tinkering with prestretched reeds

[tha bugman]

I bought an HS Strut Raspy Ole Hen and was wondering if I could clip some of the top reed to put some more rasp in the second note? 

[GobbleNut]

Generally speaking, you can create more rasp in a call by modifying the top reed in some fashion.  Normally, I recommend just deepening one dor both of the cuts in the reed a very small amount.  However, that particular call design with the notches at the ends of the reed might require a bit of experimentation.  Perhaps some other call makers that have tinkered with that call design can offer some insight. 

Whatever you do, just understand that very small modifications to the reeds can make a very big difference in the sound.  In the meantime, I'll make up a couple of calls and start with that design and see where it leads me and let you know what I think might be what you should do. 

[tha bugman]

Generally speaking, you can create more rasp in a call by modifying the top reed in some fashion.  Normally, I recommend just deepening one dor both of the cuts in the reed a very small amount.  However, that particular call design with the notches at the ends of the reed might require a bit of experimentation.  Perhaps some other call makers that have tinkered with that call design can offer some insight. 

Whatever you do, just understand that very small modifications to the reeds can make a very big difference in the sound.  In the meantime, I'll make up a couple of calls and start with that design and see where it leads me and let you know what I think might be what you should do.

Well I experimented last night.  I got the first cut made (not pretty) but it definitely IMO sounded better.  Then I went to make the second cut and nicked the bottom reed.  It still worked but did not sound as good.

[compton30]

Generally speaking, you can create more rasp in a call by modifying the top reed in some fashion.  Normally, I recommend just deepening one dor both of the cuts in the reed a very small amount.  However, that particular call design with the notches at the ends of the reed might require a bit of experimentation.  Perhaps some other call makers that have tinkered with that call design can offer some insight. 

Whatever you do, just understand that very small modifications to the reeds can make a very big difference in the sound.  In the meantime, I'll make up a couple of calls and start with that design and see where it leads me and let you know what I think might be what you should do.

Well I experimented last night.  I got the first cut made (not pretty) but it definitely IMO sounded better.  Then I went to make the second cut and nicked the bottom reed.  It still worked but did not sound as good.

Something that has happened to everyone at some point when attempting to make cuts in the top reed of a call. Frustrating for sure. Just deadens the call in a way that can't be come back from once it happens. Sucks.

[GobbleNut]

While I agree that often a deep cut in the secondary reed will spoil a call, a small nick can often be overcome by some precision shortening of the entire reed or a portion around the nick.  Sometimes works,...sometimes not.  In addition, on some calls where the high-end of the yelp is hard to break over, a nick in the secondary reed can solve that issue. 

I made up one of the "boss hen" designs with two layers of natural .003 (speculated that perhaps that was the composition of those calls from the makers,...don't know for sure).  Tried deepening the end cuts just a tad,...didn't help.  Then shaved off the primary reed  from center to the edge cuts and made a V-cut,....didn't work much either.  Went to the combo,...no dice.  Finally went to the batwing,...didn't sound great, but better than the other options. 

Based on that, I would say that converting the "boss hen" to a combo or batwing might be the solution for a bad factory call.  May try another one and convert to a ghost cut and report on that later.