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 primarily (going to be a performance major in college)
Bass clarinet, Eb clarinet, alto saxophone, flute (in a pinch), and bassoon
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