Sound boards, thickness, and material

[Wsims]

Sorry I am a complete newbie when it comes to game calls though I do turn bowls and pens,

First my understanding of how a pot call works, when the striker rubs across the slate,glass,copper whatever surface at the right angle it chatters the sound is transmitted down and hits the soundboard and creates harmonics that is allowed to pass through the holes in the bottom of the pot,

I understand that their are a lot of variables that will effect the sound the thickness and hardness of the stricker, the type of surface used for the strike plate and the same goes for the sound board and the pot its self

I saw a few mentions of using wood as sound boards but nothing about how thick it should be, can anyone tell me?
Also, does the soundboard just act as a reflecting surface to bounce the waves back up or does it also vibrate creating its own resonance pattern?
Kind of sounds like a stupid question I know but I ask because if the soundboard acts as a reflector then shaping the top of the soundboard will have a dramatic effect
I was just wondering if anyone has played with this to see what would happen?

[Double00 Game Calls]

Good question. As a newbie as well I'm interested in seeing some responses.

[Prairie Game Calls]

Thickness can vary for choice of sound boards. All depends on where you set it in relationship to the bottom of the playing surface. As far as doing some kind of contour wether it is concave or convex for your sound board the key to the whole thing is to have the right distance from the bottom of the playing surface to the top of the sound board. Too far away and it will be dead too close and it will screech. When you change some of the basics that I have laid out in other post here remember you may have to change more than one thing. Your pot may have to be deeper or shallower. Your pots bottom may have to be thinner or thicker. The side may have to be thinner or thicker. You sound board may have to be thinner or thicker. All kinds of opportunity to experiment with the sounds. In past post I have laid the ground work to build a good sounding call the rest is up to you. As far as the thickness of the wood sound board goes if you go must thinner than 1/8" they like to warp on you.

Larry

[B Hoover]

Although I do not make pot calls, I follow almost every thread on here.  Guys, Larry is a wealth of knowledge at probably every call ever made and he's very quick to answer questions.  He and a lot of others have put out several tutorials on different calls.  I'd visit the tutorials and write down everything including the advice above!

[Scott Ashburn]

I make my sound boards just shy of 1/8 inch.  But I also stabilize them, so they won't warp in time.  Or at least reduce the chance of it.  Hope that helps.