When I began making calls, I found the prospect of tuning calls from scratch a little intimidating at first. What follows are some things I've discovered along the way.

Several factors affect the call's volume, pitch, and tone:

• The length, thickness, and radius of the sides
• The thickness of the lid and the shape of it's bottom radius
• The overall thickness or "mass" of the call. Remember, just as with wooden instrument making (guitars, violins, etc) more mass--up to a point--equals more volume, more sustain, better tone, and a generally better, "livelier" sound.
• How and where the call is held
• The dryness of the wood used
• How tightly the box is constructed - One helpful indication of this, paralleling the above comments about "mass," is that as you scrape the lid across, say, the rail on the right side of the call to yelp, you should be able to lay a finger against the left side of the call and feel it vibrate.
• Amount of tension between the hinge screw, spring, and lid
• Point at which the lid scrapes the rail(s)
• How firmly or lightly the lid is scraped across the rail(s)
• The amount of moisture, dirt, or oils that are on the call's sounding surfaces
• NOTE: Although I have heard people say that very thin sides produce the best-sounding, loudest calls, I have found that what's even more important than that (for me, anyway) is maximizing and maintaining contact between the lid and the rails (top edge of sides). That is, the profile of the rail should have a gradual radius to it. If the rail is sanded to a narrow knife-edge, that side of the call will probably make the box call equivalent of a dry-heave--and that's all. My guess is that could be one reason (aesthetics aside) why many box calls came to be made with slanted--as opposed to perpindicular--sides; that design provides more surface contact between the lid and the rails. That's a guess, anyway--a working theory. I also have theories on Atlantis, JFK, the U S Postal Service, and El Chupacabra, but I won't post them here.

My Thoughts

Aesthetics and sound quality aside, in my opinion a good hunting box call is one that is loud, easily controlled, and also one that produces a consistent tone which enables the caller to keep a good rhythm while running through any of the basic hen and gobbler calls--clucks, cutts, yelps, cackles, and purrs. Anyone who's heard a number of different hens knows that their calls may all vary in volume, tone and pitch, but the rhythm and cadence to their yelps is fairly consistent from bird to bird. They're all unique, more or less raspy, smooth, even broken sounding. I've had turkeys respond to a number of different sounding calls--and some of them were downright painful to listen to. My first box was pretty shoddy--but I called in a gobbler with it anyway (didn't kill him, but that's another story!).

Tuning from Scratch

Before chalking the bottom of the lid, the first thing I do is tighten the screw until the lid scrapes across the rails just forward of the highest point on the side. I spend a minute or two trying to get a reasonably good-sounding yelp (remember, it's not chalked yet), adjusting the screw as necessary. For my purposes and standards, I've found that if a box call yelps well, it'll handle most of the other calls. If it sounds like it's getting there, I'll chalk it up and run it through some clucks, yelps, cutts, purrs, and cackles. If it's loud, makes those five standard calls without much fuss, and sounds like a turkey to me, I'll try it in the field!

Fine/Final Tuning

This is where the various grit sandpapers come in handy. The paddle may not be smooth enough, or the rails may be rough or uneven and need some minor adjustment. If this is necessary, I'm only using 220. Sandpaper that's much finer than 220 doesn't remove wood so much as burnish it, so trying to lightly/slightly alter the rails or lid with something finer than 220 may be a waste of time. Once the profile of the rails is "right," I'll rub the radius lightly with 150-180 grit for the final conditioning, and then use the finer grades if necessary, though it typically isn't for me. If that doesn't work, I'll try some other paddle, or maybe a tighter spring. If I just can't get anything decent out of it, or if there's something wrong with the call, it becomes another storage tray for chalk, screws, springs, etc.

Troubleshooting and Tuning Double-Sided Calls

I like the versatility of double-sided calls and try to do everything I can to give each side a distinctive tone. The first step is determining which side tends toward the raspy, and which side tends toward the clear, then work from there. On my calls, the thicker rail tends to produce the clearer tones, and the thinner rail tends to be a little raspier. However, once I take a call out of the clamps and begin tuning it, One side usually sounds great to me while the other sounds like junk (see the note about "dry heaves" above). If this happens to you, don't get discouraged, cause chances are a little tweaking will bring the other side to life.

A lot of production factors can affect the tone or the call's "tunability"--one side of the lid may have a rough spot, a high spot, or a low spot; one side may be higher than the other; the hinge hole in the lid may be off center; the screw hole in the end block may be off-center or drilled at an angle, which can throw everything off and make the call asymmetrical. This is not necessarily bad, and both sides can still sound fine and work well if the call is a little asymmetrical. If one side is higher, it can (carefully) be sanded down to match the other side, or if the lid's radius is not symmetrical, that too can be fixed with a little elbow grease. Slowly and carefully is the rule here.

In my zeal to get a call finished and tuned I once ruined it by sanding the high side perfectly flat with a power detail sander. It now sits on my workbench and holds my chalk.

When I started, I probably screwed up every other call I made by not taking my time. But then again, they make good benchtop holders for screws, springs, chalk, and stuff, and remind me to pay attention to what I'm doing.