Open Reed?

[rwehuntn]

You bring up a few good points Al,

I have been asked why I do not charge more money for my calls. There are mainly three reasons.

1. As I stated before, I do it for a hobby. If I had to make a living at this, all the stuff Becky and I make would have a higher price tag.

2. Again, I am new at this, there is no way I would presume to enter at this stage of the game and represent my calls being as good or better than a well respected callmaker through pricing. I just do not think it is appropriate.

3. I make calls to hunt with. I would rather make a second call for free than have the first never enter the field because someone did not want to use it because they spent X amount on it.

Don't get me wrong, I think people should charge what they feel is fair for their work. I just do not have to get top dollar, nor do I think it is right for me as a new maker to expect it. regardless of the price of my calls, I do stand by my work.

as far as some people thinking they are too good to do something. That is b.s. That is just a person too lazy to try and learn something new. To tell you the truth, that person probably made open reed calls because it is easier to drill a straight hole than it is to drill to use a jc reed. I apoligize if that sounds a little harsh, but I bet it is not far from the truth.

I have played with the reeds on several of the toneboards I have got from Al, sometimes as requested by a customer and sometimes just to see what happens to the sound (there was nothing wrong with the boards, you know just tweaking). I currently have a few I need to get some mylar for In the future, I do plan to make my own toneboards, I might even give making the old style calls Marvin makes a go. These projects require more tools in my man cave, so they have to wait.

I think people like Al and GrampasShop help the new guy with the tutorials they put together. I know I have spent plenty of time studying the tutorials and they have helped me immensely. You guys are right. the information is there to help people new to this, but there are some people that are too good to take advice.

In short, I make calls because I enjoy it. I like to look at other peoples work, and I like to hunt. I can make calls for my friends they just can't get from the local sporting goods store. I can give calls to the kids so they can drive their parent nuts, I spend time with my wife discussing life in general. The end result is a call that will call in predators, the work in the middle is why I do it.

I apoligize for getting off topic, better get back to work.

Allan

[dogcatcher]

We are completely off the subject but it is a very productive and informational thread.

Back to callmaking, today predator hunting has advanced to the point that it is not the blue collar sport it was a few years ago.  Now the cream of the high dollar hunters are getting into and getting into it big time.  But only a few callmakers are reaping the benefits, these new hunters haven't learned who the top names are so they are buying beauty.  It doesn't matter if the callmaker made his first call yesterday or 40 years ago, the buyer is looking at beauty.  Most have no idea as to what a call should sound like.  These "rich" guys have limited experience with commercial calls so when they get a crappy call they do not know what they have.

How do we deal with it?  I can tell someone what I think, but then I get the feeling they prefer I keep my thoughts to myself.  In one case I was told I did not know what I was talking about.  For 40 plus years I have done alright without the Internet, computer etc., made a few calls here and there, had a lot of good friends that I hunted with, made a lot more friends.  Then about 2 plus years ago I found the Internet, found a few short cuts, faster methods.  Learned a lot of new tricks, from some of the old timers that I had never heard of and some from new guys that were not even born when I turned my first call.  But at the same time I have seen a lot of newbies come on the scene become so called "experts" and along with that I have seen the prices of calls drop.  Before 2000 when I got sick I was getting $80 plus on my old style calls, now I get $75.  With inflation I should be well over a $100.  Closed reed JC calls used to be $20 plus now if I get $20 it would have to be a work of art, sanded to perfection, flawless finish, and shine like a polished penny.  If I make my run of the mill hunting call I might get $10.  It is like the buyer wants the body of a Cadillac but doesn't care if I put a Yugo motor in it.

Anybody have any spare Yugos I can part out????

Marvin

[rwehuntn]

Well said Marvin.

[kkbait]

Marvin:
  Great post... Lots of good  great thoughts on call making being expressed here.  Being new to call making every call made is a new adventure.
Dave

[crazy_cottontail]

I make my own tone boards and i also purchase some. I make most of my boards our of hard maple. I`m a machinist by trade and a amature call maker  by hobby. I`ve only been making calls for about a year and i haven`t sold a call. They have all been traded or given to people. The 2 people that i met from another board that i traded calls with they were both happy with my calls and gave me good feedback on them. Friends and fellow hunters that i have given calls to like that mine sound a little different. When doing a distress board remember a rabbit only dies once so what does the perfect death cry sound like? (like the lucky rabbits foot i`ve never seen the lucky rabbit that had that foot that is now on a keychain drinking a cold beer by the pool) Sorry bout the foot rant LOL. People don`t quite get it when they talk about them and u ask them where the rest of it is. I don`t make any howlers with my own boards i use cow horns for that and in the past i`ve used KO`s. But i started playing with deer antler and made a open reed out of it so next is with cow horn. Well i think i wandered around and off the mark enough LOL.

                                                                        Later

                                                                               Rich

[Al_at_THO Game Calls]

Rich,

I've seen your wood toneboards and they look well done.  Your calls are pretty nice too :)

Couldn't agree with you more on the "lucky rabbit foot" thing.   Always seemed to me like the rabbit ends up in the short end of that deal................


Without a leg to stand on :)

Sorry, I couldn't resiste LOL

Al @ THO

[Braz]

And didn't try very hard to resist either, did you?  ;D

[Al_at_THO Game Calls]

It was there for the taking   ;D

[crazy_cottontail]

Hey Braz i`ll thow this one out here. I know ya seen it

 Well i got a story for ya. It kinda throws the call maker or hunter thing for a funny loop. Well i went hunting tonight and did a bunch of setups. The neighbors land that i hunt owns on both sides of the road from me. I hunted on the south side and well i was trying to use calls that i bought (Thank you Jerry, Aaron, and Jeremy). Well the south didn`t work. My neighbor that raises highlanders gives me horns and lets me hunt his land. Well dumb call maker me starts calling and sees parts of hide in the field. Guess what i found a head. Well i guess (what i found out later) while my dumb you know what was getting the horns off that head. The neighbor was watching a yote walking the slowest he had ever seen across the field. So while i was getting a horn for my next howler the yote was watching me LOL. Guess what i got the horns LOL. It wasn`t the neighbor that owned the land that saw the yote  good thing he didn`t take a poke at it cuz he would have been shooting at me But hey i got one horn here and i`ll have the other tomarrow. It`s hard to hunt with the material distraction LOL.

                           Well later

                                             Hope ya find humor in it

                                                                   Rich

[Braz]

Yep, saw that before and had to laugh hard again. Great post.  ;D