Legere Classic synthetic reed, 2.5, exchanged from a much harder 3.5, and sounds a lot better. photo by Don Tai.
You do not really know if a company guarantee is worth the pixels on their web page until you or someone else tries it out for themselves. Little Weed has been playing B flat clarinet in junior high and senior high school for a couple of years now. When we originally bought reeds we went the safe route and bought wood reeds, namely the Rico brand. This time we decided to try the Legere Classic synthetic reed, bought at a local music store, ten times more expensive than the traditional wood reed. Initially the reed was too hard, but after a free exchange for a much softer number, the synthetic reed was an immediate success.
Legere Classic synthetic reed, 2.5, exchanged from a much harder 3.5, and sounds a lot better. photo by Don Tai.
Companies are full of marketing and wanting in service. Take my “lifetime guarantee” Craftsman tools, bought from Sears. Sears sold the brand and now the warranty is invalid. Who would have thought? yes, Sears is still around, for now, but Craftsman is history.
Clarinet reeds come in various hardness numbers. Little Weed usually plays a Rico 3 wood reed, but has also used Rico 3.5s without difficulty. From Legere’s chart their Classic 3.5 would be equivalent to a Rico 3.75 or so, so we bought the Legere 3.5. What a mistake. The 3.5 was so hard that after 15 minutes his mouth cramped up to the point where he could no longer play. The high notes came out really clearly, but the low notes sounded like a lot of air was whistling through the mouthpiece. It did not sound normal. Since most of his playing is at the lower registers, this was a problem. The Legere Classic synthetic reed costs $22.50CAD, while a box of 10 Rico wood 3s costs $18CAD. You can buy 12.5 Rico reeds for a single Legere Classic synthetic reed.
I insisted that he used the Legere Classic 3.5 for about 3 hours of playing, in order to break it in and give it a good try. After an hour of playing, using 4 sessions, the reed softened up a bit, after which it stabilized. Softer, yes, but not soft enough. Little Weed was able to play 30 minutes before cramping set in. Not good enough.
Thankfully Legere has a one time exchange policy. Their web site was pretty clear. Fill in a simple form within 30 days of your purchase, and attach a scan of your bill. Once you get an RMA approval then you send in your purchased reed. They then mail you back the new reed. The process worked well and was fairly quick.
Overall the synthetic reed is much more expensive, about 12 times more expensive. It should last at least 12 times longer, but only time will tell. Some of the benefits of the synthetic reed are a more consistent playing and no need to wet the reed before you play it. The sound, to Little Weed and my uneducated ear, is the same as a Rico wood reed.
Little Weed notes that the synthetic reed buzzes or vibrates less on his lips than the harder wood reed, which vibrates more, but there is no discernible difference in sound. There are web sites out there that play with a synthetic and wood reed, which I could not tell the difference.
Only time will tell whether the Legere Synthetic reed is as good or better than the Rico wood reeds. Little Weed goes through about 1 wood reed a month during school, and since his school year is winding down and music classes have stopped, it will not be until September when the really heavy lifting will start. I am happy we bought it, though it will take time to see the results.
