Clunkers?

[Matt / PA]

Anybody else feel like they might have one?
I have a lot of pot calls.......not nearly as many as some of you whack jobs LOL  but a pretty good number and I would consider myself an above average caller with a pot call.
I also have enough strikers to hand out to the local boyscouts for a weekend worth of firewood.
Has any one else received a call......maybe one that you have seen recommended over.......with high hopes, only to find the call immediately hates you or all the turkeys fell out of it in shipping?
I have 2 such calls and one is a call I still see mentioned repeatedly as a "top" in its surface material group and I get more "rusty gate" than "raspy hen" out of them with any stick in my arsenal of strikers.

I have 2 for sure but a couple I wouldnt even be comfortable reselling, so because they are pretty they are on the shelf but would only see the inside of my vest if someone played a practical joke on me.
Are there really "Clunkers" or do some calls just not agree with certain people? How can a call that obviously sounds like dynamite to a bunch of people be so disappointing to another?

I can't be alone with a well known call where all the turkeys built into it fell out in shipping?!

[scoot12]

Maybe something bad happened while it was being shipped.  I have had this happen before.  It could be that we all have different taste which is what makes this obsession so addicting.  Also different guys run pots different then other guys.  Some more aggressive players sound better on certain calls then other guys.  I also just had a pot that lost its sound and contacted the callmaker.  He said ship it back and he will make it right.  If you don't like the pot,  contact him and most all the guys will exchange it or refund your money.  Scoot

[SteelerFan]

I'd say it's a real "phenomenon". I've experienced it with some "must have" strikers as well. Great expectations quickly fade into "Really?... *sigh". Lol

With some calls, I KNOW it's me. Paul Platz and Clint Corder could team up and make a copper pot, and I still couldn't make it sound turkey! Copper does not agree with me.

That said, I have had luck with several "band-wagon" calls.

[yelpy]

I have to say its me. LOL! I have had so many pots throughout the years and still have trouble running a pile of them. I know they are good calls. Just can't run em worth a darn unless I practice with them repeatedly day in and day out. Than there's the ones I can pick up and have no trouble with. I am leaning towards that the maker runs there calls in a different way than I do.

[joker]

Yes, a call can have a problem, something loose, broken or cracked. Some calls can loose their tone with moisture or temperature if they are unstable and/or are not properly finished.

But then some calls just are not for some people. I have some "band-wagon" calls that I just love and I also had some I thought sounded terrible and I would never turkey hunt with.

For example I have a Platz walnut glass/glass pot that I think is fantastic, However it has a loud high pitched, sharp raspy bark to it. I know there are lots of good turkey hunters out there that do not like that sound and prefer a more soft mellow clear call. If they were honest they would not like that call at all.

Steve

[Matt / PA]

I was thinking that as well?......maybe some makers run their calls differently??
Not sure, but I sure have a few that make me feel like I don't know as much as I thought I did. LOL   And then I have a handful of calls of equal quality that I could throw any striker at from 10 ft away and as long as I hit the surface it's gonna lay out a perfect yelp (Or at least a good cluck). 

I have one "Band-Wagon" call (I like that term) that seriously I've tried every striker in every spot on that call that should make a respectable turkey noise and at best it sounds like a Jack Russell Terrier with a cold.   

I've never done it but is there an ettiquette about telling a maker or not.....that you "aren't impressed"? I can imagine some eye rolling and some quiet "guy doesn't know what he is doing" on the other end so I never bothered.

It always makes me wonder about the calls in the classifieds.....are they calls that someone had a similar experience with? Are they "Clunkers"? Why is someone selling the same call that 6 people in a row on a post yesterday were doing jumping jacks over?

I know I am up to 5 (and ONLY 5 calls) that I own that I would NEVER give up, maybe 10 that I like enough that they might come off the bench for giggles now and then, and another 5 or 6 that I pretty much hate.
So I'm basically "Eh.... " about 3/4 of my calls........That seems like a lot of Eh and Ugh. LOL 

It's like the search for the Holy Grail, and that said I have 2 more "GOOD" ones showing up tomorrow. Fingers crossed! 

[rodney gillikin]

do you get a sound file from the call maker before you buy? if so I would think I would contact the call maker I would like to be told , me I run the call and I ask when the customer get the call would he play and make a sound file so I can hear him play the call?

