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Give it a turn....or 1/4 turn

Started by Yoder409, January 23, 2020, 07:25:53 PM

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Yoder409

The old timers know this.  I've done it literally hundreds of times.

Yesterday, the mailbox gave up a nice, older box call I bought on eBay.  It's a higher end, production call.  I unpacked it and gave it a few scrapes.  Nuh uh.  Went back and grabbed my "box call repair kit"..............better known as a "Phillips head screwdriver". I eyeballed the paddle and it looked to be sitting just a whisker low on the screw side.  1/4 turn counter clockwise.......run the call.  Nope.  Another 1/4 turn.........run the call.  Sorta.  But nope.  Another 1/4 turn counter clockwise.  There it was !!!  3/4 of a turn of a screwdriver took the screech owl out and filled it up with turkey.

Back when I was doing sports shows, conventions and expos for a call company, I spent a lot of time with the screwdriver out on my Leatherman.  When box calls are being made and tuned 1000 or 5000 at a time, they won't always get that last little tweek that turns "oh, OK" into "oh, WOW !!". 

I ALWAY start by going counter clockwise.  Better to over-loosen right from the get-go than over-tighten.  It IS possible to split an end block if you go all gorilla tightening.  1/4 turn at a time, whichever way you're going.......keeps you from over-tightening AND keeps you from going PAST the sweet spot.

   
PA elitist since 1979

The good Lord ain't made a gobbler I can't kill.  I just gotta be there at the right time.....  on the day he wants to die.

paboxcall

Yep, good advice right there - loose first then go from there. Sometimes the difference between awful and awesome can be as little as 1/8th turn. Over time the box call wood will change, and a fine tune is needed.

If you are adjusting a production call, and not concerned about value, not a bad idea to mark where you start with a dot using a sharpie. A dot on the screw and the paddle so you know how to get back to where you started.
A quality paddle caller will most run itself.  It just needs someone to carry it around the woods. Yoder409
Over time...they come to learn how little air a good yelper actually requires. ChesterCopperpot

Yoder409

Quote from: paboxcall on January 23, 2020, 08:51:29 PM
Sometimes the difference between awful and awesome can be as little as 1/8th turn.

True story.

When you're finally dancing right around the sweet spot, it can take a very little bit of a turn to find it............or go right past it.
PA elitist since 1979

The good Lord ain't made a gobbler I can't kill.  I just gotta be there at the right time.....  on the day he wants to die.

gdc23

Great idea about counter clockwise first.

Dtrkyman

I've got my box call marked, get it out every spring and see how it sounds.

Usually a little turn one way or the other tunes it right up!


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Marc

Great post and thread....

Just tuned a call that sounds better already with this knowledge....  I am embarrassed to say, that this type of tuning never occurred to me before.
Did I do that?

Fly fishermen are born honest, but they get over it.

Gooserbat

As a call builder I can say the op is spot on.
NWTF Booth 1623
One of my personal current interests is nest predators and how a majority of hunters, where legal bait to the extent of chumming coons.  However once they get the predators concentrated they don't control them.

Greg Massey

I have always heard never to over tighten one ..

Yoder409

You heard correctly.

A wood screw is, essentially, a coarse-threaded wedge.  Wedges do what to wood ??  Yep.  Don't wanna split your end block.
PA elitist since 1979

The good Lord ain't made a gobbler I can't kill.  I just gotta be there at the right time.....  on the day he wants to die.