I had a customer, back in November, ask if I could make him a double reed call. I said I had never done one but would give it a try. Well, I finally had some time to play around with the idea today and thought I would share what I came up with. You have to remember I had never done one before, or even seen one, and there are a few little things I will change in the future. But over all, the thing sounds great. I have a LV002 Jack voice and a LVDR025 Cottontail voice in the two holes. Each was bladed and tuned individually, and then mounted to be blown at the same time. Sounds great. I sent it to the cllent for testing and am looking forward to his reports in the field. He has lots of both dogs and bobcats on the ranches he hunts, so it will get a good test.
OK, I drilled a pair of 9/32" holes to hold the reed sleeves. I drilled them all the way through the blank. Then I came back and drilled a 3/4" hole to hold the mouth piece and another 3/4" hole to be belled out. Then I did the turning. I was using some scrap material I had on hand, some osage and some mahogany, so the colors aren't the best match, but I was more interested in seeing if I could do it rather than what it looked like. One problem I encountered is that I drilled the bell end too deep, and when I put the reed sleeves in, they stick out a bit into the bore. Next time I'll not drill so far, or make the call a bit longer. Here are some pictures of the finished call.
As you can see from the pictures, the mouth piece is o-ring fit for removal, allowing the reeds to be changed. It also only has one hole, it is not one that is turnable, allowing one to blow one reed and then the other. They both blow at the same time for a very different sound. I would like your comments and any suggestions you may have. Thanks for looking guys.