The Art of Handcrafting Custom Game Calls > Handcrafting Traditional Reelfoot Duck Calls

Good tuning instructions for Reelfoots?

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Bob from Eames Custom Calls:
I've been playing with a Reelfoot design lately, and I'm having some trouble finding instructions on tuning. I'd love to see some pictures of the bend of the reed, and the relationship of the reed tip to the end of the tone channel.

 Anyone seen anything that might help me out?

 Bob

Joe Short:
Henry and Fred have put up the dimensions of many calls, there you will certainly find something worth a look. Personally, I make my reeds 1/16" longer than the tone channel; I believe Henry goes to 1/8". As far as reed tuning, I was taught to use a burnisher (tool used for sharpening cabinet scrapers) to bend it. Lay the reed flat, press the rod of the burnisher down flat over it and pull the reed through to create the curvature that gives you the sound you want. For me, the front "tip" of the reed has a quite distinct curve for the first 3/8" +/-, the rest of the reed has a very slight curve but it is darn close to laying flat on the board
I don't have any pictures presently but could snap some later today if you'd like.

Henry H:
Definitely check out Fred's tutorial.  Like his, my tone channels end 1/8" shy of the end of the reed.  If I remember correctly, Fred's channel has a 6º fall... I'm experimenting but the last one made had a 4º fall.  This and the height of the toneboard impact ultimately define the length of the tone channel.

I'm out of town at the moment, but will try to get pics of reed curvature from my and other calls when I get back,  I'll also try to dig up an excerpt of a Tom Turpin article I found on tuning reelfoots.

FDR:
Here are a couple pictures of one of my inserts:




The length of the tone channel relative to the length of the reed  is critical . "Too long" or "too short" and the call will not tune properly. A "too short" tone channel can be corrected by carefully lengthening the tone channel with a scraper or gouge or by trimming the length of the reed by cutting the reed shorter from the back end. Trimming the reed is tricky to do as a little goes a long way.  A "too long" tone channel requires a new longer reed.  My reed design needs a tone channel about 0.060 to 0.100" shorter than the reed. I recommend shooting for 0.100" which is about optimum. You can always make the tone channel a little longer !

You curve the metal reed as described above by pulling the reed under a polished steel rod or burnisher. If you are using shim stock for reed material you should punch the reed in the direction the rolling mill produced the material. A reed punched otherwise will either not tune properly or will not hold tune. The reed has a natural direction it wants to curve just like mylar. Pinch the reed between your thumb and finger and  determine the natural curve. The curve goes up just like mylar.

The next step is to begin the reed curve by pulling the reed under the burnisher. When the reed is beginning "to tune" the call will begin to just quack and then lock up. My curve begins just in front of the wedge and is gentle and continuous to the reed tip. The tip of the reed is about 1/8 inch above the tone board when the wedge is in place. Continue to increase the amount of curve. A little goes a long way!   When the call will both "quack and chuckle" you are close. More curve increases the "bass", less curve increases the treble.

At this point you want to work with the final 1/4 to 3/8 inch of the reed tip. What you will do is increase the curvature of this portion of the reed only. The ability to "high ball" is hidden in the tip geometry!

A properly tuned call should produce 4-7 notes of increasing higher frequency as more air pressure is applied to the call and the higher pressure will not lock the call. A five note call has about the ideal frequency range. Additional range just makes it harder to hit and hold the desired notes.

As Henry noted my calls have about a 6 degree tone channel fall. The depth of the tone channel is controlled by the fall angle and the initial penetration of the tone channel cutter (0.050 inch nominal). Some antique have a lesser fall angle but have a wider tone channel. Some have a longer tone channel and reed. They work also. There are lots of variables that you can control that effect the tone characteristics of the call.

Fred

Bob from Eames Custom Calls:
Ok, sounds like some good information there. Thanks guys, that should be enough to get me started, I'll report back when I get the insert built and start messing with the tuning.

 I appreciate all of the tips!

 Bob

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