THO Game Calls Forums
The Art of Handcrafting Custom Game Calls => Handcrafting Custom Turkey Calls => Turkey Call Making Tutorials => Topic started by: ADAM PROUTY on May 28, 2011, 03:22:01 PM
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Well I just turned up a new style /design of a pot call nothing special more rounded. I always get hung up on this part and I know we have talked about this before is the height of the sound board/pedistal. Is it the closer you get to the striking surface make it higher or lower and on a 3in call what sound board size would you suggest I made one with copper with a 2in sound board and the thing sounds AWESOME not so much with the slate.. HUM Im stumped because I tried a 2 1/2 and it got worse so im going out on a limb and saying my soundboard is to low. What ya'll think???? I have tried numerous stikers the best being walnut 2in top with a purple heart dowel
Thank
Adam
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Here's a few things to keep in mind. The sound board aids in the roll over in the call. Get it too far away from the surface and the call will be flat. Get it too close and it will be high pitch to screechy almost and not much roll over. Get some glue in between the sound board and the inside of the pot or the sound board and the call will be flat. If you want a loud call make your holes larger. Quiet call = less holes and/or smaller holes and/or no holes.
The deeper the pot the more hollow sound the call will produce. Thinner the pedestal the more rasp the call will produce if you did everything else right.
If you want a decent sounding 3" call don't make the pot real deep and keep the sound board close to the underside of the top surface. Slate, Glass, and Aluminum keep the bottom of the pot about 1/4" thick for a 3" surface. For a 3.5" surface it doesn't matter the thickness of the bottom and yes I can prove that. Rule of thumb is 3.5" surface use a 3" sound board and on the 3" surfaces use a 2.5" sound board. If you want the call to have a low sounding pitch use a heavy striker and if you want the sound to be higher pitched then lighten the weight of your striker. The harder the sound board material the sharper the yelps will be as in faster roll over assuming you did everything else right. Wood and slate sound boards will mellow the yelps out or in other words slow the roll over down. :2:
Larry
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:nthrd: :yes: :bow:
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Larry, I really hope folks reading take the time to appreciate what you have written up there. It is a very impressive compiling of thoughts.
Parker
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A big :thanks: should go out to Larry. That is a lot of great information for all of us to read. Im an experienced (Atleast I think) turkey call maker and I can tell you his write up came from alot of hard work on his part. He didnt get those figures overnight. He didnt stumble onto them either.
Another good example of the knowledge shared on this site.
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Yep.....Everybody that is interested in making a turkey call, and those that can't figure out why their calls don't sound the way they should.....Read and re-read what Larry put in that paragraph. If there were commandments of turkey call making those words would be carved in stone. :yes:
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I felt this was a great topic and so made it a sticky.
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Thank's Larry for that valuable information & thanks to you Braz for perserving it to a sticky .
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:up1: :welcome: Your all very welcome! Hope you put this to good use. Let me follow up by saying, in my first sentence I stated these are guidelines. From this information you can build a Great Call but by all means please experiment with your measurements and log both successes and failures. Change up your sound boards so you know in your mind what the sound should be from each type of material. Change up your dimensions. I know when you first start out you want to make everything you build work but if you don't understand the basics it won't always work and you will never know why. The Late Dick Kirby helped me the most when I first started out making calls and he was the one that put the idea in my head to build pot calls and then play them and rate them and then take them apart and remeasure them and log your notes. You have no idea how many glass & slate calls I broke out with a hammer and then remeasured and said I ain't gonna do that again. But that is how you learn and then sometimes while doing this kind of thing you develop a call you never thought you would ever make. This is how I came to making my Jake Pot call and My Copper call which is so popular with hunters across the USA. I made calls with no sound boards and calls with 2&3 sound boards and I still have more ideas than time right now but I will get to them some day.
Pick a pot wood that is easy to turn and easy on the pocket book but still a good pot wood. Maple is a excellent wood to start and has Great sound potential and so does Cherry, and Mahogany and both are easy to find. I started out bringing home old furniture on garbage day. Bed head boards are good ones some are Maple and some are Sycamore which is a good find. So don't let money be the issue there are other ways of getting material. It's all in what you want out of this and where you want to be with it in say 10 years or 20 years down the line. Thanks for reading all this mumble jumble now lets see some Calls!!!!!
Larry
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What a great guy.
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Larry Thanks so much. That was some good intel . THanks to whoever made for it a sticky. It worked like a charm
THANKS AGAIN
Adam
Sorry it took so long to get back I was at six flags for the weekend
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:bow: :bow: :bow: Larry, you are the man!
Thank you for all the help and for all you do for this board.
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Thank u Larry was get discouraged with my calls but u answered a lot of questions. Big thank u
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:thanks: and your all very welcome!
Larry
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Reading through old tutorial threads. If you want to make nice pot calls, read up on Larry's advice!
Thanks again Larry.
Vince
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Most people are not willing to make there first call a "Knock Off" But that how you learn. Almost every wood project i do wether its a call or a desk drawer, I always make one just like i get from the store. When you master the "Knock Off" then thats when i do my own thing because i know i can make an item and then trouble shoot why my version is working or not. Im new to making pot calls so im in the process of making 6 calls where the pot is all the same but im going to change the striking surfaces and sound boards on each one so i get a solid base line, then go from there I have found it ends up saving money and time in the long run because i have a base to always go back to. Anyways my :2:
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Im new to making pot calls so im in the process of making 6 calls where the pot is all the same but im going to change the striking surfaces and sound boards on each one so i get a solid base line, then go from there I have found it ends up saving money and time in the long run because i have a base to always go back to. Anyways my :2:
Wood choice makes a huge difference in the sound quality of the pot when you are finished too though, so keep that in mind with this test run of 6. A test run of 24 or the likes over the next couple years would show you even more about those combos you have in mind.
Vince
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Thanks Vince im just going to start with 6 but hope to make many over the years.
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Someone, a few months back, posted up a heck of a complete wood density chart link that REALLY plays into this discussion well.
I will have to see if I can find it again.
Was posted by ben. Here is the link again. http://ejmas.com/tin/2009tin/tinart_goldstein_0904.html
Vince
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:bigup: I actually posted something similar to the question asked. As I saw this thread you have helped answer what questions I did have. Thanks for sharing you knowledge. It's not everyday someone like you will give up that kind of information, especially for beginners making there own calls.
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In the process of trying to find podcasts to listen to while turning, I found this series on turkey hunting. I plucked out the two episodes on the pot call where Adam Prouty is featured. Its episodes 54a and 54b. Good information to listen to while turning in the shop! I listen to them through the Podcast app on my iPhone, but here is another way to listen to them. Hours upon hours of content about turkey hunting. And great information Adam shared.
http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-turkey-hunter-podcast
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First off everything Larry said earlier in this post as Aaron put it should be carved in stone, Great stuff. Now, I had a call brought to me made by another call maker. Crystal over slate, but the kicker is the sound board instead of being raised on a pedestal it is glued directly the bottom of the sound chamber. Just wondered if anyone else uses this method.
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hey everybody, just started making turkey pot calls and was surfing the site and came across this tutorial. I know this thread is 5 years old but just wanted to say thanks for making it a sticky and to everybody who contributed, helped me out ALOT. :thanks:
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hey everybody, just started making turkey pot calls and was surfing the site and came across this tutorial. I know this thread is 5 years old but just wanted to say thanks for making it a sticky and to everybody who contributed, helped me out ALOT. :thanks:
how did it sound?