I am trying to make a list of surfaces. Here is what I can think of what am I missing?
slate, glass, crystal, aluminum, copper, bronzed glass, ceramic
I would love to get a custom call in every surface someday. I have slate, aluminum, and soon a bronzed glass.
There's corian and titanium, but they're not very common. Call makers through the years have experimented with all sorts of surfaces.
Wood also, not very many out there, but a few still use it.
My father used to make a wicked wood top pot call - it can be done
Brass also, rare but used.
I saw one made from Agate, although it might have been more for show. Im not sure who made it, but it was a nice orignial kind of call that I had not ever seen before.
Art of Ishi and Harmonden both use Agate, Obsidian and various other types of stone as striking surfaces.
In my opinion, All you need to make the best turkey call is glass, slate, and aluminum. I just cant justify spending 5 dollars on a piece of copper or brass just to use as a surface. I think you can get just as good as sound if not better out of glass or slate.
Mark,
Some surfaces like copper are for a caller to reach 15,000 Hz . They will not sound more realistic than slate for example, but in allot of cases will induce a gobble when other calls will not. I would not go turkey hunting without one.....
I felt the same way about copper being too high ($$$) in the past. I had more people ask for them so I messed around with them again and found a sound I really liked with an osage striker for louder calling and a cedar striker for softer calling. You really can produce a completely different sound with copper. I'm not saying it is a better sound than the surfaces you mentioned, just different.
I've made with all these mentioned, different metals do create different sounds, but like Mark and Wendell said, it produces a sound that attracts a gobbler, something different in its volume and pitch that raise their head every time, ask other callers who have been successful with them, as far as titanium, you simply won't find a better and realistic sound without digging a trench through the pot. The only thing, it is so expensive a hard to cut, it makes for a pricy call, I have made around a dozen and got great reports with them all, except for one, and it was - in my opinion - the user getting used to the difference in the materials and how to apply the right pressure to the striking surface, because when I got the call back, it played great, but I knew how to handle it. I have made calls using Agate Quartz. a real high pitched call, nice looking, but didn't like the sound, but..............I make what the customer wants, and that's what any call maker should do.