Is anyone on here familiar with Mr Niles call's? If so do you know if he is still making calls? I haven't seen his name come across here.
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I talked to a friend of his and he said he isn't making any but I don't know that for sure.
Quote from: pinebark on February 16, 2020, 08:51:06 AM
Is anyone on here familiar with Mr Niles call's? If so do you know if he is still making calls? I haven't seen his name come across here.
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It's my understanding he makes a few but doesn't take orders and about impossible to get one. But I don't have a lot of first hand knowledge there so don't quote me.
Here are 2 that I got from him several years ago. I was hoping to get one or two more but I'm sad to hear he's not taking orders anymore. I would love to see some pictures of some of his other work if anyone has any. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200217/91c8f00879fcec8087773c5c1ca6621b.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200217/26c1a290e590ac64aaaf72242b247b7d.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200217/06930b542bd1ef782b07f74dddeb556c.jpg)
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I am still building calls, however, no longer taking any new orders. I am concentrating on completing the calls on my wait list.
Wow those are beautiful. And from one of the greats. I wish I was on that list!
Hey Pinebark - Beautiful calls you have there! I've been very fortunate to have collected Niles' calls over quite a few years and for me they're the finest expression of the art of box call making. The calls are extremely refined, his design and dimensions are unique and he doesn't adhere to convention in the use of materials or construction. Each call is a hand-made, hand-finished masterpiece made with love by a man with a very long and deep history in all things turkey, from restoration of the wild turkey in Maine to the early calling competitions with names like Kirby and Keck and up and through to the pinnacle of the box call making art. Not that I'm biased or anything . . . . : )
I'll get some pictures and post a few over the weekend. Thanks for taking the time to post yours!
I don't have any of his calls unfortunately but his longbox holsters are the best. 2 styles, all leather and cordura.
Those are 2 fine looking boxes ...you can tell the craftsmanship ...
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Quote from: SnozzBox on February 28, 2020, 09:37:36 PM
Hey Pinebark - Beautiful calls you have there! I've been very fortunate to have collected Niles' calls over quite a few years and for me they're the finest expression of the art of box call making. The calls are extremely refined, his design and dimensions are unique and he doesn't adhere to convention in the use of materials or construction. Each call is a hand-made, hand-finished masterpiece made with love by a man with a very long and deep history in all things turkey, from restoration of the wild turkey in Maine to the early calling competitions with names like Kirby and Keck and up and through to the pinnacle of the box call making art. Not that I'm biased or anything . . . . : )
I'll get some pictures and post a few over the weekend. Thanks for taking the time to post yours!
Thanks! Yes, I agree. These boxes have a style all on their own. And the closer you look at them the more attention to detail you will find. It doesnt take long studying one of his boxes to see how much time was put in to it to make it stand out as a presentation grade box call. Not to mention it sounds a pretty as it looks!
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This is the second call Niles made after moving from Missouri to Pennsylvania. Built in 2016.
Box: Quilted Bigleaf Maple.
Box Inlay: Parquet-style inlay is handmade by Niles from Mahogany, Bloodwood, Sycamore, Walnut and Douglas Fir.
Lid: Texas ebony
Lid Inlay: Parquet-style inlay is handmade by Niles from Walnut, Sycamore, Bloodwood and Bigleaf Maple
Base: Birdseye Maple
Construction, fit and finish are impeccable as always. Great playability on either side with very realistic rasp. A turkey killer. Visually stunning. Provides the substantial feel of holding a finely made firearm.
Agreed, Pinebark. Over the last 25 or 30 years, I've owned them all and there is simply nothing like an Oesterle call. I'll post more as time allows over the weekend.
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Here is another stunner. This is a "1 of 1" call made by Niles in February 2010.
Box: North Carolina Holly
Box Inlay: Dark Green Osage
Lid: Gabon Ebony
Lid Inlays: Holly and Keylock Ebony
Lid Screw: Textured, polished brass
Base: Gabon Ebony
Base Inlay: Parquet-style inlay made by Niles of Pacific Yew, Sassafras and Gabon Ebony
Has the typical great Oesterle playability on both sides. A ringer of a call, full of turkey and realistic rasp - a woods-ready killer. The construction, fit, finish and overall attention to detail are incredible. Extremely substantial in the hand and strikingly beautiful. Like holding a Holland & Holland shotgun.
