I have been building a few calls on a hand jig that I built myself, and got to wondering if everyone thinks that a hand jig can produce as nice and consistent of a mouth call as a mouth call press.
Eric
There is no doubt that a press with a tension meter, or other method of verifying the amount of stretch, will allow you to more consistently duplicate calls. However, that does not translate into sound consistency in a call. It is a commonly known fact with mouth call users that duplicating the sound characteristics of a call does not necessarily result from constructing another call exactly like it.
To those of us that make a lot of calls, it is apparent that very minute differences in call construction can make a significant difference in the sounds the call will produce. A press with meters will allow you to reduce the number of variables in call construction, however.
A hand jig is perfectly capable of producing great calls,....and for the guy that is only planning on making a few calls at a time, it is the more economical option, for sure.
I have been thinking of building a jig. Got any pics?
Just saw this thread, thought I would give my two cents on the subject. I have built 1000's of calls using both devices. The only inconsistency that I ever felt that you could/would get is when you crimped the frame with a pair of needle nose pliers . When using an arbor press style, the Ram will crimp the frame in the same spot every time ( same size area). When you crimp the frame with pliers , you might crimp a .25" spot one time, the next it might only be .20", etc etc. With the frame being crimped in different ways or size areas, this can change the stretch or back tension unknowingly.
To the average caller, they probably would never notice any sound differences.
There are so many variables in building mouth calls that get overlooked. That's why there is a ton of crap hanging in stores. A mouth call maker is at the mercy of the supplies, but they can control the building process.