I bought a $98-item from WW&BW over the Internet and for $.99 more, they would toss in free shipping. I ordered a Legere synthetic reed for alto saxophone (#2 strength) to make the order over $99, based on favorable comments I'd read about the Legeres and got FREE SHIPPING! Yippee . . .
It arrived today. I was disappointed to see that except for the label on the butt of the reed ("Legere 2"), it looked like just another Bari reed from years back - plain clear plastic.
And, it didn't play any better than a Bari plastic reed. It was stuffy and unresponsive; absolutely NO soft tones for me. I thought maybe it would play better on a closer-tipped mouthpiece, so I took it off my Sinta (which Ed says is like a C* but it plays REALLY strong like a very open piece) and put it on a hard-rubber Yanagisawa 5 and a Selmer S-80 C*. No improvement.
Then, I switched ligatures, from a metal Selmer two-ring lig to a Rover EDII. No improvement.
For the record, when I use synthetics, I use Fibracells - more like a reed than plastic bar-stock. But what works best on my alto Sinta piece are Vandoren ZZ #2, slightly adjusted out of the box. My altos sing top to bottom - and they blow easy.
At $15 a pop, I'm not sure that I want to go through a number of strengths (I recall they had a 1 or a 1 1/2) or other sizes for other horns.
My question is, has anyone adjusted these reeds? I'm thinking of sanding it down a bit but wanted to ask before I ruin a useless $15 reed. Thanks! DAVE
It arrived today. I was disappointed to see that except for the label on the butt of the reed ("Legere 2"), it looked like just another Bari reed from years back - plain clear plastic.
And, it didn't play any better than a Bari plastic reed. It was stuffy and unresponsive; absolutely NO soft tones for me. I thought maybe it would play better on a closer-tipped mouthpiece, so I took it off my Sinta (which Ed says is like a C* but it plays REALLY strong like a very open piece) and put it on a hard-rubber Yanagisawa 5 and a Selmer S-80 C*. No improvement.
Then, I switched ligatures, from a metal Selmer two-ring lig to a Rover EDII. No improvement.
For the record, when I use synthetics, I use Fibracells - more like a reed than plastic bar-stock. But what works best on my alto Sinta piece are Vandoren ZZ #2, slightly adjusted out of the box. My altos sing top to bottom - and they blow easy.
At $15 a pop, I'm not sure that I want to go through a number of strengths (I recall they had a 1 or a 1 1/2) or other sizes for other horns.
My question is, has anyone adjusted these reeds? I'm thinking of sanding it down a bit but wanted to ask before I ruin a useless $15 reed. Thanks! DAVE