 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-12-05 08:22
Legere needs to be commended for the continued, steady effort to improve their product. Really, the ICA has to come up with an award for Legere for commitment and innovation.
That said I wish to speak to those of us who are dedicated Legere users.
There are two small negative characteristics to their sound that we live with and can be easy to mitigate. The first is the tendency to sound hollow in an unflattering way in the throat notes. For me the G# is the one that gets the most attention because it can sound, well plastic like if played carelessly. The other character to Legeres that can be unflattering is the altissimo notes above the “F” that sits on the third ledger line above the staff. Those notes can become strident.
The new French Cut reed all but eliminates both these tendencies.
Additionally they are quite responsive. As advertised the material is thinner at the tip than in previous Legeres. But unlike the Euro and the Signature Soprano Saxophone reeds, the French cut is the width of a normal cane reed. This represents a significant lessening of the total surface area of plastic trying to move at a high rate of speed.
Unfortunately the reed stock is not much thicker (up and down) so it may not help those like me who have to use smaller ligatures. However, the standard cane reed width will now enable users to use ligatures such as the Vandoren M/O previously too thin to allow use of the Euro cut.
If I were to try to indicate how the reed sounds in a name, I’d call them “Euro French Cut plus.” Overall a clear improvement on an already stellar product.
……………Paul Aviles
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Author: Micke Isotalo ★2017
Date: 2023-12-05 17:00
Thanks for your review, Paul.
How did you experience their strength compared to the Euro cut? According to Legere's strength chart, the French cut is a tad softer at every step (like 1/8 grade, if that's even perceivable). Was that also your perception?
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2023-12-05 20:27
I had written a review of the product--expressly writing about interest in your thoughts Paul, in a prior thread published shortly after the bboard was restarted: a thread that seems to have gotten lost when Mr. Charette's restarting of the board had a hiccup that necessitated him rebooting from a backup that was likely absent my thread.
I know you had acquired the reed about a day after I pointed to its availability at Sweetwater Inc.
I'm glad you both liked it and focused your review on existing Legere users because my also favorable review targeted mostly cane users like me.
While I don't think I'll be switching off of cane as a result of this product's release, I do think that this reed is the best Legere has put out to date and it might very well make a bunch of cane users that are on the fence about making the permanent move to a synthetic do so. You can bet it will go in my gig case and may prove invaluable in the humid summer months when it seems harder for me to find decent "arundo donax" to play on.
At least for me, unlike previous Legere offerings, I do not find my pitch suffering (nearly as much) while playing the French Cut offering. I ordered a strength 3.0, which I found very comparable to Vandoren Cane Blue box in strength.
To me, this offering feels and sounds more like cane. At times--and for certain notes and passages--and I felt this way with Vandoren's VK1 offering--I could forget I was playing a synthetic. I have not felt that way on prior Legere products.
As with all Legeres, I have found that reed positioning is crucial. Failure to properly place the product, IMHO will prove less forgiving than doing so with cane.
I give Legere a definite thumbs up and recommend that users give it a try.
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Author: LostConn
Date: 2023-12-05 20:34
Paul Aviles wrote:
> Legere needs to be commended for the continued, steady effort
> to improve their product. Really, the ICA has to come up with
> an award for Legere for commitment and innovation.
Regardless of how one feels about its products, Legere is a very good reed company. It does what the big cane reed makers have traditionally done: both improve *and diversify* its product line, so more players can be accommodated.
The opposite would be Fibracell, one of the world's worst reed companies. (Do any clarinetists use these reeds? Not even many saxophonists still do.) It offers only a single reed model, which hasn't changed in about 20 years.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-12-05 21:27
I left out the strength comparison in the posting above......my fault.
I have been using the Legere Euro Cut mostly in the last eight years and the strength of the French cut seems exactly as described by Legere......pretty much one for one. It is a little less obvious to me since I gravitated to the latest Legere Signature Soprano Saxophone reeds most recently to get a little more ping in the sound (with those I need to move down a half strength from a 3.5 to a 3.0) The French cut have more of the pronounced pop in the sound that I was looking for from the Signature Saxophone reeds.
And I would stick up for the Fibracell only in that those reeds have worked for me in the past on bass. Would any of you know if they are actually made of Kevlar fiber or are they just cane with a plastic coating along the flat side? I've torn three of them apart and still can't make up my mind about that.
................Paul Aviles
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Author: LostConn
Date: 2023-12-05 23:00
Paul Aviles wrote:
>
> And I would stick up for the Fibracell only in that those reeds
> have worked for me in the past on bass. Would any of you know
> if they are actually made of Kevlar fiber or are they just cane
> with a plastic coating along the flat side?
What you're describing sounds like a Rico/D'Addario Plasticover. I've played a Plasticover, and you can tell there's real cane underneath the coating. A Fibracell is not like that at all. It *looks* rather like cane, but it's just resin with fibers embedded. The fibers don't seem organic to me. Fibracell does claim that they're made of Kevlar, but of course I can't confirm that.
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Author: MarkS
Date: 2023-12-05 23:31
I received a Legere French cut 3.75 yesterday. I like it very much. For the past couple of months, I have been playing the Vandoren VK1 strength #40. Before that, Legere European cut 3.5. I liked the VK1 very much, but the strength was significantly off on about a third of the reeds I tried. I would place the new Legere on a par with those VK1 that are of the proper strength, and clearly better than the Legere EC.
As far as strength is concerned, I find the French cut 3.75 slightly stiffer than the European cut 3.5. However, unlike the EC, I am able to adjust the resistance by raising/lowering the position of the reed on the mouthpiece. When I tried to do this with the EC, the tone degraded significantly. I wonder if that might have had something to do with the wider tip on the EC?
