Author: Kalashnikirby
Date: 2019-03-26 19:54
Legere all the way - I've stopped using cane and couldn't be happier with that decision, given that I avoid any form of extra hassle. I've too observed this fraying issue, and on bass clarinet, this might've had something to do with the thick string I used as a ligature - I suspect it roughened the edges of the plastic. Now with a normal ligature, this issue seems to be gone. Also, my reed was replaced for free despite having been used for 6 months or so.
Effectively, I use exactly one reed each for my bass and soprano. The signature european cut seems quite superior for both.
Some tenor/bari saxes and my bc colleague in our local orchestra claimed they're more fatiguing to play than wooden reeds, which I find hard to believe, though. You might have to chose a softer strenght compared to cane reeds.
Legeres do play lower; Chris P's explanation makes a lot of sense. Surprisingly, my pitch on bc has gone up for some reason, despite playing the exact same setup.
If possible, I'm resolved not to start any discussions on whether the sound is better or not in the outside world. For me, the overall perfomance is significantly better, and thus the sound. More experienced or skilled people might get that tiny bit of extra brilliance out of their specially selected one-in-a-hundred cane reed - I don't. I feel there's a lot of bias regarding this topic, and people generally have a rather conservative stance on the clarinet's "resonating parts". A pro clarinetist sent me his recordings of various pieces, played on cane and on plastic reeds, and I definetely couldn't tell the difference. In fact I found him to be better sounding on a recording where he used the signature cut reeds. Now there are obviously other factors involved too, but I bet one cannot hear a negative difference as easily as one would think (if any!).
Best regards
Christian
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