I picked up this Premium Grade SS Box Call in a trade with Swampturkey, great guy to deal with that I give the highest regards for in a trade or sale. She is a Maple lid over Spanish Cedar Box. Before going through with the trade I spoke to Mr. Al about the box as I did not see where he had them listed on his site or even heard much mention of the combo. Mr. Al described it as a medium pitch with some rasp on the end. He said he did not make many and they kind of varied from each piece of wood. Swampturkey was more that willing to send me a few sound files. I liked the yelp but the sharpness of the clucks is what really caught my attention so I decided what they heck, let's horse trade.
Well the call made it in very quickly and she was pleasure to the eyes. As with all of SS calls, you could see the craftsmanship that went into building her. Looks are great but now for the deal breaker, how does she sound? I threw some chalk on her and took her to the yard. Put the phone on record and walked about 30-40 yards off to play. I liked what I was hearing as I played but the recording is what seals the deal between a mantle piece and a vest call. Went to the phone and played her back and she is definitely a vest call.
My buddy dirtroadninja has a box call made by Tony Wix that he has had tremendous success with and this call sounds very similar to it. The ring of the yelp is sure to strike a few gobbles. She yelps smoothly, both soft and aggressively, and she clucks very sharp and precise. The cutts come sharp and are easily produced. I can probably purr better on this call than any other box, which is a testament in itself. I need to work on my gobbles as I am used to a bit lighter lid of the Lancaster boxes but I know she can do it wonderfully from the soundfiles from Swampturkey.
Mr. Al said he did not produce many of this combination, but if anyone calls him to discuss building a call I would ask if he had some Spanish Cedar on hand. If so I would try to talk him into building me one. My friend hunter22 has Cherry/Spanish Cedar from SS that he also spoke highly of, may have to see if I cannot get my hand on that combo as well.
Soundfile:
https://soundcloud.com/davisd9/ss-spanishamr
