Photo by H. Kahlke ©2011
I’ve been using the Légère Signature Series reeds exclusively on my tenor for nearly 18 months. These are by far and away the best reeds I have come across.
Now that my Fibracell alto herd is getting thin, the other day I decided to pick up a couple of alto Signature Series reeds from David’s shop. I am just as happy with them as I am with my tenor reeds. For alto though, I prefer the 2½, rather than the 2¼ that I play on tenor.
Looking back at the original review that I wrote when I started using the reeds, I would say that the information presented is still accurate for the most part. I have however, revised the Pro/Con chart to reflect my thoughts after more than a year’s experience with these reeds.
After using the Légère Signature Series reeds for a year and half, I would say that the Pros & Cons of these great reeds could be summed up like this:
| Pros | Cons |
|
Availability—These reeds are currently in production for alto and tenor.
|
Only alto and tenor reeds are available. When will the company be developing Signature Series soprano and baritone reeds? IMO these would be a huge improvement from what’s currently available.* |
| Very responsive over the entire range of the horn | Darker—More core tone and less overtones present. Although many people would see this a “Pro”. |
| Long lasting—4 reeds in rotation last about a year. (Depending on amount of playing of course, and how well a player takes care of his/her reeds.) | Hard to see the reed tip against silver mouthpieces. |
| Can be worked on | Fussy with regards to ligature placement. EG: If you don’t have the Rovner’s fastening screw placed exactly in the middle, the response is impeded and sound is compromised. |
| Company has a return program to ensure you get the right strength reed. | It is easy to overshoot the altissimo note you’re aiming for. Although a player does get used to the reed’s altissimo ability in time, it is still easy to go too high. |
| Extremely easy altissimo | The cost. These reeds cost approx. $25 each… Or about $26.99 in Canada. (Which is pretty funny, since Légère is a Canadian company, and our dollar has been worth more than the US one for quite some time now! ) :wtf: |
| Overall very playable | The reeds may “fatigue” easily, and need to be exchanged during a performance. I guess that’s what set breaks are for. |
| I have found that the newer reeds I’ve bought (those with a diamond pattern) don’t seem to fatigue as badly as the earlier ones. |
* The reed strength chart on Légère’s website shows soprano Signature Series reeds. Perhaps that means that the soprano reeds are not that far away! ❓
If you haven’t yet tried a Légère Signature Series reed, I encourage you to do so. Even if you don’t like synthetic reeds, be brave, and give one a blow. :saxy:
Even the most dedicated cane user, of which I was once one, could benefit from having a great-blowing, synthetic in his/her sax case. Even if you just keep it there for that 1 in a million chance that you’re at a show and your reed craps out, and your other cane reeds aren’t prepped, or have become water-logged, or were chewed by mice overnight, or ??? The point is, being prepared is not a bad thing, and with a Légère Signature Series reed, you can guarantee that you will be.
