Living in a place where the weather conditions fluctuate greatly, the stability of these reeds is a life saver. I particularly like the openness of the low range. I find notes above the high “f” are a bit more challenging to control for intonation but I am finding a way.
I wish every beginner could start with these reeds unfortunately my students find the price prohibitive.
I would love to see a significant price drop to make them more available to young students.
Just received my second bassoon reed from the new 3-axis cutting process. This one is close enough to what I like to make in cane reeds to really convince me that it's worth persisting with trying a few of these before you give up. I won't have to adjust the tip opening on this one. Also, note what I said about "what i LIKE to make in cane reeds" -- as we all know, sometimes we get there and sometimes we don't! So, to find so much of what i'm looking for just there, unchanging and ready to go, is really great!
Thanks for the kind review Peter!
Amazing reed! Works perfectly for my needs.
Haven’t played on the Légère bassoon reeds since 2018; at that time, my biggest issue was that the tip opening was too small, resulting in sharp reeds with a limited dynamic range. I had to open them up with a mandrel or plaque and hot water, which was always a bit dicey. This new Medium model is actually slightly too open, which is a better place to start! I closed the tip very slightly, and it is now very close to excellent. The only remaining issue is a bit of balkiness in extreme soft playing - it just doesn’t have quite the smooth tail on a niente fade that a well-adjusted cane reed has. Still, much more generally usable for many situations than the 2018 reeds! I’ll be buying and living with a few more of these, to see how the tip openings and extreme soft response vary amongst individual reeds. There’s certainly more variability between reeds than there is with the single reeds, so the improvements are enough to justify more testing.
Thank you for the thoughtful and detailed review, we appreciate your comments!
I like the feel and the cut of the reed I’ve been using them for years
Thanks for the kind review!