New to making calls, have questions

[Greg Sefton]

Howdy folks,
As a gunsmith & turkey hunter for 40 years, I decided to try my hand at call making and found this great site.  Starting with pot turkey calls seemed as good as any.  I read all the tutorials and I think all the questions and answers as well as the myriad youtube videos.. Copied a bunch of stuff here into a little "manual" :).  Great stuff, and outstanding civil & helpful attitude here BTW,  very different from so many web forums.
OK,  A couple questions.. I see some using hollow sound board pedestals and some solid.  Any reason to use either type?  On wood sound boards do you seal them against absorbing moisture (changing sound?). Some of my favorite commercial calls have wood SB.  Seems goop is the glue of choice here. Anyone tried white ash sound boards?  How about eucalyptus bodies.  I have a  few hundred board feet of it.  About the hardness & density of walnut closer grain with lots of color & figure.  Any problem with filling natural checks in wood?  what do you use for that?

Thanks!
Greg
classicsportingguns.com

[B Hoover]

First and foremost, welcome to the forum!  Your question regarding solid pedestals vs hollow pedestals is a preference on turning methods.  Solid pedestal designs are turned using jaw chucks.  Hollow pedestals are turned using either a tap or collect chuck and expandable mandrel.  Whether or not these different methods affect the sound is beyond me, but as the all too familiar quote here states "Everything affects everything."  There are countless guys on here that would better answer that question.  Wood soundboards need to be sealed.  Temperature, moisture and general use in the field will warp/swell the thin wood if not treated.  Goop or E-6000 are the glues of choice for soundboard and playing surfaces.  You will want to use spacers (most use toothpicks) around the soundboard while gluing it in place, and weight it down with a can of soup or something similar while it cures.  I've never dealt with eucalyptus so I cannot give any advice about that.  Others may jump in here to help answer that question.

One last bit of advice:  Take notes, take notes, take notes.  And read everything twice that VECtor or Larry from Prairie Game Calls mentions.  Happy turning!

[Prairie Game Calls]

Your pedastal can be either hollow or solid as was stated its more about how you chuck your call. I have tried several different kinds of wood for sound boards and really could not tell the difference in sound. I'm sure ash will work fine. I always sealed mine both sides. Eucalyptus will make a fine pot I have used it in the past. If you have small checks you can use super glue and some saw dust from the wood you are using. Also get some super glue accelerator NCF works the best.

Larry

[VECtor Calls]

I will attempt to tackle your questions from the wild man perspective. :)

The amount of surface area touching your sound board matters. The more it touches, the more it deadens your overall tone.....because more surface area means less vibration. Good, or bad, that is what a solid vs. a 'donut' pedistal can do to your call. There is a give and take though. A 'larger' (like 1 1/8" or 1 1/4" or 1 3/8" something like that) donut is not allowing for the sound board to resonate out from the center as much as a 3/4" solid pedistal would.

All these little measurements matter to the next one. There are SO many ways to come out with a 'good' sounding pot, and still several to make a GREAT pot even. The wood density matters SO much. The thickness of your slate matters down to the 1/64th's of an in h thickness it seems. SO many things. And then, you take the call to the field, you put on gloves, you add humidity to the striker and striking surface. Its a picky game to get just what a gobbler wants to respond to that day. Annnnnd, that is why I love it so much. :)

I personally don't deal in cracked wood. I don't want something I have put forth as "I made this. I hope it brings you all the luck your efforts can drum up" to fail them.  I want my finished products to be AS failure free as possible.

All that madness is why GOOP is a must too. :)

Good luck with your adventures!

[Greg Sefton]

Thanks so much for the time & expertise you guys shared.  I appreciate it.  I rough turned a first pot from the Eucalyptus and will see what kind of sound it  produces.  Regarding the wood checks etc.  Some highly figured wood that is, to me, beautiful, may have natural imperfections (character) and was just  wondering if filling them had any effect on the sound. I'd never use split wood either.
I had the friction plate shelf a little thin which brings up another question.  Is the clearance between the call body and  the sound board critical? as long as there's no contact, of course.

Thanks for all the help!
Greg
classicsportingguns.com

[Prairie Game Calls]

I don't think I ever measured my distance from the edge of the sound board to the wall of the pot. But I know it is well under 1/4" all around. If it gets to wide you will loose your roll over although there are other things you can change to counter act that but it is unnecessary so just make sure you have space more like a 1/8" all around. I'll measure mine and see what it is.

Larry

[B.Meuchel]

The overall inside diameter absolutely matters, that and your pot depth make up the volume of your "sound chamber". What I did was keep everything as consistent as I could except for the ONE feature I was experimenting with ( sound hole size, sound hole placement, depth, or inside diameter). with good notes you should be able to have a nice sounding call fairly easily, it just take some time on the lathe and trying different things. Mine didn't always sound great but I learned something new on each one.
Good luck and have fun. 

[VECtor Calls]

It all matters if you are looking to create a GREAT sounding pot.

[Greg Sefton]

I don't think I ever measured my distance from the edge of the sound board to the wall of the pot. But I know it is well under 1/4" all around. If it gets to wide you will loose your roll over although there are other things you can change to counter act that but it is unnecessary so just make sure you have space more like a 1/8" all around. I'll measure mine and see what it is.

Larry

Thanks Larry,  I appreciate all the help here. 

I understand everything affects the sound.  I would guess some things more than others.  I have a question on  woods in general.  Some of the exotic hardwoods that are beautiful, are also oily.  I would think that might dampen the resonance/harmonics? of the pot.  Do you compensate for different types (characteristics) of woods by changing the thickness of the pot walls, floor, dimensions etc.? Different sound board material? Thickness, clearance? I'm  also curious about the different sounds and importance of the various sound board material?  I think I've gotten a pretty good idea on the friction surfaces from experience using them, and from the excellent info here..  I like things that look great, but the logic is that like a good rifle, looks are secondary to performance..

Thanks again for all the great advice!
Greg
http://classicsportingguns.com/

[Prairie Game Calls]

Actually the higher end oily woods, in my opinion, produce the best sounds. Pot calls sound their best in hard, dense woods wether domestic or exotic. The dense woods transfer the sound better. Softer woods that have been stabilized work well also. I do not change my measurement based on the type of wood. I change it due to surface type and the diameter or the sound  want to achieve as in low pitch or high. And then I also adjust the weight of my striker to help make it lower or higher pitch. Sound board material will make changes in the sound so experiment with the different ones and record the results. The combos are many.

Larry

[Greg Sefton]

Thanks Larry,   For that great input.  That's good to hear.  I've always loved those exotic dalbergias & disopiros woods for their looks & feel.  Another one I plan  to try is live oak.  I cut a couple thousand board feet of it on my sawmill some years back.  It's half again as dense & hard as walnut & maple.  Might be interesting.
One question on strikers.  Here in FL, we have a  lot of wet  weather, especially during turkey season. I've used some of those waterproof strikers, like the  ones from woods wise & knight & hale. I worked the SHOT show some years back in the WW booth demonstrating the things by dunking the call in a tank of water and/or spraying the  surface with "Remoil" and then playing the call.  Any idea what material they put on  the tips?  I was told, supposedly by a knowledgeable source that it's "JB Weld".  I  tried that and it's not the  same, though it looks like it.  Also what is you favorite striker wood?
Thanks again for all your help!

Greg