# pot call sound boards



## rolandh

i am new to turning and this forum.could anyone give me some advice on good woods and thicknesses for sound boards?


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## Final Strut

While wood will make a good sound board most guys use either glass or slate for sound boards. I use glass in 80% of my calls. When I do use wood I typically use hard maple. I sand them down to about 3/32 - 1/8 thick. I have found in my calls any thicker than 1/8 and istart to lose resonance. @jbowers , @James, @JR Custom Calls, @TMAC, @michael dee, and @Bigdrowdy1 are all guys that have been posting up a lot of really nice calls lately so hopefully some of them will add to my $.02.


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## JR Custom Calls

I only use glass.. No exceptions. I'm of no help


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## michael dee

@rolandh , I have never used any wood for soundboards, I use glass and slate for soundboards and they are about an 1/8" thick. Now if you are referring to wood for the pot call itself , I like Osage orange , it has produced some really good calls for me. If I had it all over again I believe I would start with one wood maybe two and they would be cherry and walnut and hard maple, OK so maybe three. I would start making pot calls and changing dimensions as I went until I got the sound I wanted and then move on to the next wood and stick with same striking surface and soundboard combination throughout process . The reason I would choose these woods is because they are easy to get and fairly reasonable and you are going to see some beautiful woods that come across this site and want them to make a pot call , definitely not saying to not buy some of this beautiful wood but if you do save it to you get the sound you want , because every piece of wood comes with its on challenges. I made a bunch of beautiful calls in the beginning that are cool to look at but sound like crap, so they set there for me to look at and nothing else.


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## michael dee

@rolandh , to add to conversation I believe I would start with walnut because it cuts like butter on the lathe and this will give you a chance to figure out your shape and get use to your tools, then move on to cherry and then maple. IMO these three woods cover the spectrum from a less dense wood ( walnut) to a more dense wood ( cherry) to an even more dense wood ( maple) .The first time I ever used a lathe was to turn a pot call and it was a disaster , I had a piece of persimmon and I was using the dullest skew you could imagine and the lathe smaked that thing right out of my hand, I was trying to do what I had seen on YouTube and had read on different forums. I should have then and still should now take a wood turning class because I know there is still so much to learn.Everything here is only my opinion , not the gospel, and there is plenty of call makers on here that have more experience than I do and they will probally chime in.


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## jbowers

Glass or slate for me too, mostly glass though I really like the yelps and roll over s I get with it. With a .085-.090 gap works the best for me, everyone plays around with spacing a little to get what sounds best with their pot design. Thickness is usually .090-.100 thick on these I find. If I was using wood I would stay between .100 and .125 as @Final Strut mentioned.


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## James

Glass or slate for me most of the time. I have used walnut and cherry on occasion but it has to be thin like was stated earlier, 1/8 or less


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## TMAC

I prefer glass with most surfaces. Slate works well with some. Never cared much for wood or acrylic. I just can't get the rollover I want. Experiment with different diameter pedestals. You can really change up the sound of your calls.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Bigdrowdy1

I use glass and slate like the others. I have some aluminum that I have not tried as of yet jist never get around to it. Here is some more information in another post.
http://woodbarter.com/threads/space-between-sound-board-slate.13692/

Forgot to mention THO game calls has a wealth of information to help you get started as well.
Good Luck


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## michael dee

Guess I should have paid attention to the question a little more.


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## rolandh

i appreciate all comments,my first calls will probably be 3" made with slate surface.by the way this forum seems to be the most friendly i have found.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## JR Custom Calls

I'd encourage you to start with 3.5". 3" are much less forgiving... Learn the basics with 3.5", then look at 3" if that's what you'd like to make. JMO anyways

Reactions: Agree 2


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## rolandh

JR Custom Calls said:


> I'd encourage you to start with 3.5". 3" are much less forgiving... Learn the basics with 3.5", then look at 3" if that's what you'd like to make. JMO anyways


do you prefer to turn with or against the wood grain


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## JR Custom Calls

Unless you're specifically making a crosscut pot, you want the end grain on the sides of the pot.


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