These are my 3 favorite calls on sound especially. 2 of them should really be at my side for Nashville, but they will live out their time in central NY killing gobblers!
First one features what has become my signature wood IPE, but this Ipe is special stuff--it came from the Cony Island Board walk. This an Ipe lid with poplar inlays, over a yellow poplar box with purpleheart inlays and spacers and sumac end blocks and resting on an Ipe base with poplar between. When I quartersaw the Ipe is has spectacular gold highlights---almost like looking at a gem stone...tiger eye, or similar--just beautiful stuff! This has a classic yelp sequence on both rails..starting nice and high, even has kee kee's and rolls over hard to some nasty rasp. The left rail is crispier than the younger right rail.
This next call seems to work for me everytime...Padauk over Cherry. The padauk lid has curly maple inlays and the box has bubinga spacers and inlays and curly between and it sits on a padauk base with curly maple between again. This call should really be going with me to Nationals and it was really painful *cry* to let this one go. The sound in this box is supremely classic in every respect, high, runs real easy, breaks hard and finishes with a distinct raspy yawk and it is capable of getting nice and loud when you need it.
Here is the closing call (the grooms) from the set. This classic all the way, Cherry lid over Butternut body. Lid has alternating Curly maple and Butternut inlays and the box body has complimentary bubinga linays and spacers with cherry end blocks. The base is of course cheerry with butternut between. This is some fine Wisconsin Butternut and the cherry is over 125 years old from some post columns on an old farm across the road where I hunt.
This call took almost no tuning...the woods just seemed to match up so well. The sound is again classic all the way, a bit sweeter that the harder woods. She runs real easy on a long stroke, breaks clear and finishes with that familiar crunchy rasp. Some of may be asking why I didn't do my usual wood burning on these calls...well I felt that since I decided to make them a parquet set that the wood burning would be too busy and take away from the design and overall look. So to make the grooms call standout, this one got my signature tail feather.
