I got a new slate pot the other day, my first slate to tell the truth.
I see that it isn't unusual to have more than one striker, several seem normal as well.
My question/s, what makes a good striker, and where would be a good place to start if I was going to add another striker or 2 for my new slate.
Do I even need another striker?
What is your go to striker & why?
I must have a dozen strikers or more and seven or eight pot calls. I decide which pot calls I'm going to use on any given day, and then I try all the strikers to see which ones work best. There must be a better way to decide, but to tell the truth, I just like listening to them. I don't know if this helps you or not, but it works for me.
You need a couple different strikers. A harder wood will produce higher pitch while a softer wood will produce lower tones. With that said you can produce broad array of sounds with the same call! IMO!!!
I probably have at least 30 strikers. Some cause I like the way they look. some cause I like how they make a pot sound. What sounds good on one pot or pot surface can sound like crap on another.Just like matching shells,and chokes to a particular gun for the best density of pattern it takes trial and error sometimes to match a pot and striker.
I should add that the custom pots usually come with a matched striker. Lightsout and a few of the other call makers here take great pains to set you up with a striker that compliments the particular pot that you purchase.
I own a lot of slate surfaced calls, probably around 30 custom slate calls from various callmakers and I find diamondwood and purpleheart to run good on most of them. Scoot
typically the lighter the wood the higher the pitch, (ie red oak) or the heaver the wood the deeper the pitch (Persimmon) the but not always, Osage is a prime example. Hickory is the 30-06 of strikers and it's hard to beat.
last year I sunk some money into strikers, I got about 20 from all different makers and some in flat tip, rounded, flared, and bell... Strikers can really make a call sound completely different. I found that each call has a favorite striker that that just takes it a notch above what everything can do.
My crystal/slate like a flared tip purpleheart
my slate/glass takes a bell tipped Osage
Ceramic LOVES a yellowheart
Aluminum really works with my straight tipped Paduak
well, I got 2 off the classifieds. A couple Fred Fox strikers, Tulipwood & a Purpleheart. That will get me going. Hope I did well...