anymore specifically at this point, but am not inclined to try to repeat it. I'm pretty satisfied with the Arias and European Cut Legeres.
Vandoren M30 Lyre 88 13
Rovner Dark Ligature
Leblanc Symphonie 3 full Boehm
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Author: zhangray4
Date: 2024-05-17 04:16
Unfortunately for me, I'm not a fan of the Legere French cut.
In the past, for my first 3 years as a performance major undergraduate, I used Legere European signature cut, 4.25. However, I realized I needed something more resistant. Also, it tended to become too spread of a sound when playing loud, sometimes I would be really flat on certain notes too when playing loud.
I am on the Vandoren VK1 60 strength, as I feel it provides the resistance I need. It holds when playing loud, and the intonation is solid as well. The sound is a bit dull, which I mean it has less overtones than a Legere Euro or a Vandoren V21/Rue Lepic.
I tried 2 of the Legere French cut reeds today. On 2 Vandoren BD5s, a Vandoren M15, a Vandoren B40, and a Vandoren B40 Lyre. I felt like the change in color as I went up the scale was a bit too obvious and a bit too much for my personal taste. For example, I felt G5-C6 (thumb only high C) were way too bright in my opinion, while the chalumeau register was fine. It gets too hot too fast when you play a scale from the lower register to the altimissimo notes. In my opinion. That's just not really the sound or color I am looking for.
-- Ray Zhang
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Author: Jordan Selburn
Date: 2024-05-18 22:26
I've been a real fan of the French cut, and played one exclusively for about 6 months across a wide variety of performance genres - orchestra, musical theater, wind band. That said, while I like every aspect of the reed - and LOVED the utter lack of reed-induced stress - I got some feedback that the sound was quite good, but maybe still just a bit "plastic-y". I dug out what had been my number one cane reed pre-French cut, and yes, there seems to be more depth to the sound.
So it's back to digging through, and ordering, more reeds . . . and more aspirin.
Jordan
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