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One more . . .
Made as a "Special Reserve Grade" call for the 2013 NWTF National Convention. This is Call #1 of Niles' first ever set of Parquet calls.
Box: Arkansas Sassafras
End Blocks: Honduran Mahogany
Parquet Links: Sassafras and Quilted Maple
Base: Laminated Pacific Yew and Quilted Maple
Lid: Pacific Yew
Lid Inlays: Parquet-style inlays of Holly, Gabon Ebony and Honduran Mahogany
This one plays better than it looks and that says a lot . . .
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Awesome calls thanks for posting Snozz!
There's a reason the real Snozz hunts with an Oesterle! They are killers - looks and sound. Congrats on your Niles collection, they are a few of the very best.
That parquet sasafras box is absolutely stunning. :drool:
Muck
Here is another parquet-style call, this one made in 2014 as a "Special Reserve Grade" one of one call.
Box: North Carolina Holly
End Blocks: Michigan Birdseye Maple
Parquet Links: African Padauk and Missouri Boxelder
Box Inlay: India Rosewood
Lid: S.E. Asian Mun Ebony w/14kt gold filled bezel inlay
Base: African White Pear
Handle Accents: Gabon Ebony, Fossilized Walrus Jawbone and Musk Ox
A highly complex call with so much going on. Spectacular in design and perfect in execution. A dazzling piece which plays turkey music with the same kind of tight precision that I would imagine I'd feel driving an Italian supercar. Textbook "Oesterle sound and playability." Every time I pick it up and look at it, then play it it makes me go "Wow, wow, wow!"
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Sorry about that, my first pic was the holly and ebony call I already posted.
BTW - I'm not the real Snozz, although he is my turkey hunting mentor. I've lived in Northern Virginia for 25 years now but grew-up about an hour north of Ralph, just southwest of the Pocono Mountains. I've been honored and fortunate to call up a few turkeys over the years with a Snozz Box . . . . and watch Ralph work his magic a little as well . . . . : )
This one is another "Special Reserve Grade" one of one call, this one also from 2014.
Box: "Knotty" African White Pear
Box Inlay: Handmade Parquet-style inlay of Holly, Gabon Ebony and Honduran Mahogany
Base: Missouri Crab Apple
Lid: Missouri mud-cured Green Osage
Lid Inlays: W. African Padauk
Here is a perfect example of Niles' use of rare and offbeat woods in highly unconventional combinations. As always, the quality of the woods is first rate, dare I say "Instrument Quality?" The quality of the woods used by Niles has always been first rate and much of his stock has been cut and aged by Niles for decades before being made into a call. And how about that green osage?? Incredible.
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SnozzBox, Awesome collection of boxes that are definitely in a "league of their own." That is exactly why I started this thread. Holding and running one of these boxes has a whole unique feeling to it that is outside of the norm. Thanks for posting some pictures of some legendary works of art.
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Here is an older example. This is a "Presentation Grade" Limited Edition call made in 1999 for the 23rd Annual NWTF Convention in Charlotte, NC.
Box: Extra Wormy Butternut from Shaftsbury, VT
Box Inlay: Birdseye Maple
Lid: Birdseye Maple
Lid Inlays: Wild Black Cherry from Tipmouth, VT and Red Cedar from Eminence, MO
Base: Birdseye Maple
An exceptional call with butternut so wormy I nicknamed it the "Swiss Cheese Butternut" call. The worm holes are so numerous and of so many different sizes it looks almost like it was blasted with a load of early heavy shot where the pellets are of many different sizes. The call also has a large knot in the right soundboard, with a genuine knothole in the middle that goes clear through the soundboard. In true Oesterle fashion, however, it plays like any other of Niles short boxes. It has the typical ring of Niles' butternut and maple calls which I always viewed as his signature woods in a short box. Niles grew-up in Vermont and the quality of his Vermont butternut is well known among the insiders. Leave it to Niles to take a block of wood that most makers would discard on sight and turn it into a stunning looker that plays like a top on both sides.
