Why Does My Autocrat Snare Sound Bad?
Autocrats are simply awesome drums and if yours doesn't sound incredible, get ready to fall in love once it is sorted. There are two main things to check; the hoop alignment and the snare system. These make the biggest difference and are the most commonly seen issues.
Hoop Alignment
On 1950's drums, modern heads fit the drum shell but not the hoops. The die cast hoops on the 1950's Autocrats were designed for calf skin heads with thick wooden flesh hoops.
On modern heads these wooden flesh hoops have been replaced with an aluminium collar that is thinner resulting in a 2mm gap between the collar and the skirt of the hoops. If the head is off-centre with a 4mm gap on one side, tuning will be impossible, or worse still the hoop can pull over the aluminium collar. When fitting new heads make sure that you have a uniform 2mm gap all around the hoop when finger-tightening the tension rods. Once centred, normal quarter-turn tuning will keep it centred. If the hoop is slightly out of round, use eight shims to get the head centred using its natural flex. Remove the shims when the drum is tuned. This isn't a problem for the revised 1960's hoops. |
Snare System
The Autocrat snare mechanism is different to the usual system. It is unloved by drummers simply because they don't understand it. It actually works brilliantly.
As an orchestral snare, there isn't a single 'on' position where you can feel the lever engage. It is a continuous movement allowing the adjustments required by symphonic pieces. Modern drummers just keep throwing the lever over, expecting it to reach a 'stop' position but it goes too far and disengages the internal cam. Once reached, the mechanism is dead and needs to be taken apart to be fixed. This has resulted in many 'upgraded' mechanisms and abandoned drums. A second little known fact is that to tension properly there has to be a leather washer fitted on either side. After 50 years these have usually perished and fallen away and with no evidence they were fitted, drummers don't realise they are missing. |
Once I get a camera sorted, I'll illustrate these points with some pictures.