Pot Call Tone Hole Chimney Height and Sound-Wave Flow

[Seth41]

I'm not a pot call maker but looking at the tone holes on the bottom of the pots and coming from a baroque woodwind instrument design and manufacturing background I started pondering if there has been a lot of study by makers with the chimney of the individual tone holes, height, width, optimal flow for sound waves?  I've seen a lot of pot calls that look like the tone holes were just drilled straight through and left as is.  And this may be optimal for the sound folks are after from pot calls, or not?  Has anyone tried to take the hard edge of each side of the chimney off and give it a smooth round edge?  In woodwind instruments with sound chambers and tone holes this often will clear the tone up just enough to give you an edge over a similar instrument with hard edges on the tone holes.  When I'm tuning and adjusting the chimney height on a bagpipe chanter or an Irish whistle, flute etc, I want the sound wave to flow out as smoothly as possible and not hit a hard corner and "split", per say, losing energy as it's forced back into the sound chamber and against incoming sound waves.  There has been a lot of study in the musical world pertaining to this matter and it's effects can be seen in experiments with airflow using smoke to give a visual.

Anyways, looking at some pot calls got my mind running and I wondered if others have pondered this as well.

[mmclain]

Won't make any difference.

[Seth41]

Won't make any difference.

What won't make any difference?  Please be more specific.  I've designed and manufactured woodwind musical instruments for over 2 decades as a full time profession so I really get into this stuff.  It's always fun, for me anyways, to talk acoustic science and maybe the dialog from this thread will help someone in the future.  I'm really interested to know which part you say "won't make any difference"?

Seth

[gergg]

It makes a difference, everything makes a difference.

[mmclain]

Won't make any difference.

What won't make any difference?  Please be more specific.  I've designed and manufactured woodwind musical instruments for over 2 decades as a full time profession so I really get into this stuff.  It's always fun, for me anyways, to talk acoustic science and maybe the dialog from this thread will help someone in the future.  I'm really interested to know which part you say "won't make any difference"? 


Seth

In most cases At most your holes ore 1/4 in depth.  Won't make any difference as far as the Hole depth goes In relation   To the pot thickness.  Now as far as hole diameter goes it does.   You need to make some mistakes and  fail so you can learn while you test your theory.     Do you own other turkey calls?  Have you played an assortment of calls?  So you understand what the desired outcome of sound is to be?  What is your goal?  You may have experience in musical instruments but do you have experience building calls?   How much experience in the field listening to turkeys do you have?  There is no specific tutorial to walk you through building a pot call.  Lots of ways to do it and lots of minor details only experience will teach you.  You need to have that turkey sound in your head or you'll just be turning wood bowls with holes drilled in them not really comprehending what sound you want to produce.   I'll give you a tip.   Stick with one wood that is not too dense till you get it right.  Oh and Go Unicoi call makers show.   

[outdoors]

Hole placement makes a big difference , hole size makes a big difference , how many holes there are makes a difference  on the side or bottom haven't figured that one out yet

[ol bob]

When it comes to turkey sound the only sound that matters is the sound the person standing in front of your table wants to hear, the next one that comes by may like a different sound altogether. As far as real turkeys go 99.9% of calls will work, some of the worst turkey sounds you will ever hear will come from real turkeys.

[Sir-diealot]

I am going to stick my nose in here because reading the answers I think maybe his question is being misunderstood. I do not think he is asking about how many holes there are or where they are placed, I THINK he is asking if the holes taper at an angle  at one end of the holes either at the end of the hole outside the call or the beginning of the hole inside the sound chamber will this make a difference? Maybe saying starting wider at one end and getting narrower at another end would be a better way to put it? Maybe I am misunderstanding and I am sorry if I am wrong.

[outdoors]

Make it sound like a bugle hole 

[scootac]

When it comes to turkey sound the only sound that matters is the sound the person standing in front of your table wants to hear, the next one that comes by may like a different sound altogether. As far as real turkeys go 99.9% of calls will work, some of the worst turkey sounds you will ever hear will come from real turkeys.

Best comment I ever heard!
After making my second call, it worked on bringing in 3 separate gobblers!
It's not rocket science!!!