Hi, I made my first pot call out of sycamore with glass over acrylic. The glass is half bead blasted and for the life of my I can not get the call to play. 3.5 surface with 3" sound board. The pot is 7/8 thick, with the sides and bottom at 1/4 thick. My acrylic sound board is 1/8 beneath the bottom of the glass. I have used a hickory mushroom end and a bocote regular striker and the call just squeaks when I'm trying to get it to call. Is there any recommendation anyone would have for helping me out? I love the pot and would really like to give this one to my dad for next season, but obviously not with how it sounds. I can't get a Turkey sound out of it. Thanks in advance for any help. I don't have a picture of the interior of the call, but figured I'd post this one to make sure my sound hole layout looks good.
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Everything in the pot and the thickness of the pot.
Makes a difference , keep notes
Nice looking peice of wood
There are those here that know far more than I do, but I would not think of either of those strikers on glass, I would think tulipwood, Macassar Ebony, Purple Heart or dymondwood*. Again I only think I know everything, hopefully others will correct me. Gorgeous pot though.
how much room around surface and sound board ,,, check your glue up
Reduce the size of the holes in the back to 5/16, move the sound board to about .090 from the glass, also I think a glass sound board would work better. Just a starting point. They will drive you crazy for a while, until you find out what changing one little thing will do.
Thanks for the tips. I'll check all these items when I get the time this weekend. I really appreciate the help!
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Make sure the pot hasn't cupped. If you turned it all in one shot. It's probably cupped.
I'm not 100% sure what you mean by cupped. Could you explain that for me?
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try increasing the diameter of your pedestal. I have found on a couple pots where they were really squeaky, that when I took it apart and re did the pedestal to a larger diameter, and that fixed them. I also agree with degreasing your sound holes to 5/16.
Good luck.
Quote from: wmn2 on November 19, 2022, 09:13:52 AM
I'm not 100% sure what you mean by cupped. Could you explain that for me?
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When you turn a piece of wood. It will bow slightly across the grain. Double turning and if necessary triple turning relieves this issue. Quarter sawn wood cups less but it will still move slightly. Core out 80% of the material inside the call and all you can possibly remove from the outside. Throw it in a box and let it sit in a dry location for at least a week if you've have a wood stove it won't take but a cooler of days to draw up. Then proceed finish turning. Let it sit and make sure it's not moved anymore.
A good glue joint, the distance the sound board is from the playing surface, thickness of the call sides and bottoms all play a part in a good pot. It's a lot of trial and error. Also different types of woods make a difference. Quarter sawn wood will not cup and is best.
I read this when I first started it helped me out.I don't know who posted it maybe it can help you out!
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