tone channel diameter ?'s

[Aaron at Wingerts Woodworks]

I always use a 1/4" tone channel in my duck calls.  They sound good and I'm getting great low end, great mid range and good loud ringing hail calls.  But I gotta admit that they take a lot more air to blow than I care to use.  Run them through a routine and your lungs get a workout. 

So, I've been screwing around and doing some experimenting trying to choke them off a little while still maintaining good sound.  I've focused that effort in a couple ways and I'm starting to wonder which direction I should focus harder on.  One has been using a 7/32" bit instead of 1/4" and opening the exhaust up quite a bit.  Not bad results, and it would hunt fine, but it has a little too much "kazoo" in it and not enough duck.  Without opening the exhaust up on the 7/32" channel it is too constricted. 

Ideas?  Thoughts?  Suggestions?

[Steel Rain]

Lengthen your toneboard a bit and use a longer reed. I have had a little luck with that. Thats the bore Ive been working on with my comp call and I'll tell you, your gonna waste alot of time, and material. But its starting to pay off for me now. And believe it or not, I have had a little success with a 7/32 double reed too.

[Bob from Eames Custom Calls]

Same here. I had to add length to get the smaller bore to sound right. I still use it with the shorter length board in my quiet timber calls, but I don't mind the pitch change there.

 Bob

[pete woolley]

I've been messing with the 7/32 channel too, and as the others said, lengthened my toneboard, but as my only jig is one of Wade's public jigs, I'm basically freehanding a new curve.  Simply moving the insert back in the jig didn't get me what I wanted, but I'm learning more.  Some of the results have been excellent, and others have been fire starter as always.

Oddly enough, the first one I made was as good a call as I've ever made.  I guess that is what takes us out into the shop.

Pete