Several very good comments.
I recently made several calls out of walnut for a customer. They were all out of the same piece of wood. Made to as close tolerance as I can make. All were glass/slate with slate being a secondary surface. Each sounded a little different. No two were identical. I made two strikers for each call, trying to bring out the sound I wanted. One of the calls, in my opinion, was slightly better than the others. The customer picked one of the other calls as his favorite.
One thing I noticed, while selecting strikers, was what I thought was best yesterday, might not be my pick today. Several things influence the sound you get from a particular striker. Hand position, angle of striker shaft, hand pressure etc. all effect the sound we hear. Another thing I noticed recently, was weather or humidity. I picked several calls and strikers to take on a hunt in south Texas a couple weeks ago. I grouped calls and strikers together based on sound I got in Humble. When I got to south Texas, the first thing I did was test calls and strikers. I was surprised at the difference in pairing of the calls and strikers. Weather was different, went from high humidity, medium temperature to a dry, hot area. Surrounding was also different, behind my home versus wooded country.
This is why I carry a group of calls and many strikers. I also carry several different type of calls. As several have said, we all have a differant ear, preference and skill level. Then we combine this with the turkey's preference. Makes an interesting hunt.
Finally, I do think you can take a call and match it with a striker. May not be of the same wood, but you are looking for that particular sound that you think turkeys like. This is what I do with each call I make. I have several different test strikers I try with each call. Based on sound, I will either select one of these strikers, make a another one that is very similiar, or make one that is slighly modified, aiming at the sound I want.
Sorry for the longwinded comment, but I love to talk about turkeys and trying to make that perfect call.
Bill
