new to call making please help (pics to view)

[woodenhead]

I am a cabinet maker by trade, but I also love to duck hunt and always wanted to make my own duck call. I had some left over flooring and was able to make the call barrel but had terrible success completing the tone board. I did find that THO had some inserts that I had purchased. I am unsure if I need to glue the plastic tone board to the wood insert I turned. All and any criticism good or bad is welcome and will be taken as constructive. Please help a beginner. This call sounds head and arms better than the old wood call I had purchased a few years back at Gander Mt.

[Braz]

Looks great, and looks like you did everything just right.  And welcome to the board. Glad to have you here.

[BigB]

First off, welcome to the site.


Next, the reed looks to be a little long compared to where the tone channel ends.  It looks like you have a set of guts referred to as the Lousiana style.  A good thing about those style of guts are that you can put them in, see how it sounds, pull it out, put em back in, see how it sounds, repeat, repeat, repeat until you get the sound that you like.  I wouldn't glue the guts in.  If the call doesn't sound right for some reason down the road, you can pull out the guts and retune to your likeing.

With that being said, LA style guts can be tricky to tune.  If you are just starting out, it will take you quite a few times of trying different combinations to get them dialed in.  Take lots of notes of what you tried, and what you want to try next.  You will eventually figure it out.

What's the exhaust end look like?  What did you drill it out to?


Brian

[woodenhead]

The insert is 1/2" bore all the way through. I did want to try a double reed, but I can't tune it. It just sounds dead and I was unsure where to dimple the .014 reed. I just use the .010 reed. Thank you for all your help

[Jeff @ Mutt Calls]

Wood-Head, looks like you got the basics.... a little tweaking/adjusting here and there and I think you will be headed in the right direction.

Mutt

[Prairie Game Calls]

It's a nice looking call but a few things caught my eye. Barrel looks a bit long for my eye appeal and the O-ring is supposed to be counter sunk  to aid in keeping the stopper in. If you are going to use a taper fit on your  stopper then you don't need the O-ring.
If you are wanting to make it a double reed-ed call you need to pull the tone board out some more it is in too far for those guts.
I would chop the barrel off at that first burn ring and you forgot the Lanyard groove or maybe thats the way you wanted it to be. Just my
Keep going your off to a good start for sure. You may want to try using a 1/4" exhaust with those guts and then open up the rear of the call with a tapered drill bit. Hope this helps you,

Larry

[woodenhead]

I want to thank every one for their input. This forum is an awesome tool. Larry thanks for all your words I will try everything you suggested. Well except for cutting the barrel down on this call. I will make a shorter one next time. I can see that I need to do a lot of that trial and error thing. This call making stuff is a lot of fun. Although I have lots of questions, I will start out slow.

[Robert A.]

Welcome to the site and the Addiction!! Looks like you are off to a good start, the guys on this site are some of the best group of indiviuals and call makers you will find!!