Turkey call

[Blaflair2]

I do a lot of wood working of different items, a guy at work wants me to make him a box call. Anyone have n e experience with one? Dimensions and all? Thanks

[Polar Bear]

Try Howto.com.  I have sometimes found good advise on there.

[bubby]

there might be a box call build a long on the how to page

[mullet]

 I've got a pretty good collection of Home made box calls. I'll take some pictures and post some. Most of them were made by friends I hunt with.

It doesn't matter how it looks, If it's not tuned right it won't sound right.

[Blaflair2]

That's what I need to know. How I get the sound right. I made one last night and it was high pitched

[mullet]

Are you making, "cut and put together" calls or carving out he inside of the box to tune?

[Blaflair2]

I want to cut it out to tune. One piece. I already have it made just high pitched. I was thinking of making the center deeper and maybe it'll add some bass

[PEARL DRUMS]

Just a guess from my drum kit tuning. The thicker the walls the lower it will be, deeper will probably make it louder more so. Just guessing. Im also thinking the wood you use makes all the difference. Especially the striker portion, or the lid I guess.

[Robby101]

Blaflair, I have made quite a few one piece box calls from a variety of woods. The ones shown are maple, but I like cherry or osage the best. I make one wall of the box a little thicker to get that kind of dual tone effect. Tuning, I just keep thinning them down till it sounds good, also changing the shape of the Top lip on the sides makes a difference, as well as the flatness of the arc on the paddle. Good luck!!!
Robby

[mullet]

Pearl is right. Another thing is to hold the base of the call with your whole hand and play with gripping it harder or lighter and you can change the sound a little more. It keeps it from resonating a high pitch

[Buffalogobbler]

Blair,
I've been making calls for more than 20 yrs. If your making a cut and glued box call the sides should be about1/8thick, maybe a bit thicker 5/32 or 3/16, you'll have to experiment.,thinner makes it raspier and lower in tone wood choice makes a lot of difference in thickness needed for good sound. a good place to start is with an internal sound chamber about 1and1/2 deep by 4 and1/2to 5and1/2 long, about 1and1/4 wide at the top of the box, 5-6 degrees angle on the end blocks.the paddle should be about 1/4 to 3/8 thick the thicker the higher pitch.Shape your radii for the box and paddle on the belt sander. Mahogany and poplar are the easiest to tune, cedar and chestnut are also good choices.

Hope that helps.
Kevin
 

[Blaflair2]

I'm making it from English walnut. Is that a bad choice?

[Buffalogobbler]

For the call you already made you can try tuning it by scraping shavings off the inside of the side walls with a good pocket knife, if it's too high in pitch it's probably too thick, if your getting good yelps and clucks but the pitch is to high your close  how thick are the side walls? How deep and how long is the sound chamber?

Kevin

[Buffalogobbler]

Walnut isnt bad it can make great box calls but it can be difficult to impossible to tune depending on grain, straight grain is best, doe's the walnut have any swirl to the grain? that might be why your getting to high pitch, in that case I'd try adding a mahogany paddle.
If you have straight grain and if your getting good yelps but too high in pitch try shaving little bits from the inside, try to scrape only from the top half of the side walls.
Ideally, the side walls should be a little thicker at the bottom and a little thinner at the top where the paddle strikes, also the side walls should be a little thicker towards the screw and thinner at the end block.
I hope I'm not describing this in a confusing manner.

Kevin

[Blaflair2]

I'm not sure how big it is inside. Measure it later