Saxophone Insights

I became really frustrated dealing with the inconsistency and waste of my cane reeds and thought I would give the Légère Signature Series Saxophone Reeds a try. I was blown away by these amazing reeds so I became a PRO Certified dealer for them. I never would have thought I would go to a synthetic reed myself but Légère Reeds are so consistent and reliable while sounding fantastic and responding beautifully that I will never go back. They actually make it even more fun to play saxophone!

Yes, one reed is…

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Enhancing the airstream is everything when it comes to a Theo Wanne mouthpiece. That is why these beauties are so easy blowing and free flowing. You have to try it to believe it.

GOLD – Gold has the most color in the sound of any type of plating. It sounds ‘beautiful.’

SILVER – Silver has a semi-clean and bright tone, but not much color to the tone.

NICKEL – Very clean and pure sounding, but not much color to the tone.

VINTIFIED – It is very resonant and yet dark sounding at the same time; the closest a metal mouthpiece can sound to hard rubber. The Vintified finish™ was created by Theo Wanne the eminent world expert on saxophone mouthpieces.  It is a natural patina which "wears"…

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DARK: A warm, less projecting tone. It has a more personal feel. A dark sound is usually created by a low baffle and floor.

BRIGHT: Loud and penetrating sound. A bright sound is usually created by a high baffle and floor.

PROJECTION: A sound that can be heard from far away has good projection. Good projection allows a musician to be heard over other instruments in a group.

CORE: A very centered sound, that has good direction. Like water coming from a hose in a solid focused stream. Also similar to a spot…

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Squeaking is usually caused by the reed not being flat. It may not be flat in the first place, may have deformed after absorbing moisture, or formed to the shape of the mouthpiece window. Switching between mouthpieces, or moving the reed, makes this issue even worse. The solution is to flatten the bottom of the reed with a reed knife, Grobet "0 cut" file, or with sandpaper on a flat surface.

Does mouthpiece material affect the sound?

The answer is yes! Theo Wanne machined multiple versions of the same mouthpiece in every material from vintage to new that they could find. The result was unanimous amongst our team. Metal adds zing to the sound, rubber is resonant and warm. Rubber mouthpieces are wider so there is more material in your mouth too. Here are detailed descriptions:

• BRASS – Brass is the most colorful and ringing of mouthpiece materials.
• BRONZE – A bit denser, harder sound than…

It is a well known fact that Vintage Hard rubber sounds great.  But why?  The reason is that vintage hard rubber is more pure than most modern versions and that it lacks the accelerants and additives of the modern hard rubber.  The key to knowing the purity of a hard rubber mouthpiece is the color of the material when sanded; the lighter the more pure.  When you sand a Theo Wanne mouthpiece, for example, it sands as light as a vintage hard rubber mouthpiece indicating the purest, and highest quality hard…

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