Author Topic: Cranberry . . eh . . hmm (Read 2600 times)

HamPster · « **on:** January 09, 2004, 11:31:34 AM »

I'm not sure what I think about it yet. It's nothing that really stands out to me yet, but it's not complete garbage. Drilled it pin above ring, cg out a little, it's probably something like 4.5x4 or so. Didn't go as long as I hoped or expected, and didn't have as much backend in the same respects. It's more of a hook/set reaction so far, and it kinda rolls out at the backend, but doesn't fade. It's really similar to what my Blueberry did (label drill) with the exception that the Blueberry continued on the backend. Plays deep really well though, and doesn't flare much at all, so at least it won't REALLY roll out. Now that I think about it, it's similar to my Time Zone, just a little smoother. I think I'll like it though. It's pretty strong off the dry (what ball isn't) but it'll be a GREAT ball to use when the track starts burning, and did very well when I was practicing tonight in that respect. Pretty controllable too. Hit and carry isn't anything spectacular, my Super Charge is still my standard for that. Looks awesome too, so although it doesn't do quite what I want it to, it'll still fill my need for something I can play deep with that will recover, because I don't have anything like that. It seems a little too weak for a fresh shot, but once some dry shows up, this ball will really shine.
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The weekly signature series, by Hamster, presenting a mini-series of quotes from the Blue Collar Comedy tour!

"I pulled up behind a big rig that had gotten stuck under an overpass, and when the policeman got there, I saw him smile, and thought, 'My God, he can't say it . .' Sure enough, he asks the trucker, 'Get your truck stuck?' And bless his heart, without missing a beat, the trucker replied, 'Nope, I was deliverin' this overpass and ran out of gas.' Here's your sign . . "

Steven · « **Reply #1 on:** January 10, 2004, 11:22:54 AM »

quote:
I'm not sure what I think about it yet. It's nothing that really stands out to me yet, but it's not complete garbage.

Hampster: LOL! You captured the exact essence of the Cranberry. The most distinguishing thoughts the ball leaves you with is confusion. Something tells you the ball is really good for something, but it's like the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq -- you keep coming up empty.

I really believe that the Cranberry shined up to 2000+ grit will make an excellent dry lane ball. I'm not being facetious here. I haven't tried it yet, but this cover/core combination seems like it would produce superior results on dirt, possibly more so than other weak resin solutions out there.

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"You want the truth? -- You can't handle the truth! "

HamPster · « **Reply #2 on:** January 10, 2004, 12:05:53 PM »

Lol, yeah! It wasn't impressing me that much until the track started burning, and then I started doing well, and my first thought was, "Maybe I should polish this and play a little straighter . . " Glad I'm not alone in my confusion!
--------------------
The weekly signature series, by Hamster, presenting a mini-series of quotes from the Blue Collar Comedy tour!

"I pulled up behind a big rig that had gotten stuck under an overpass, and when the policeman got there, I saw him smile, and thought, 'My God, he can't say it . .' Sure enough, he asks the trucker, 'Get your truck stuck?' And bless his heart, without missing a beat, the trucker replied, 'Nope, I was deliverin' this overpass and ran out of gas.' Here's your sign . . "

charlest · « **Reply #3 on:** January 10, 2004, 06:27:59 PM »

Hamster,

I wonder if some of the problem is not in that drilling. I've tried it a few times inthe last 6 months and it seems to make most balls into control type balls with their associated ball paths. Not every ball drilled that way acts that way. I just wonder.

No matter what anyone says I still believe that is not a strong core. Pin next to or below the ring finger (depending on whether you're a high or low tracker) may allow that ball to have a stronger or, at least, more continuous backend. You could always, like Steven said, sand it very fine (1000 or 1200) and then polish to 2000/2500 to get more length.

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"Just because you can do something does not mean you should do it."

HamPster · « **Reply #4 on:** January 10, 2004, 08:40:03 PM »

I really don't want to mess with the coverstock though, it'll be dead inside 30 games if I do. One specific pattern I bowl on tries to burn up the ball's energy as early as it can. It's 23 feet buffed to 36, and if you have anything halfway strong, it'll start burning or revving faster at 30 feet, not to mention the fact that the backends are soft. If I polish it, it'll die, and then be incredibly over/under. The stuff I've actually adjusted the coverstock on has to be redone at least once a week because polished stuff gets dulled, and dull stuff gets polished by the lanes. These are 6 year old Brunswick ProAnvil synthetics, I'm not too impressed.
--------------------
The weekly signature series, by Hamster, presenting a mini-series of quotes from the Blue Collar Comedy tour!

