All David's calls have a heavy lid to aide in calling . the call should play without any extra pressure on the lid . stroke it across and you should get a fair sound , just remember to keep lid in contact going both ways . and only maybe a slight amount of pressure downward on lid . it came ready to play as all his calls do . may take a couple days to acclimate to your humidity levels , and you can scotchbrite the chalk off and reapply after that .