Feather Ridge Side Tension

[seb5315]

Hey Guys - I have one of Thad's mouth call presses and I'm still fairly new to building mouth calls, but I was just curious, what does everyone consider "normal" side tension, "high" side tension and "low" side tension?

[Sadler McGraw]

I would start at around 150 as a baseline.  My personal calls range from 175-225, depending on the thickness of latex.  Pick a cut and build 3-5 calls at the same time with same cut, latex and stretch and see if you are onto something.  If not move down or up 5 on the tension to you get to where a call kinda sorta fits you.  There is so much that can go into a call.  There are some latex that might be .003 in thickness, but you cannot stretch it to the same level as another color of .003 from another supplier. 

I could ramble on for hours about making a mouth call, as to what is good or bad about many of them.

I had a young man come to my house last week for some mouth call help before he competed in the Grand National.  I tried to make him a 2.5 reed ghost cut that was similar to one he was already using by another well-known caller.  My first attempt, he sounded like he was going to bust the windows in my house it was so high pitched.  The next call was less, and it was still high pitched.  This went on till I was all the way down to 85, and his calling was still high pitched.

So the calls he had were stretched to Less than 85.  My point to this rambling is when you buy a call, you are buying that call makers one size fit all stretch that goes with that cut.  So if I had made a call and mailed to this young man at my standard stretch, he would have said my calls are Trash.

[Earlybird31]

That's great information Mr. McGraw.

Are we talking about the auto stretch hand jig or the true comp press? Based on previous posts on the subject, my barroom napkin conversion between the two is .180 (Auto Stretch) correlates with .320 (comp press). I assume you're referring to the Auto Stretch based on the tension provided. I live in the .170 to .150 range on the auto stretch, but I have a comp press on the way. 

Thanks for the feedback on all of this.

[GobbleNut]

There is so much that can go into a call.  There are some latex that might be .003 in thickness, but you cannot stretch it to the same level as another color of .003 from another supplier. 

I could ramble on for hours about making a mouth call, as to what is good or bad about many of them.

My point to this rambling is when you buy a call, you are buying that call makers one size fit all stretch that goes with that cut.  So if I had made a call and mailed to this young man at my standard stretch, he would have said my calls are Trash.

  Oh so true.  I finally gave up trying to make calls for friends.  I would make them calls based on my own abilities and calling mechanics and invariably they could not replicate the sounds I could make with the same call design.  There are sooo many variables that impact sound...both in the materials used, the call construction and design,...and with probably the most important being every individual's calling mechanics.

Anymore, if somebody wants a call, I just tell them I would be happy to make them calls...but that if they are not willing to make the effort to go through the process of learning how to call with a mouth call first, it is a waste of time to try to find them a call design that will work for them. It has been my experience that very few of them will make that effort.