Figured with all the post popping up about calls , calling ect. That I would start this. I have waaay too many calls and every year I find a call in my collection that I pull out and run. I then say to myself " why in the world am I not hunting this". It seems that when I first run the call and it doesnt jump out to me , then I put it in my display. I have had calls that I did not really care for at first but then 6 or 8 months later , I am amazed. It almost seems that it has gotten better. Is it me or have any of you guys done the same. Example , i have a glass call in a zebrawood pot that I pulled out the other day. I pull out my favorite strikers and start running it. A smile came across my face and I say its hitting the woods this year. When I first got it , I ran a dozen strikers on it for 4 or 5 days. Mind you , a couple of the strikers I ran on it 8 months ago included. It sounds as it got better. May all be in my head , so I started this post. What say you.
Had that happen both ways, some of it came down to "where" it was being played. Now I only judge its sound from in the timber.
I've had calls that sounded great when I was buying, got it out hunting and seemed it lost its tone... My thought is that the sound it was making was coming off surfaces making it sound that way, then out in the timber the change. I have a tote of calls I don't use and donate them out to kids who I start out turkey hunting.
My only call that sounds as good or better than when I bought it is my CODY World Class Slate! From when I first had it till now that call has been the end of more turkeys then all my other calls put together.
"We only build so many of these calls a year...WE DON'T WANT ALL THE TURKEYS KILLED AT ONE TIME!"
MK M GOBL
I think some days you hear different tones and sounds better than others. It takes playing time and confidence to decided if that call is worthy of hunting time in my opinion.
Quote from: MK M GOBL on March 02, 2020, 07:10:44 PM
Had that happen both ways, some of it came down to "where" it was being played. Now I only judge its sound from in the timber.
I've had calls that sounded great when I was buying, got it out hunting and seemed it lost its tone... My thought is that the sound it was making was coming off surfaces making it sound that way, then out in the timber the change. I have a tote of calls I don't use and donate them out to kids who I start out turkey hunting.
My only call that sounds as good or better than when I bought it is my CODY World Class Slate! From when I first had it till now that call has been the end of more turkeys then all my other calls put together.
"We only build so many of these calls a year...WE DON'T WANT ALL THE TURKEYS KILLED AT ONE TIME!"
MK M GOBL
Agreed. I always play every call outside. I do not judge a call inside. When I am buying calls at unicoi , I take them outside first. I learned that some calls sound terrible inside but really sounds good outside and vice versa. I just have experienced changes in calls overtime. Some get better and some worse.
Quote from: Greg Massey on March 02, 2020, 07:28:32 PM
I think some days you hear different tones and sounds better than others. It takes playing time and confidence to decided if that call is worthy of hunting time in my opinion.
I've had this thought myself. But I also will not put a call in the vest without using it outside first.
Wood pot calls can, and some will, mature with age. Some for the better.
Quote from: Yoder409 on March 02, 2020, 08:22:11 PM
Wood pot calls can, and some will, mature with age. Some for the better.
Thats kind of what I was thinking. Really why I made this post. To get others thoughts on that. Thanks
Quote from: Spitten and drummen on March 02, 2020, 08:44:09 PM
Quote from: Yoder409 on March 02, 2020, 08:22:11 PM
Wood pot calls can, and some will, mature with age. Some for the better.
Thats kind of what I was thinking. Really why I made this post. To get others thoughts on that. Thanks
They age like a fine bottle of wine .. But i don't drink wine ...
I guess I need to get my storage box, full of old calls I didn't think sounded right, and try them again ::)
I have more box calls that sound better a year or two after I got them and seem to keep getting better with age. I haven't had the same results with pot calls.
a lot of calls you buy are still somewhat green if they are handmade and freshly made. They may be dry enough to cut the wood without burning it etc...but they aren't always completely dry. after sitting idle for a long time they sometimes sound better. I guess there is also the possibility that some of it is in our heads...
Seems like the Birmingham Lynch boxes sound better than the others. Maybe it's the age of the wood? They just sound better..... be well
Yeah I agree on wood calls. I had someone send me a vibrating tongue to try and I didn't like it so it went in a drawer for probably 3 years and one day I saw it and thought I'd just try it again and I was just like you...dang why did I not like this call. I do think it was green when I got it.