[HFultzjr]

I believe everyone's hearing/expectations vary by a great measure. What sounds good to you may sound bad to me, or other way around. But yes, there are some truely bad calls that nobody would like. I still have mine...........LOL

[Longbeardfever4ever]

I was thinking that as well?......maybe some makers run their calls differently??
Not sure, but I sure have a few that make me feel like I don't know as much as I thought I did. LOL   And then I have a handful of calls of equal quality that I could throw any striker at from 10 ft away and as long as I hit the surface it's gonna lay out a perfect yelp (Or at least a good cluck). 

I have one "Band-Wagon" call (I like that term) that seriously I've tried every striker in every spot on that call that should make a respectable turkey noise and at best it sounds like a Jack Russell Terrier with a cold.   

I've never done it but is there an ettiquette about telling a maker or not.....that you "aren't impressed"? I can imagine some eye rolling and some quiet "guy doesn't know what he is doing" on the other end so I never bothered.

It always makes me wonder about the calls in the classifieds.....are they calls that someone had a similar experience with? Are they "Clunkers"? Why is someone selling the same call that 6 people in a row on a post yesterday were doing jumping jacks over?

I know I am up to 5 (and ONLY 5 calls) that I own that I would NEVER give up, maybe 10 that I like enough that they might come off the bench for giggles now and then, and another 5 or 6 that I pretty much hate.
So I'm basically "Eh.... " about 3/4 of my calls........That seems like a lot of Eh and Ugh. LOL 

It's like the search for the Holy Grail, and that said I have 2 more "GOOD" ones showing up tomorrow. Fingers crossed! 

You should feel completely comfortable asking the call maker if you can ship it back for a refund.  Every good call maker will probably have a return policy!

[pappy]

It could be that we all have different taste which is what makes this obsession so addicting.  Also different guys run pots different then other guys.  Some more aggressive players sound better on certain calls then other guys.
As a call maker, I have to say that the above statement is the best I saw in this thread. As well as some others. I have bought "high end" calls that worked well as door stops and strikers that I use when we go camping for tent stakes....that is part of the game....I tell you one thing, my taste is different, I run calls differently then some ...I like a soft old school call sound, and I run a call that way. NOT EVERYONE RUNS THEIR CALLS THAT WAY.....I have seen folks expectations amaze me, when a fellow came by a couple weeks back he ran a call that I thought was too squeaky...he loved it...and one of my pots that I loved and brought in birds with, he thought was too deep??? So, I guess I am saying, if you have a call that has you climbing the walls or pulling out your hair, contact the maker, talk to him, tell him your concerns...and if he is an honest call maker, concerned about your satisfaction, instead of a sale, he will make it right. But...if it is on your end, if you like me and others, just cannot run certain calls, even if they sound great to others, then swallow hard and shelf it....

[joker]

I have noticed that pot calls seem to have a built in natural "pitch and tone range" . If this range is in the middle of the range a turkey can make It can go higher and lower in pitch and still sound good. Thus a call that can be played with a lot of different strikers and a lot of different calling techniques. Anything and everything will sound good with that call.

A call with its natural range at the high or low end may have more limitations with the sound you can get out of it and still sound good. These calls are a lot more limited in what strikers and calling technique can be used with them. Some only sound good played with just the right striker just the right way.

Steve

[yelpy]

I have noticed that pot calls seem to have a built in natural "pitch and tone range" . If this range is in the middle of the range a turkey can make It can go higher and lower in pitch and still sound good. Thus a call that can be played with a lot of different strikers and a lot of different calling techniques. Anything and everything will sound good with that call.

A call with its natural range at the high or low end may have more limitations with the sound you can get out of it and still sound good. These calls are a lot more limited in what strikers and calling technique can be used with them. Some only sound good played with just the right striker just the right way.

Steve

And they are the pots that you can keep. I hate a call that has to be played just right. In the house is fine but when hunting that's a big screw up waiting to happen.

[scoot12]

Great point Yelp,  here in Wisconsin it can get down in the 20s in the morning and a finnicky call is the last thing I want in my cold hands.  Scoot

[jakesdad]

Ive got some calls that I can make turkey sounds on but just dont have what I'M wanting to hear.  Like alot of you I have calls i'm most comfortable with that will play well with what seems like a piece of rebar at times. With that being said I have started to carry some calls that even though they may sound bad to me,may be the one ol' tom is looking for that day. I've killed several with calls I am not real "confident" in so to say.Sounded like a rusty gate more than a turkey to me but mr. turkey sure liked what he was hearing.

[Bowguy]

If you didn't like em so much you could always give em to a kid to practice on if you didn't want to sell