"I pulled up behind a big rig that had gotten stuck under an overpass, and when the policeman got there, I saw him smile, and thought, 'My God, he can't say it . .' Sure enough, he asks the trucker, 'Get your truck stuck?' And bless his heart, without missing a beat, the trucker replied, 'Nope, I was deliverin' this overpass and ran out of gas.' Here's your sign . . "

charlest · « **Reply #5 on:** January 10, 2004, 11:05:59 PM »

Hamster,

If the oil is so STUPIDLY short, why mess with a cover as strong as PK 18??
Get a Barrage and KILL them with it. Honestly!
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"Just because you can do something does not mean you should do it."

Strider · « **Reply #6 on:** January 10, 2004, 11:12:38 PM »

quote:
I really don't want to mess with the coverstock though, it'll be dead inside 30 games if I do. One specific pattern I bowl on tries to burn up the ball's energy as early as it can. It's 23 feet buffed to 36, and if you have anything halfway strong, it'll start burning or revving faster at 30 feet, not to mention the fact that the backends are soft. If I polish it, it'll die, and then be incredibly over/under. The stuff I've actually adjusted the coverstock on has to be redone at least once a week because polished stuff gets dulled, and dull stuff gets polished by the lanes. These are 6 year old Brunswick ProAnvil synthetics, I'm not too impressed.
--------------------
The weekly signature series, by Hamster, presenting a mini-series of quotes from the Blue Collar Comedy tour!

"I pulled up behind a big rig that had gotten stuck under an overpass, and when the policeman got there, I saw him smile, and thought, 'My God, he can't say it . .' Sure enough, he asks the trucker, 'Get your truck stuck?' And bless his heart, without missing a beat, the trucker replied, 'Nope, I was deliverin' this overpass and ran out of gas.' Here's your sign . . "

I still can't accept that you believe this, or that your proshop continues to employ you if you do???
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Penn State Proud

HamPster · « **Reply #7 on:** January 11, 2004, 12:48:22 AM »

Every time I polish Brunswick coverstocks, they die. Don't get me wrong, I know what I'm doing, I just know what I've experienced. It's happened to TWO Red Fuzes, a Purple Fuze, my Detonator, my Scream/R, my Carbide LRG, my Emerald (that one was REALLY bad), and my X-Zone TE1. The only other two balls I've ever owned with Brunswick coverstocks have been a Blueberry (which my brother now owns) and now the Cranberry. I'm beginning to think that it might be overuse also, because if I let a ball sit for a while without throwing it, it suddenly remembers how to hook, and I've seen a lot of instances with friends doing that. I'm not afraid to polish anything, I'm just worried because of the conditions I bowl on. It's an over/under condition to begin with, so I don't want to polish a weak ball.

Charlest, thanks for the suggestion, and I have actually been using my dead Detonator with incredible success recently. Straight up 6 or 7 board, down and in, ball reacts like urethane, I LOVE it. However, I have nothing with length and backend, which I need when the track starts burning, so that's why I decided to drill a Cranberry. I liked the reaction of my Blueberry, but it was just a little too early for me. I REALLY prefer to leave my coverstocks alone, but now that I know more than I did even a few months ago, I'm getting a little more comfortable with messing with them. My Detonator has been sanded and polished so many times I'm surprised I still have labels. I was hoping my Cranberry would react similarly to my X-Zone TE1, go long, and have a strong arc at the backend. I haven't thrown it much yet, I may just need to break it in a little. I might break down and polish it though . .
--------------------
The weekly signature series, by Hamster, presenting a mini-series of quotes from the Blue Collar Comedy tour!

"I pulled up behind a big rig that had gotten stuck under an overpass, and when the policeman got there, I saw him smile, and thought, 'My God, he can't say it . .' Sure enough, he asks the trucker, 'Get your truck stuck?' And bless his heart, without missing a beat, the trucker replied, 'Nope, I was deliverin' this overpass and ran out of gas.' Here's your sign . . "

charlest · « **Reply #8 on:** January 11, 2004, 07:11:49 AM »

OKAY, I just read what you wrote in the "Polishing thread" in the Miscellaneous section. I guess I missed the "soft backends" along with short oil on this oil pattern. In that case, mild balls or pearls won't work. SO forget all this drivel I originally posted below.

Another poster also seems to have a similar problem. Can't several bowlers or league presidents get together and tell the owner/manager that the backends NEED to be stripped more for the sake of his machines and care for his lanes than for the bowlers, but the bowlers are also PO's??

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Hamster,

The Barrage is kind of an extreme ball; it's for serious dry but I haven't tried it on toasted heads. It is much easier thru the heads + mids than even a glossed Sonic-X solid and many mild pearls (Boss Pearl, Ingiter, Fire Quantum, Red/Black Monster).

There are more than a few mild resins, both solid and pearls between a Barrage and your Cranberry, which may better suit you. BUT that is still very short and light oil, 24 ft buffed to 32, 36 whatever.

