We are so excited to announce that we are officially a lefreQue endorsing ensemble! We have been very impressed by their product, and each of us in the Kenari Quartet has incorporated the “acoustic bridge” into our individual setups.
Earlier this year, Steven brought a few lefreQues to one of our rehearsals, and we conducted our own trials with and without them to listen for perceptible changes in our sound. Without a doubt, we all heard the sound of our quartet become more full and rich, and now we’ve got more vibrancy and resonance to work with when we make decisions about out our ensemble’s blend and balance. If you are skeptical, consider a few essential points regardless of the lefreQue:
- Instruments have breaks, and where the tube can be disassembled for convenience (mouthpiece, neck, body, bell joints), the connections are not as solid as if the bore of the instrument were continuous from a single piece of material.
- Many notes on your instrument produce harmonics that heavily rely on those joints because of their relationship to the distance from the mouthpiece (where the nodes and antinodes fall along the tube).
On the lefreQue website, they have posted a scientific study where spectral analysis was used to discern and compare the overtone profiles of a single note on a piccolo. Measurements were taken with and without the lefreQue, and their tests showed that a very real difference in the alignment of overtones was attributable to the “acoustic bridge” that the lefreQue provides.
When we were in Texas a few weeks ago, we stopped by Carolyn Nussnbaum’s flute shop in Dallas, where we had the opportunity to try a wide variety of lefreQue acoustic bridges. Their product line offers different materials like yellow brass, red brass, solid silver, and each of those has options for different types of silver and gold plating. After some testing on our own, we found that each produces slightly different characteristics in terms of sound, intonation, and response. Bob literally tried every single lefreQue (it took a while — about three hours), and we could even hear subtle differences between the various options. Like reeds and mouthpieces, its great to have so many options to chose from, and it makes it easy to find what really caters to your playing. If you have the opportunity to try a few of them out, we heartily recommend it!
If you have questions about our experiences with the lefreQue, let us know!
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