MDManiac

Alright, I just made my first call, it sounds alright, but it has a higher pitch than i wanted.

Pot is out of cherry, about 1.25" deep, with about .75" of space betweem slate and bottom of call.

now my next call is going to be out of maple, it will be 1" thick as opposed to the cherry mentioned above. with Maple produce the raspier sound?

also, what do the different combinations produce?

EX, I have the same pot and use:
plain slate = high pitch or raspy?
slate over glass = ?
slate over wood board (board of cherry) = ?
Glass over glass = ?
etc..

Thank you for all your answers!! I need some Help!!!

Also, will a lathe be good at hollowing out a pot? like a 1/2hp 10"x14" lathe on eBay? Thanks.

jhalfhill

yeah i used a wood lathe to make them in high school. you have to get the mount that attaches to the spinner which lets you put 4 screws through it so you can screw your pot to it. i recommend just screwing on a somewhat round piece of wood then perfect the pot on the lathe. when you hollow out just be sure you have short screws in there so you don start whacking at those. then when your done drill the screw holes out larger to make some of the sound escape holes on the bottom.

slee

Ahhh, that is the mystery all of us call makers try to solve. Turkey calls are like musical instruments. Each component will change the sound. The glue you use, the material for the sound board, the thickness of the walls and bottom, the number of sound holes, the spacing between the bottom of the call and the sound board, the amount of space between the sound board edge and the sidewall, the space between the sound board and the underside of the top surface, etc. will affect the sound you end up with. Generally speaking, the denser the woods the higher the crisper the tone. Softer woods tend to absorb the sound some, so they are softer sounding. Rasp can be achieved by using different sound board materials at different spacings. Slate surfaces are raspier than glass or crystal. Crystal usually gives higher high notes. It really is trial and error until you get what you want. You can PM me if you want to discuss it a little more. My partner and I have been at it now for a couple of years, and we still play with dimensions to see what we end up with.

CamoKing247

I bought a PRIMOS AlumiSlate for $18.99 and no matter how many times i sand it and use 2 different strikers it sounds nasty..

I must say i was with a friend who used a Backwoods Call and it sounded like a tom was standing right beside us i swear!!!

I use a few calls from Primos as in mouth calls and box calls but next call i buy will be a backwoods call for sure..

slee

Thanks for the kind words Bob. We are glad you liked it. We'll see this weekend how well the birds like them. Wayne has his tuned up and ready to go, and Bldhound and I are taking a few flavors of calls to see what they like. Field testing sure is fun.

Chuck7

I hollowed mine out with a Craftsman router, You can also router the ledge to keep the slate up off of the bottom.m Mine sounds decent using the Primos "cuttin striker."
Chuck