Most Pro shops have some stock of used mild pearls; why not dig one up and try it?

Side note: what polish do you use that always seems to kill balls?
I must assume you have tried several versions of mild applications to get a just barely a shine to a light shine to a medium shine to a heavy gloss shine. They should all act at least slightly differently.

Most balls take to shine/polish in different ways: some are affected a lot, some a little.
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"Just because you can do something does not mean you should do it."

Edited on 1/11/2004 8:31 AM

Steven · « **Reply #9 on:** January 11, 2004, 07:42:41 PM »

Over the past two days I've thrown my Cranberry on varying conditions in two different houses. My total experience has been that I can get the ball to work if I jam the ball straight up into the dry on a wet/dry block. Here, I'm able to find some predicability and the ball actually carries decent. I actually had a few 230+ games playing the ball this way.

However, I'm not comfortable having to depend on using the Cranberry for this type of shot -- there is simply too little room for error. If I make a slight error in speed (i.e. a little slow) the ball will jump. If I hit oil too soon, the ball fails to recover. So I bit the bullet this afternoon and polished it up as I previously suggested. I hit the ball with 800 and 1200 grit scotchbrite, respectively, then went with the Ebonite polish one-two punch: First, a good dose of Extender Polish, followed by Factory Finish. I haven't tried it out yet, but I think I now have a good resin dirt ball -- hopefully better than my V2 Dry and Stinger Low-Flare. My gut feeling is that this is going to work well.

After having drilled up 50+ balls over the past few years, this is my first 'confusion' ball. I'm not saying I liked every ball I've had, but in general, it was easy to read what each ball could be useful for. And the best balls always play their target condition well, and seem to be forgiving of small mistakes.

For me, the Cranberry does not provide the above described feedback, so we'll see if taking it into the dirt category will define it's niche. Given that Lane#1 says the Cranberry is it's most versatile ball, I'm hoping this cover change will be it.
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"You want the truth? -- You can't handle the truth! "

HamPster · « **Reply #10 on:** January 11, 2004, 10:57:44 PM »

Same result here. I polished it TWICE today, and without scuffing the surface first. The ball is pretty aggressive. It's GONE when it sniffs dry. There's a fine line you have to walk with it, you've gotta get enough side roll on it to get it to pull up, but you have to throw it relatively fast to get it to push a little. That's the same thing I've been doing though, throwing it pretty hard into the dry. When you throw a good shot though, the thing is a monster on the backend. It cuts through oil really well too. Mine doesn't flare much, but it's really predictable, even if I don't like what I know the result is going to be, lol. It'd be more versatile if it didn't frickin roll out though, that's what's so irritating about it.

Anything seems to kill them. Ebonite Powerhouse, Finesse-It (although I think that's what it's SUPPOSED to do, lol) the lustre king, everything. I've had the best success with the lustre king though. Synthetics just burn up the ball surface though, and that's mainly what I bowl on. I sanded my Super Charge to 800 last night, and haven't so much as thrown it five games, and I bet it's already at 1200 (roughly). I think it's something I'm doing rather than the actual polishing. I think the lane is burning it up, I'm using them too much, or something. I've got a couple "dead" balls in the closet that I'm POSITIVE would hook like normal if I brought them out, they seem to do that for some reason. Maybe it's the oil in the shell having time to dry up, I don't know.

ANYWAY, I'll keep a really close eye on my Cranberry. I polished it twice today, have thrown it about 10 games since, and if anything, it's getting stronger. It's easily the most rewarding ball I've thrown when I make a great shot, but it'll tell you very plainly when you throw anything less than a good shot. I don't mind adjusting my game, but I think I'm gonna hurt my wrist, that's the only thing holding me back right now.
--------------------
The weekly signature series, by Hamster, presenting a mini-series of quotes from the Blue Collar Comedy tour!

"I pulled up behind a big rig that had gotten stuck under an overpass, and when the policeman got there, I saw him smile, and thought, 'My God, he can't say it . .' Sure enough, he asks the trucker, 'Get your truck stuck?' And bless his heart, without missing a beat, the trucker replied, 'Nope, I was deliverin' this overpass and ran out of gas.' Here's your sign . . "

brimar · « **Reply #11 on:** January 12, 2004, 09:31:57 AM »

i agree with trigger 100% my red alert needs about 12 games on a resurface to get back to its consistant strong finish. hell first 2 games after resurface it went strait
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Thanks for reading my post.

Brian

Author Topic: Cranberry . . eh . . hmm (Read 2600 times)

HamPster

Cranberry . . eh . . hmm

Steven

Re: Cranberry . . eh . . hmm

HamPster

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charlest

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HamPster

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charlest

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Strider

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HamPster

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charlest

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Steven

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HamPster

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brimar

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