Thanks Wade, good idea with the dowels! Is there any guidelines to go by, like i know with the turkey pots guys have ( to a degree ) certain measurements between point A and B so on so forth. So i was wondering like tone channel depth, and distance of flat toneboard until the curve begins, etc...Like what makes an open water call different from a timber call , as far as the tone board and insert is concerned? Or is this just try it till ya get it type of thing?
Like BigB said... there are tons of discussions about flat jig - public jig - no jig - wood jig etc... And I think in the end... it really has more to do with luck and perseverance. The luck comes in to play in terms of getting enough progress to keep you motivated to improve it. The perseverance comes in when you havent gotten lucky yet. :D A jig helps get some of that need for luck or perseverance out of the way.
There arent a lot of things that fall into "guidelines" to follow when youre first starting out - because it seems like everything effects everything else. Tone channel depth, back bore depth and size, profile of the board, drill point angle, cork fit, reed length and width, dog ears, no dog ears and on and on.
Overall the few things that I can think of that do sort of fall into the category of "guide lines" that I might suggest for someone starting out would be:
Keg length - over all length of the keg (insert/stopper/what ever you want to call it): I would say for starting out... no shorter than 3.5" and no longer than 4"
Tone channel diameter: 15/64 or 1/4" - sure you can play later... but better to have a feel for whats going on with other things and then tinker with TC dia.
Tone channel depth: likely will end up somewhere between .3" and .5" from the end of the keg tenon. Sure you can go all over the place, and the profile will have a huge effect on where the tone channel needs to end. But that range seems to be where most end up. Longer if the tone board comes to point at the end, and shorter if the tone board has a squared end.
Overall length of the tone board (end of the tone board to the back of the cork notch): Some where between 1.65" and 1.85" - again, this is a moving target... but somewhere in the middle would be a good place to start looking I would think.
Reed length and width: Again... all over the place, but if you start out between .500 and .575 wide you should be in a good area. Length of the reed is something that really depends on the profile of the board. But I would typically say that the end of the reed will extend past the tip of the tone channel between .125" and .200" - out side of that I think youll end up either very high pitched with no low end, or too low of a low and and no top end at all.
Upslope reed design vs Parallel reed design: Id say this one is more about preference, but generally one will find an upslope design on the meat stage, and a parallel on the main street stage. But youll find both in the field. I find it easier to get louder and more clear sounds from a parallel design, and more rasp and nasal sounds from an upslope.
Back bore: This is all over the map - sometimes it helps a call run better, other times it just changes the air requirements and volume and is basically dependent on the board profile. A good starting point would be one of the step bits, and go in to the 3/8 or 7/16 step as a starting point.
From there... I think many here will agree... Take notes! Youre going to try tons of things... and remembering it all will be nearly impossible. Notes and drawing out pictures and writting down measurements will really help!
Probably not all the answers you were hoping for, or as specific as yould like... but its really not possible to get much more specific on guidelines for something like this.
Hopefully you have a good time doing what ever you do, how ever you do it though... that is the important part. Cause as soon as you have fun doing it... then youre addicted and its all over for you :D hehehehe.
Cheers
Wade