Francois Louis reeds

[Bill Warren]

Has anyone had any experience with these reeds on a Tenor?

I'm looking for the best reed I can buy. I don't care about cost.
I just want the very best quality. I've heard these are extremely good and consistant but would like other opinions.

I play a Yanagisawa T902.

Thanks
Bill

[awholley]

Have not tried the tenor reeds, but the alto reeds are VERY soft. I would order at least a full strength number higher than you usually play. A #4 is softer than a #3 Vandoren blue box in the alto reeds.

[Saxland]

Where can you buy his reeds?

[Mango Birkie]

Francois Louis reeds are private labeled by Rigotti. You could also try the Rigotti reeds packaged under their own name, either Rigotti Gold or Regal Queen. You can get Francois Louis and Regal Queen from Roberto's Woodwind in NYC. I believe that WWBW carries Rogotti gold. For what it's worth, I find little or no difference between Francois Louis and Regal Queen, except for the price.

[brassnaked]

Has anyone had any experience with these reeds on a Tenor?

I'm looking for the best reed I can buy. I don't care about cost.
I just want the very best quality. I've heard these are extremely good and consistant but would like other opinions.

I play a Yanagisawa T902.

Thanks
Bill
A few months ago I purchased a Jody Jazz DV 8* MPC...I've used Alexander Superials exclusively for all of my horns/MPC's for over 2 years with no complaints, and a passive expectency that a few reeds out of so many will be rejects. They simply didn't work on the JJ DV(for me).
To make a long story short, and to shed light on your question, I tried the FL reeds and voila...they are my exclusive reed now for all of Lamberson's and my Jody Jazz DV. My first box of 10 had 10 perfect reeds, 2 of which I gave to a friend and they switched too. Just looking at them, you can visually see the quality and consistency in each and every reed. On my second box of 10 and about half way through...same thing, 5 out of 5 so far. I love them, a bit more pricey but well worth it IMHO. Save yourself a wad of $$$ though and order them through Bois ligatures, a lot less expensive, than the only other source!

[Bill Warren]

Thanks for the info.
Do you have a link for Bois ligatures?
I am using a Yanagisawa metal #7 MPC and I am curious to see if there is any difference between them and the V16 I am using now.

[brassnaked]

The difference will STUN you!!! You will be so pleased with these reeds:
http://www.boisligatures.com/

[Bill Warren]

Someone stated that they are softer than most reeds and that I should step up 1 strength with these. I use about a #3 right now.
Is that your experience? Also are you using them on a tenor?

[brassnaked]

Yes, I'm using them on both of my tenors...one is a Borgani Jubilee Unlacquered Vintage model and my other horn is a dead-mint vintage King Super 20. My experinence with the FL's would be to suggest stepping up 1/2 strength, at least at first, not an entire whole step.

[Bill Warren]

Thanks
I will order them tomorrow and try them.
Thanks to all for your feedback.
Bill

[Bill Warren]

Well I ordere them directly from Bois. The only problem is they have not sent them. They don't return my phone calls or answer my emails. Is there a forum here for vendor expeirience?
Unhappily, Bill

[brassnaked]

Well I ordere them directly from Bois. The only problem is they have not sent them. They don't return my phone calls or answer my emails. Is there a forum here for vendor expeirience?
Unhappily, Bill
The only thing I can think of is that they closed for an extended period over Christmas...myself, I've had "off" from Dec 23rd to Jan 3rd.
Last order I placed with them was about 3 weeks ago, got the reeds in 4 days.

[Bill Warren]

I asked her to ship them Prioirty and I would pay extra for the fast shipping and she said she would. That was about 10-11 days ago

[madgrocer]

You can order Fracious Reeds online from Roberto's in NY..

www.robertoswoodwind.com (http://www.robertoswoodwind.com)

These reeds are extremely consistant, IMHO... and consistantly soft.. at least a 1/2 to 1 full strenghth over say a Vandoren v16. However, you get a soft reed with a fuller body to the sound. That's what I like about them, I do not like hard reeds.. but soft reeds can get a little buzzy.. so for me, these reeds cure that issue.

[bass9396]

So, softer reeds, open tip? Or do you use a slightly more closed mouthpiece?

[Bill Warren]

I finally heard fromn the lady at Bois and she apologized for not getting the order out sooner.
I hope to have the reeds by tueday and a ligature as well.
I may even step down to a softer reed. My wife prefers the soft sound I get with a Rico #2 but it is hard to play lower notes with the #2. Maybe the FL will cure this?
Sounds like others have had good results with softer reeds.

[Bill Warren]

Got the reeds and they are actually not as soft as I had imagined based on comments I got here. But they are ok. I've only played one so I need to give them a fair test. They have a softer sound that other reeds which I like.

[Jbroad572]

Got the reeds and they are actually not as soft as I had imagined based on comments I got here. But they are ok. I've only played one so I need to give them a fair test. They have a softer sound that other reeds which I like.
Worth it to you? Has anyone else compared the Queen brands sold at Roberto's?

[Markus]

I switched to Rigotti Regal Queens. Before I played Vandoren V16 and ZZ (tenor).
Comparison of reedstrength (my taste) from soft to hard:
V16 (2) --> ZZ (2.5) --> RRQ (2.5) --> V16 (2.5) --> ZZ (3) --> RRQ (3) -->V16 (3)
simplier RRQ (Rigotti Regal Queen) lies between ZZ and V16.

Markus

[Jbroad572]

I switched to Rigotti Regal Queens. Before I played Vandoren V16 and ZZ (tenor).
Comparison of reedstrength (my taste) from soft to hard:
V16 (2) --> ZZ (2.5) --> RRQ (2.5) --> V16 (2.5) --> ZZ (3) --> RRQ (3) -->V16 (3)
simplier RRQ (Rigotti Regal Queen) lies between ZZ and V16.

Markus
How do you rate their playability, life, and sound to the ZZ and V16's?

[Markus]

I completely switched to Regal Queens 4 weeks ago. So I have no long experience regarding their lifetime.
For my taste they sound a little bit brighter than the Vandorens, not much.
They play wonderful, I like them more than the Vandorens. Now I play through 2 to 3 boxes of them, then I will see about their lifetime, consistency and so on.
What I have read is that they are very consistent. I tried round about 6 now in a rotating manner. Constistency seems to be real good.
If I have more experience with them I'll post it.

I play them on an old, refaced Link Tonemaster.

Regards
Markus

[Jonah]

have heard good things about these, looking forward to trying them. But man, if I play on ZZ 4's, i should be buying 4.5 or 5's on the FL? that sounds intense.

[Jonah]

just bought some FL reeds -- tenor 4.5 and alto 4.5. Will let yall know what i think when they arrive.

[Bob M]

Over the weekend I got FL (from Bois Ligs) reeds in a 3, which is the size reed I normally play on a Lamberson L7. I decided on this size based on the chart on Roberto's website that indicated 3s are only slightly softer than Rigotti Gold 3 mediums (I have found this to be pretty much true).

Cutting to the chase, so far, so good. I'm only using the first one, but I like it a lot:D , but the expense:shock:.

Am I correct in assuming from the above posts that these are basically re-branded Regal Queens?