Thanks for all the replies. I do believe that not being fully dried may have something to do with it as well as in our heads also.
Wood calls will change with the weather as the wood can and will absorb moisture if not properly sealed. As wood ages it changes the sound of a few of my calls especially those made of a denser wood. Again it could be just my ear as the older I get my hearing has changed.
I know that Albert Paul of pauls calls said to put wooden calls on display so the air can get to them , he also said wooden calls should get better with age
Quote from: hotspur on March 03, 2020, 09:44:02 AM
I know that albet Paul of pauls calls dead to put wooden calls on display so the air can get to them , he also dead wooden calls should get better with age
?? What?
Quote from: Spitten and drummen on March 03, 2020, 10:02:36 AM
Quote from: hotspur on March 03, 2020, 09:44:02 AM
I know that albet Paul of pauls calls dead to put wooden calls on display so the air can get to them , he also dead wooden calls should get better with age
?? What?
fat fingers and blurry eyes
Quote from: hotspur on March 03, 2020, 09:44:02 AM
I know that Albert Paul of pauls calls said to put wooden calls on display so the air can get to them , he also said wooden calls should get better with age
Yep. He also said after season, take a dry paper towel and remove all the chalk from the paddle and sides as it will draw and collect moisture.
I'd say that definitely some pots dry out and change sound some what over time. Glue or resins could harden or get weakened overtime also changing sound.
I have noticed a difference in several calls over the years.
And, I've worked in a loud factory for over 30 years so that may be a huge contributor to sound changing for me :)
Quote from: trad bow on March 03, 2020, 09:36:47 AM
Wood calls will change with the weather as the wood can and will absorb moisture if not properly sealed. As wood ages it changes the sound of a few of my calls especially those made of a denser wood. Again it could be just my ear as the older I get my hearing has changed.
one of the best box calls I own is a purple heart over mahogany 2 sided box call. It was given to me by a friend and callmaker "he made the call"....the call was left in the woods next to the red river in north texas for 2 years...grant it , it was sealed very well but still...the call was found 2 years later in the leaves by the same tree. it had some dirt and debris in it but was not exposed to direct sunlight. After recovering the call it was stripped, cleaned, tuned, and refinished....it is the best sounding box call I own, and probably one of the best ive ever heard. How a call could have survived that ill never know but it is a killing machine.
Quote from: Spitten and drummen on March 02, 2020, 08:44:09 PM
Quote from: Yoder409 on March 02, 2020, 08:22:11 PM
Wood pot calls can, and some will, mature with age. Some for the better.
Thats kind of what I was thinking. Really why I made this post. To get others thoughts on that. Thanks
I haven't made any, except for a couple of gifts, in a good many years. But I used to make wood pot, slate-over-glass calls. Turned my pots out of, mostly, 15-20 year air dried walnut. The vast majority of them......... I could tell a few hours after the slate was glued, whether the call was gonna be good or great.........or suck. About 1 in 20 sucked. I'd put those ones in a box. A month...........6 months........a year later.......almost EVERY one of them turned out to be somewhere between good and great. Go figure. And one.............took years. But it ended up being very good.
Quote from: Yoder409 on March 05, 2020, 08:53:19 PM
Quote from: Spitten and drummen on March 02, 2020, 08:44:09 PM
Quote from: Yoder409 on March 02, 2020, 08:22:11 PM
Wood pot calls can, and some will, mature with age. Some for the better.
Thats kind of what I was thinking. Really why I made this post. To get others thoughts on that. Thanks
I haven't made any, except for a couple of gifts, in a good many years. But I used to make wood pot, slate-over-glass calls. Turned my pots out of, mostly, 15-20 year air dried walnut. The vast majority of them......... I could tell a few hours after the slate was glued, whether the call was gonna be good or great.........or suck. About 1 in 20 sucked. I'd put those ones in a box. A month...........6 months........a year later.......almost EVERY one of them turned out to be somewhere between good and great. Go figure. And one.............took years. But it ended up being very good.
Appreciate the feedback. It makes sense that some need longer than others to get completely dried. Thank you.
I would say its glue curing more then any thing ,,, if the wood was drying out that much the sound board or playing surface is going to pop ,,one of them will give