Auto cran

Ballygo · Post by **Ballygo** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 2:45 am

Having serched the forum for solutions and although finding some, can anyone point me to a thread about curing autocran, or can you offer advise, I have a great reed at the moment , but the demon autocran keeps coming into play when I try to cran the bottom D. Help please.

I am new to this forum by the way, Happy new year.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:46 am

The cure for some is waiting for spring, openeing the reed lips, inserting wire in the upper bore, inserting tubing or a sleeve of cardboard.

I searched auto cran and found 33 references. Here are some of interest:

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... 5d5d1bfcb7
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... 5d5d1bfcb7
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... 5d5d1bfcb7

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 6:26 am

I haven't read the above links, but you may want to try opening the liops just a wee bit.

Ballygo · Post by **Ballygo** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 8:37 am

Thank you very much for your help.

Mike Hulme · Post by **Mike Hulme** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:46 am

Is the autocran superior to your own cran? If so, then your chanter may have developed consciousness, and be trying to teach you something!

Mike

goldy · Post by **goldy** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:17 pm

I used to have shocking problems with gugling bottom Ds and flat back Ds, but I recently realised that this was due to the 'scrape the bottom of the scrape zone' cure that is out there. Don't get me wrong, scraping this area certainly does cure the gurgle and brings the soft/hard closer to each other in tuning, but it very rapidly flattens the back D.

The gurgles happen because the reed is too stiff so you need to weaken it a bit

My suggestion is to go for a widened 'V' shape to the scrape, but to focus on sanding the lips thinner without thinning the centre of the scrape zone (tilt the reed a bit so that you're only sanding the top quarter of the reed). The corners should be slightly thinner than the centre of the lips and you should scrape as wide as possible closer to the lips, but not to the point where the lips collapse in the corners. This way, you soften the reed to cure the gurgle without losing the internal vloume that flattens the back D. The 'plus' of this is that you get a quieter reed (lips can still vibrate easily when very closed), the 'minus' is that you run the risk of creating a weak sounding back D that may drop in pitch if you blow too much air through the reed ("breaking back D").

Another quick fix if you're in a dry climate is to introduce some humidity - I sometimes take the windcap off and blow some humid air through it from my mouth (this is usually just enough to get rid of the gurgle). However, too much humidity will flatten the back D.

Good luck

Ballygo · Post by **Ballygo** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:30 am

Thanks Goldy. I am trying all the remedies other than the scrape thing first but no result yet. I will definitely try your idea , and will let you know. Thanks again. Ballygo

Ballygo · Post by **Ballygo** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:30 am

Thanks Goldy. I am trying all the remedies other than the scrape thing first but no result yet. I will definitely try your idea , and will let you know. Thanks again. Ballygo

Dionys · Post by **Dionys** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:44 pm

Another quick fix is to dangle a tiny bit of thread off the bottom of your reed staple into the throat of your chanter. It's along the same lines as inserting wire into the upper bore, but with much less of a chance for any damage to the bore.

Dionys

Ballygo · Post by **Ballygo** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 5:23 am

Hi all
I have tried Lorenzo´s trick with the wire , and it works, so far so good. I will keep you posted:-)

Ballygo

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 9:12 am

Ballygo · Post by **Ballygo** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:31 am

Although the wire has sorted out the Autocran I now have a wavering back D. In tune under a lot of pressure and slightly flat with normal pressure. Dont get me wrong it is a 100% improvement on before but I thought I would ask anyway if this is the result of the wire trick

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 11:00 am

Try a shorter wire that doesn't come so close to the thumb D hole. You want the shortest one that still works. Maybe a shorter wire will mean you have to add a tiny rush in the bell.