mouth calls?

[Lumpy]

Hook's Custom Calls are tough to beat, easy to blow and all turkey!!!
God Bless

[Fan Club]

I'll second the Cane Creek calls, Doug Adkins knows his stuff!
 
Having said that, a real player can make a cheap guitar sound great. I've seen great callers tear off the rack calls out of the package and make 'em sound like a million bucks. A fine guitar or a custom call will make the job easier but you still have to put in your time, studying turkey talk, practicing your calling and tuning your ear.
 
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[swamper12]

Check out Zink Calls.  I've been using these diaphragm calls for a couple of years now.  I think for cutting, clucks, purs, and yelping an all around good call would be the Zink X-Lady.  It's a triple reed call with the V cut in it.  check it out on the website at www.zinkcalls.com  No matter what call you choose, practice, practice, practice. 

[TURKEYBOSS]

I AGREE WITH A LOT OF THE GUYS, NO MATTER WHAT YOU USE, THE MORE YOU PRACTICE THE BETTER YOU WILL BECOME.
 
I HAVE A NARROW PALATE SO I HAD A HARD TIME WITH THE AVERARGE CALL, IT WOULDNT FIT IN MY MOUTH AND SOME WOULD CAUSE ME TO GAGE. SO I FOUND SOME CALLS BY QUAKER BOY THAT ARE DESIGNED FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME!

[Cut N Run]

ORIGINAL: TURKEYBOSS

I AGREE WITH A LOT OF THE GUYS, NO MATTER WHAT YOU USE, THE MORE YOU PRACTICE THE BETTER YOU WILL BECOME.

I HAVE A NARROW PALATE SO I HAD A HARD TIME WITH THE AVERARGE CALL, IT WOULDNT FIT IN MY MOUTH AND SOME WOULD CAUSE ME TO GAGE. SO I FOUND SOME CALLS BY QUAKER BOY THAT ARE DESIGNED FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME!

^ Same here. I have a different shaped palate that doesn't lend itself to some maker's calls. Preston Pittman makes some good ones that fit me, as do Tom Teasers, and I can sound good on a few of the K&H calls.

I agree with Jeff about practice too. The more familiar you are with your calls, the better you'll sound.

Jim

[Fan Club]

ORIGINAL: swamper12
 No matter what call you choose, practice, practice, practice. 

 
Lots of brands have been tossed at you Bruce, but as I suspected very little mention of calling proficiency. After almost 20 years of chasing birds, I still prefer a double reed or 2.5 reed call, they are just easier for me to sound authentic on, and in particular, call softly with. Just about every National Champ out there is selling calls now and they are mostly 3.5 or 4 reed calls with fancy batwing cuts that cost $10.00 or more each. That's a lot of reeds to keep dry and separated to keep the call in peak condition. They take a lot more air to operate and unless you have hundreds of hours to practice will probably bark and cutt a lot better than they'll purr or yelp very softly.
 
I love Mark Strands recent quote of Harold Knight in T&TH- "The diaphragm call is the greatest conservation tool ever created."
 
Some of my favorites are the Perfection True Double, Primos Cuttin' Hen, HS E-Z Rasp and Cane Creek Dead End. All are 2.5 reeds or less. I know this will rub a few guys the wrong way but I'll bet they would eventually confide that they get their best authentic turkey sounds out of a pot and peg call or diaphragm that is less than 4 reeds. The bottom line is go with a call that you can most sound like a turkey with and not what is currently cool, popular or someone else's idea of a great call.
 
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[kenturkey89]

Fan Club you are spot on here. I have only been using a diaphragm for the past couple years or so and I recently purchased a few Woodhaven mouth calls that sound really good. They are expensive ($10 a piece) and I would not recommend them for a beginner because it takes a significant amount of air pressure to get one to sound off. Also the tape is a little stiffer so it may take a lot longer to soften the call up and get it to fit your palate properly. I'm no expert with those calls by any means, but I am confident in my abilities to call birds in with those diaphragms. I just started making pot calls so I've spent more of my time playing with them instead of my diaphragms, and I agree with you that any beginner will sound much better on a friction call than a diaphragm call. Mouth calls take years and years of practice before you can sound anything like Shane Hendershot, Scott Ellis, Mitchell Johnston and many of the other excellent callers out there. There's a difference between calling on a mouth call, and calling well on a mouth call. Many beginners (me included) can figure out how to yelp on a mouth call fairly quickly and well enough to call in birds, but many don't really listen to the sounds they're producing. If you listen to some of the guys I mentioned, they can produce virtually every call with mouth calls, not that that's necessary to kill birds. Being able to produce every sound in a turkey's vocabulary is not necessarily what makes them so great, it's because they can control volume, rhythm, tone, rasp and other aspects of a turkey call. When I started yelping on a diaphragm, I thought I was making the best yelps out there, but all that was coming out was rasp. That's one of the few things I've been working on with my diaphragms is controlling the amount of rasp and when I want to incorporate it into my yelping sequence. Not that it's a deal breaker, but being able to control when and how much rasp I use in a call adds just an extra touch of realism that definitely won't hurt in your calling.

Like I said, I've only been using diaphragms for the past 2-3 years and I'm sure most of the guys on this forum could probably do better than me. There's so many different calls out there and I've only tried a hand full of brands. After the season's over with most of the calls go on sale, and that's when I plan to buy as many calls from as many different brands as possible to figure out which calls fit me and my style of calling. I think that's really the best thing to do because what works for one individual may not work at all for someone else, especially when it comes to diaphragm calls! Good hunting![;)]

[sugarray]

I use Hooks and a member from another forum, Joe Slaton, really makes a great call too. He is Mother Lode Turkey calls. For those that have had trouble, the youth frame calls really helped me control sound and get good sound.

[Duke0002]

Because of my narrow palate, even the youth size are a tad too wide.  I've had to trim these down.  Used an old one to get the fit and then used that as a pattern for others.

Point is, trying some trimming until one "locks up" in the roof of your mouth and save it for a pattern.

[sloughfoot]

Seems like ive tried em all.
 
best: woodhaven sadler mcgraw and preston pittmans ghost cut
worst: anything primos seems to make (garbage)   they all sound about like a straight double reed from HS.  not a fan!