Alto Saxophone French Cut

French Cut a Winner

I have been a committed American Cut user on my alto saxophone and wanted to try the new French Cut. I found them to be very similar in dynamic range and responsiveness. The French Cut produced a slightly darker tone, but a casual listener probably couldn't tell the difference. In total you couldn't go wrong with either cut.

Better

I tried a synthetic reed 5 or 6 years ago and didn’t like the feel of it on my tongue and felt the response wasn’t what I wanted. The new reed I just tried had better response but I still didn’t like the synthetic feel. I had a # 2 strength reed and was told that to get a darker sound I would have to go to a stronger reed which isn’t what I play so I’ll stay with bamboo

Total game changer

Ig I’ve been playing on the wrong reeds(or not breaking them in well😅) but these have totally changed my tone. I’ve gotten so many compliments on my sound and have been asked if I changed my set up. The consistency has also motivated me to practice more because I know what sound I can expect each day, and I’ve been able to make more technical progress because of the consistency as well. This very well may be a permanent switch for me! It has totally changed how I feel about how I play and feels way better than cane reeds to me. I’d def recommend if you play often and spend a lot on reeds as it is, or if you play in varying environments.