Many makers would have you believe that there is a cryptic "Society of Call Makers" and that you need a secret decoder ring and a mystic handshake at the midnight meeting before their methods be divulged. There are, unfortunately, those who would have your signature in blood before giving you the slightest clue.

In truth there are no mystical secrets, all that is required is the desire to build a call and use that call to kill a turkey. Any commercial box call can be used for a pattern for your first call. Later, as you progress you may wish to make changes and create your own unique call.

Radising the lid (paddle) can be done on a belt sander, a block plane or lacking that there is always the old wood rasp route. Just make sure it is not too slick on the playing surface. You may want rough the playing surface with a piece of 60 grit sandpaper. The sound board should be slightly arched at the top. Keep your sound board a little less that 1/8" and you will want the paddle to contact the sound board just in back of middle (top of the arch). The spring is not necessary but does help position the paddle. Cedar, cherry, poplar, and mahogany make a good calls and, as you will notice, a lot of sawdust. For the first time call cedar, poplar or mahogany will be good choices for the sound board. Finish does not make the call and one can leave it unfinished if one likes.

My personal box call is the 1st one I ever made and is bare wood with no finish at all. It works well and like they say: "If it works, don't fix it" Some makers swear by a 6/7 degree angle on the sound board (I use 6, or 5, or 7, however it comes off the sander) but this angle thing is not a hard requirement. There are many excellent sounding calls that have no angle at all, but rather are positioned at a right angle the bottom. Tone changes may be accomplished several ways. Varying the volume of the box, type of wood in the call (sound board, lid and box), thickness of the lid and/or sound board, arch and/or rigidity of the sound board, changing the sound path from the box.

Always remember however that there is no magic call, the skill of the player is far more important that the sound of the call ....

If you should decide you wish to make your own turkey call and have questions, please feel free to contact me.