How to Soften Legere Reeds - Danny Boylan

In this video I explain how to soften Legere synthetic reeds, approximately 1/4 strength at a time.

[hmac]

Same here, Danny. Worked perfectly to bring a 2.75 Signature down to about 2.5. Saved a whole lotta hassle. Thanks!

[gerryfelsky]

I'm amazed. Experimented with a bari sax 2.25. A full 5 seconds needed to get a new 2.25 close to 2.00. Thanks for this.

[FelixStatik]

1 second dip brought to life my Legere American cut Reed. Many thanks

[johnshepard]

Just softened up my 2.75 and is now a Dream! My first Legere and now I know why people like this reed, Thanks for the help.

[jimburns]

Danny, this worked perfectly. I am so thankful I came across your video. Just as you had explained, ... I too had bought a Legere Reed that was too hard. It cost me $12.00+ to mail it back to Canada for exchange. ( exchanged a 2 1/2 for a 2 1/4 ) However, the 2 1/4 was still too hard. But now I could not return the 2 1/4 for a 2. Now, the little hot water trick was the answer. Thank you.

[bobblues]

Great! Thanks. I can only guess that you did that in a moment of -" Oh man, I do not want to send this back to Legere" frustration. Brilliant!

[ticdatocshorts]

Totally worked for me!!! Thanks for the tip! I was dreading sending this back for the exchange.

[MauroDoninibrotherjake]

I did it mechanically by using 800-1000-3000 grain sandpaper. It works very well and there no risk to bend and warp the reed lip like it happened to me when I "boiled" my Legere 3.

[saxmanryan]

We’ll call this the reed Boylan method!

[MichaelMeier-lgmw]

This worked like a charm! Thank you :)

[jeffreyleonard]

Worked well with an oboe reed as well. Thanks for the tip.

[hasenakkhaya]

i had a 3.5 signature for alto. before that i was using 3.25 and that felt like i can go even harder reeds but too hard for me.

then i saw your video. i tried your way to soften but not in boiling water. but im sure the water was over 90 degrees celcius. your method to soften worked perfectly for me as well.

there is a friend on the comments that had a wrinkled tip problem. my guess is he only applied just the tip of the reed, but not all the way in (the thin part i mean). if this is the case, the part in the hot water and the part out of the hot water kinda resisted each other and caused the wrinkle. just a theory though :D

again, thank you very much for this video.

[maggiemur]

Thank you so much for this info. It worked a treat. My reed is so much better to play.

[stevekobb]

Will definitely try this. Many thanks!

[superdan]

will try this tomorrow before band practice and report back

[richardwinkler]

It might be interesting to see if using hot tap water for different lengths of time would more gradually soften. I have (alto) a one Signature and one Classic reed (both too hard). I will experiment with them before working on a tenor 2 1/2 (too hard) - just bought because 2 1/4 seems to soften a little too much after playing over 1-2 hours.

[joamon]

Greats stuff. Worked great. Thank you very much.

[nektariosattitis]

Thanks a lot. It worked in a 2.75 alto signature

[nilaychhasatia]

Bang on! 2 1/4 on tenor was too hard and 2 was too soft on higher octaves plus difficult to handle. I did 1 sec boil three times on 2 1/4 [ each time after test playing] and it has put my 2 1.4 on the damn sweet spot between it and 2!! Same with my 2.5 which was actually softer than the 2 1/4 [ I know, but that's what it is] and that also is now in my sweet spot! Superb!

[jimis]

This works with all Legeres? (interested about signature european cut Bb clarinet reed..), this applies to my case? Does this affect the sound quality and consistency or they remain as they were? To you, It took 1 time to soften reed or more? Does this work also with cane reeds?