There is no such thing as a beginners call.Inside the call is a pedestal and a sound board.The way that you make a pot call will all depend on what tools you have and what chucks you have for your lathe to mount the blank. First thing you need to do is get some slate and glass. I would get the slate in 3" and the glass in 2.5". The slate will be your striking surface and the glass will be the soundboard that goes inside the call. Some use a drill press and forstner bit to clean out the inside of the call, then a band saw to rough out the outside of the call, then they put it on the lathe to shape and finish the outside. There are several videos on youtube of this method.I start out with a 4x4x1" blank and drill a 1 inch hole in the middle, about half way deep. I mount that on my expanding jaws chuck on my lathe and shape the sides and bottom of my call. Then I draw my turkey track, and drill two holes inside of my turkey track so I know when to stop cleaning out the inside of my pot, (when i see the drilled holes from the inside). I turn my pedestal and the lip to hold the friction surface. That's the basics. There are a bunch of different ways to make a pot call. Mine is probably one of the worst since each call ends up going on my lathe three times.
There may still be a tutorial with pics by Mark Rainbolt on the customcallsonline forum in the pot call section.
http://www.customcalls.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1211135908Wood moves a lot, so don't be surprised if the slate doesn't fit in the top of your call after you put on your finish. You will figure out through experience how to deal with that.
