Originally all wild game calls were "custom" in the sense that they were not mass-produced and most likely simply made by individuals as they needed or wanted one, out of necessity or curiosity. Perhaps "homemade" is a better term than "custom," but however we choose to look at it, the pieces of bone or slate early hunters used to help them call the American wild turkey had humble beginnings.

Callmakers like Henry Gibson, M.L. Lynch, Tom & Inman Turpin, the Stevenson Call Co., and Roger Latham of Penn's Woods helped popularize and, in some cases, mass-produce calls so that any hunter who wanted to pursue wild turkeys could obtain a reasonably-priced turkey caller to aid his pursuit. Of course, for the first few decades of the Twentieth century, there were probably more turkey callers available than there were turkeys to hunt, but that's another story!

Defining exactly what makes a call "classic" can be tricky. Anything that is considered classic is usually marked by excellence of some kind, whether in originality, superior design and construction, performance, cost vs. long-term value and utility, or its enduring popularity and widespread distribution over an extended period of time. So for our purpose here, we'll define a "classic call" as either a custom or commercial call whose original design/manufacture is at least 20 years old, and which has achieved some measure of widespread use, acclaim, or popularity.