This call was seen and played by a few well-known call makers at the convention, whom initially looked upon it as some kind of joke or perhaps that Niles had surrendered his standards for the instrument quality of his calls in exchange for a call that would be desirable simply for it's unconventional looks as there was no way a call with so many holes could actually be a working-quality call from a playability perspective. How wrong they found they were, when they picked it up and ran it!
Just one more example of Niles' unconventional approach, and one of my favorite Oesterle calls.
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Awesome!
This thread - definitely in the top 3 favorite threads on OG for me. Those are awesome, congrats on the nice collection!
This is "The Knotty African" box. Made as a "Special Reserve Grade" one-of-one call in 2014.
Box: "Knotty" African Mountain Cypress
Box Inlay: Mexican Bocote
Base: African White Pear
Lid: South African Pink Ivory
Lid Inlay: Sterling Silver Bezel
Another work by Niles that is as unconventional as it is spectacular and unusual. Incorporates a prominent knot like many of his high-grade calls. As always, the fantastic playability on both sides is there. I've owned and played them all over the years, and for me there is no contest - Niles' Special Reserve Grade calls are the finest short boxes ever made. You can also search high and low and will not find a more humble and down-to-earth person. I believe the only contemporary maker that may have been doing it as long is Billy Buice, and that says a lot.
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I'll end the short box parade with one last "Special Reserve Grade" call, this one built for the 36th Annual NWTF Convention in Nashville in 2012.
Box: Oregon Fiddleback Maple
Box Inlay: Hawaiian Toon
Base: Kansas Mulberry
Base Inlay: Hawaiian Toon
Lid: Kansas "Sunburst" Mud-Cured Osage Orange
Lid Inlay: Green Mud-Cured Osage Orange
What a combination of woods, and what an incredible instrument. Fabulous player on both sides, tight and extremely precise. Playing a series of yelps is like working your way through the gears of a 911 Carrera. The construction, as always with Niles, is tops. The hand-rubbed finish always a cut above the rest. And the materials? Drop dead spectacular. The maple is densely fiddle-backed and beautiful. The osage lid sets it apart - I've never seen a piece like it. Niles dubbed it "Sunburst" and that is a perfect description - it is the most spectacular piece of osage I've ever seen, incorporating a combination of greens, yellows and oranges that have an amazing "electric sparkle" that makes it look alive. My pics unfortunately cannot capture the beauty and "life" in this piece of wood. I'll never forget the comments made by a collector to me a few years ago - He had purchased a few box calls from me and we were talking after he had received them. I would guess that he was somewhere up in his late '70's and he said something I had never consciously thought of, but which I guess we all really know and that is that wood might be the only thing on the planet that is more beautiful in death than in life. This piece of osage captures that idea better than any piece of wood I've ever seen. In typical Niles fashion, he incorporated two knots into the lid. The knot near the screw is large, prominent and tight and adds greatly to the character of the call.
Not much more to say but Spectacular! Extraordinary! Winston Churchill was a connoisseur of fine things and was known to have once remarked "I am easily satisfied with the very best." If he were a turkey man I'd bet Niles Oesterle box calls would get his enthusiastic thumb's-up as "the very best."
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Those last two are exquisite. The finest example of craftsmanship and art.
Wow.
:z-winnersmiley:
Here are a few shots of mine that I bought from Niles about 30 years back.
Hey Collector,
What a fantastic call. Amazing butternut as always, and you just have to love those knots! A very understated and classy call. Would you let me know if you ever decide to let it go? Ha that's kind of a trick question, as folks are rarely interested in letting go of an Oesterle call, right? That being said, would you, please?
Thanks for posting the pics, sir!
Here is a long box from Niles. Not the greatest picture but all I have at the moment.
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His are in a class all their own
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Call was handed down to me. Year 2000 Birdseye maple from Dorset VT. Red Cedar from Hermann, MO.
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