What are we doing?

[Lonehowl]

Are we making calls  simply for looks or are we concentrating on performance first?

[Sir-diealot]

What's wrong with form and fashion? Edit: That was to read form and function, sorry it was bedtime.

[ol bob]

If it don't perform then its not a game call only art work.

[southern_leo]

Performance is always first for me. I spent alot of time designing a call that I thought sounded the most like hens I hear in the woods. Fit and finish is absolutely secondary, but that being said if you sell calls they need to be finished calls.

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[mastevt]

If you as a call maker are doing your work right, and proud of Your workmanship, your going to end up with a quality, good looking call, that sounds good.  I rather doubt it, that there is a call maker out there, that is intentionally trying to build a piece of  looking call.  Whether it sounds good or not.  Sorry to be blunt.  But it's just not going to happen.  We as call makers, are also woodworkers.  We, or at least myself and friends of mine, who build calls,
Strive for both a good quality looking call, that also sounds great.  It IS a work of art!  I put alot into my calls, and they sound good.  And that's the way it should be.

[KentuckyHeadhunter]

I'm not really a callmaker but I make my calls to kill turkeys.  Period.  The art and nature that I induce into my calls are secondary.  I also appreciated the folk art aspect of turkey calls and when you inject a solid hen into that same call then you have made something  magical.  It's truly a lost art that should be embraced as we see turkey populations and hunters decline ever so slowly.  I would rather have an ugly call that sounds good rather than a "cool" call that sounds bad.

[ozarktroutbum]

Interesting post. I was just thinking about this. Personally, I without a doubt have contempt for the term "field grade" call.

A turkey call is meant to kill turkeys....not win popularity contests amongst artists, call makers, or calling judges...if a turkey call surpasses it's sole purpose, I think it's worth taking a step back.

And on a side not, I really do think people spend more time listening to calls than real turkeys.

[Footballer]

Sound before beauty. I went with a simple design on my pots because my focus is on the sound. A call that I've spent a lot of time making pretty will be harder to throw in the "dud" box if it doesn't sound good.


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[pauld]

Performance first. Always

[culpeper]

There are 2 camps one is sound, a Hunting Call and the other is a Decorative Call and both have their place.  There are many collectors and those folks who want to memorialize their hunts with a great decorative call, pot, box and so forth.  Many collectors want a special call built just for them, a 'one-off', truly an original, box calls seem to fit that bill well it seems.

For me I used to build decorative calls with a lot of wood burning on them, truth be known though, I did my best to make them sound great, but it was a real struggle.  I switched to checkering the side rails, some folks checker, some cut relief rails, but all for the same reason to get more vibration where it counts.  I no longer wood burn calls, well just a handful each year and only focus on sound.

Osarktroutbum,  I don't agree with you on the term Field Grade.  In my mind that terms means the same quality in sound without many of the bells and whistles that come with say a parquet call, or fancy checkering, exotic woods, or other accents that all takes a lot of time and skill on the call makers part.  Take for example the Shoemakers, they put a TON of time in their parquet calls and their brick checkering...I don't believe it makes their call sound any better than their "field Grade" calls, just less work to get the same results