Here is a very short comparison of French (3.75) and European (3.5) cut posted by a professional player. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFsi3od47xM.
Assuming that the French cut are as consistent as other Legere reeds, they are a great option to have.
Mark
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Author: graham
Date: 2023-12-05 23:49
That comparison suggests that the French Cut has more focus than the EC, and a bit more complexity. It would be interesting to see how it held up for heavy dynamic use in, for instance, an orchestra.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-12-06 01:28
Thank you MarkS for mentioning the "up and down adjustment" for reed strength. I have yet to try that. I assumed from YEARS of Legere that you'd lose significant sound character going more than just a hair one way or the other.
I'll give it a whirl.
Going back to Fibracell for one moment. I was told about the "coating" from others and have literally dissected three reeds only to be more confused. I think we need someone who has a definitive answer. They do NOT break apart into fibrous bits as one might expect from Kevlar.
............Paul Aviles
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-12-06 09:32
Adult learner, Grade 3
Equipment: Yamaha Custom CX Bb, Fobes 10K CF mp,
Legere Bb clarinet European Cut #2.5, Vandoren Optimum German Lig.
Post Edited (2023-12-06 13:49)
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Author: lydian
Date: 2023-12-06 20:24
FYI, they've updated the strength chart to include the French Cut. Based on all the positive reports, I'm looking forward to trying one. Synthetic would be ideal for a doubler like me. I had 2 gigs this weekend where dried out clariinet reeds were an issue. I had to pick up the horn and wet the reed after every tune to avoid disaster.
https://www.legere.com/need-to-know/strength-charts/
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2023-12-07 01:19
Given that they are not as yet offering a FC for bass clarinet, I'd be curious to hear from anyone trying the tenor sax FC on the bass.
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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Author: kilo
Date: 2023-12-07 01:49
Quote:
I'd be curious to hear from anyone trying the tenor sax FC on the bass.
Mine are supposed to show up on Monday and I'll post my review on Tuesday. So far, I'm liking what others are saying.
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Author: JTJC
Date: 2023-12-07 19:08
I bought a couple of FC here in the UK. Initial impression is they are very close to cane. Better than EC, I'd say. They don't seem to play flat, but I find the high altissimo harder on the softer strength of 2.5, which isn’t a problem on cane. Tone edging on very good. I'll need more time get used to them and to play them in over a period to determine other finer, characteristics.
At the moment, as a reliable replacement for a good standard cane reed they're great.
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Author: kilo
Date: 2023-12-08 19:44
They showed up yesterday!
I ordered tenor sax reeds at 3.25 strength, which is what I use on the American cut (tenor sax) and Euro cuts (bass clarinet). I had a short performance scheduled last night so I tried one right out of the box.
My first impression was that, using a Grabner White Velvet, it felt harder and sounded darker. As I said, it was a short performance, three pieces in ten minutes, and I didn't really give it a complete workout. So this morning I spent some time and compared results on both the Grabner and a Fobes CF that I also use. The sound on both of the mouthpieces was really very nice. It behaved a bit differently that it did in the performance, though, and I think I know why. The venue itself was dark! Mounting a Legere on the white mouthpiece can be kind of fiddly in broad daylight – I suspect that it might have been placed a bit lower on the tip rail, which affected the sound and response. But when I tied it this morning it was free-blowing and provided a very clean tone on both mouthpieces. Altissimo notes popped right out with my normal fingerings.
Micke Isotalo mentioned that they might be a little softer than the Euro and I did feel a little less resistance, but I've been playing on six month to year old reeds and the comparison might be a little unfair. Nonetheless, I think I may go up to a 3.5 when I reorder. While not a game-changer for me, these are good quality reeds and I think I'll be sticking with them. Of course, if Legere releases a French Cut for bass I suppose I'll have to try them out.
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2023-12-09 18:18
Thank you Kilo ,
Sounds like the sax FC on the bass is an upgrade on the bass Euro cut. Seemingly a little softer you say.
Pleased to hear that and thanks again for the thoughtful review .
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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Author: tucker ★2017
Date: 2023-12-09 19:11
I just received a new FC tenor reed for my bass. I used to use Legeres exclusively but always seemed to be limited, especially with ff dynamics. I returned to cane and never looked back until all the hubbub for the FC appeared.
After trying out the FC, I'll stick to cane. When I use a synthetic, Legere's tenor sax studio cut works best for me, so I'll be returning the FC and use their studio cut when needed.
FWIW, I ran across Nexus sax reeds. They have an article in their website explaining how reeds differ today from reeds of the 1970's. They apparently had a slightly shorter vamp. They work terrific for me....most work well right out of the box with very little tweaking.
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Author: Bob Barnhart ★2017
Date: 2024-06-14 05:48
Over the years I've played Vandoren and Zinner mouthpieces without being able to find a synthetic reed that really worked like I wanted, although the Legere European Cut came closest.
Six months ago I switched to Gleichweit mouthpieces (1.15-1.19 x 22mm) and recently ordered a new Legere European Cut 3.0 and one of the new French Cut 3.0 reeds. Both play better on my Gleichweits than any previous synthetic reeds have.
The EC felt less resistant, more open and more vibrant, while the FC felt a bit more resistant, produced a more focused/denser sound and felt almost like the Pilgerstorfer Dolce 3.75s that I've been playing recently. This was the first time I felt a synthetic that actually duplicated the feeling of a cane reed! However, the FC is more even in tone and response over the range of the instrument than even my best cane reeds.
While this is a small test case, I look forward to a more thorough evaluation and am cautiously optimistic that I might finally be able to switch to synthetic reeds. I would like to try a new Vandoren VK1 but with their additional expense, I want to make sure I get a comparable strength.
Bob Barnhart
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