OK.......Honduras Rosewood Burl, Desert Ironwood Burl, Snakewood, Amboyna Burl, Cocuswood, Koa Burl, Osage Burl, etc.........
How much extra are you willing to spend for the nicest of call blanks for a turned trumpet yelper? Or is fancy expensive wood that important to you?
Nice looking blanks can be important as you know when a call maker turns their magic it's going to be awesome. I spent around 150 for a really nice piece of curly Koa and a curly Burmese blackwood just to have a long box made. In the end it was well worth the price as not only did the call look amazing, but it sounded incredible.
Most hunters want it to sound great, regardless, how its looks, collectors, wood is everything.
It's not that important to me although I certainly admire a particular eye-catching piece of wood. I think call makers can look to do their very best when working with an exceptional blank.
A good call maker does his best working on a free piece of pine, or a $100. piece of cocus.
Years ago I purchased a blank of desert ironwood burl that was exceptional...and I paid way too much money for it, but I had to have it. I used that blank for a trumpet I made for myself. It has been used to deceive quite a few longbeards over the years, but now you would think it was made from African blackwood....the color of the wood has turned that dark. Most rosewoods will darken, and if you are going to hunt with a call you just about have to accept what happens will happen and accept that. For a hunting call, I find it hard to justify spending much extra money.
I'm not a collector but looks matter to me in a call. I don't think a wood has to be rare or expensive to be beautiful however. And the scratches and "scars of battle" on a well used call can actually make it more appealing to my eye.
Desert ironwood is one of my favorite woods for trumpets....the blanks I've purchased for trumpets have all been the lighter colors. Hopefully, the lighter colors will stay lighter....if not, oh, well!!!
I'm a collector that hunts with all of my calls. I purchase very nice blanks of rare woods to have calls made. There is a limit to what I will spend on a nice blank. I won't spend over $70 for one. I will say that I have found some pretty good deals, even on cocuswood, but I look for wood almost daily and I have found a few sources that are really hard to find. There are a couple of species of wood that I still haven't found, but I'm not willing to break the bank.
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We always tend to draw the line between collector and hunter and like Meleagris said, I'm a collector who hunts with all my calls. I just got finished setting up a stupidly nice rifle and I plan to hunt the hell out of it. That to say, cost doesn't affect if I'll hunt it. I hunt everything I buy. BUT to answer the OP's question, yes, I'll pay more for a particularly beautiful and rare piece of wood. Mud cured osage is where I tend to start drooling. But on the opposite end, osage always ages gorgeously and it always makes beautiful and great sounding pots, strikers, and yelpers AND it's cheap. Plus it's domestic. Some of my favorite calls I own are cheap domestic woods, whether that be osage trumpets or walnut over poplar boxes.
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Depends. I have bought focus and Brazilian rosewood with mammoth ivory, I hunt them both and any call I own. Blanks and material cost is not overly important to me if I want something by a particular builder. If I want it and can afford it, then I buy it, have a call made, and hunt with it.
Several years ago, I found a wood supplier with some fantastic mud cured osage, and I purchased some from him. Later, that same wood supplier mentioned he had some mud cured osage burl, so I contacted him with the intention of purchasing all the burl he had. When I questioned him about the burl, he told me the burl he had would not work for trumpets because of the voids, so I asked him to set aside all the burl he came across in the future that would work for trumpets for me. He said he would do that. Two years later I still don't have any mud cured osage burl from him, but I did find a wood shop owner who was cleaning up his wood shop office who had a box of osage burl blanks he wanted to get rid of.....he was tired of kicking the box under his desk....he said he didn't remember how many years the box had been in his office....maybe 20-30 years. One of the best purchases I've made in a long time......
When I first started making trumpets years ago, I had a gentleman send me a beautiful wood blank to use for making him a trumpet. Admittedly, at the time, I had a lot to learn about wood. The customer had paid handsomely for the wood blank, and he sent it to me expecting me to send him back a trumpet worthy of that piece of wood. I chucked the wood blank up on the lathe and turned the blank into a cylinder watching all that figure...and color....disappear with the wood chips. By the time I finished turning the trumpet, the wood that was left was as plain as pallet wood. I immediately called and explained to the customer what had happened. For me, it was an uncomfortable situation. Frankly, if I had not been the person that turned that wood blank, I don't know if I would have believed a wood blank with that much figure and color could turn out as bland as that one did.
Quote from: Tarheel on July 16, 2022, 11:02:31 PM
When I first started making trumpets years ago, I had a gentleman send me a beautiful wood blank to use for making him a trumpet. Admittedly, at the time, I had a lot to learn about wood. The customer had paid handsomely for the wood blank, and he sent it to me expecting me to send him back a trumpet worthy of that piece of wood. I chucked the wood blank up on the lathe and turned the blank into a cylinder watching all that figure...and color....disappear with the wood chips. By the time I finished turning the trumpet, the wood that was left was as plain as pallet wood. I immediately called and explained to the customer what had happened. For me, it was an uncomfortable situation. Frankly, if I had not been the person that turned that wood blank, I don't know if I would have believed a wood blank with that much figure and color could turn out as bland as that one did.
Anyone buying blanks has to know this. What is inside can be totally different than what is outside. I have been surprised both ways. People should also know that sending a blank is at your own risk, if it breaks then it breaks.
Quote from: davisd9 on July 16, 2022, 11:27:57 PM
Quote from: Tarheel on July 16, 2022, 11:02:31 PM
When I first started making trumpets years ago, I had a gentleman send me a beautiful wood blank to use for making him a trumpet. Admittedly, at the time, I had a lot to learn about wood. The customer had paid handsomely for the wood blank, and he sent it to me expecting me to send him back a trumpet worthy of that piece of wood. I chucked the wood blank up on the lathe and turned the blank into a cylinder watching all that figure...and color....disappear with the wood chips. By the time I finished turning the trumpet, the wood that was left was as plain as pallet wood. I immediately called and explained to the customer what had happened. For me, it was an uncomfortable situation. Frankly, if I had not been the person that turned that wood blank, I don't know if I would have believed a wood blank with that much figure and color could turn out as bland as that one did.
Anyone buying blanks has to know this. What is inside can be totally different than what is outside. I have been surprised both ways. People should also know that sending a blank is at your own risk, if it breaks then it breaks.
Well said.
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Because of the reasons mentioned above I would just assume pay extra for the trumpet AFTER it has been made and I know what it is going to look like. Of course if it does not sound good first than you need to know it will just be a display call and accept that. I have a striker that is just for display, I have used it but does not perform well everywhere so I do not use it. (Nice clucks and purrs but horrible yelps)
No decent callmaker is going to send you a "display call" and expect you to accept it. And most don't take payment until the call is finished and ready to be shipped, for many reasons. One being they shouldn't want to send you a call they themselves wouldnt hunt with, and most would make that call over. They don't call it "display quality" but instead firewood.
If a particular wood is costing the maker more then I expect to pay more of course, but most times I'm looking for the makers choice and not my own. Then again thats only with a few reputable makers. Hunter in me wants the best sound, and the traditionalist in me wants domestic woods and not so caught up in the "tonal woods.". Walnut has probably killed more turkeys than any other wood, and it sure looks way better than plastic when laid on top of feathers.
Over the years, I've spent a lot of money for wood...and I've paid dearly for the education I've received. Too many times I've been disappointed in the color and figure of the wood in the finished call. Too many times I had opted to spend the extra money for the expensive blank of wood, and I ended up disappointed. Not to long ago, I was talking to my desert ironwood supplier, and we were discussing how too many times the more expensive blanks were a disappointment. He said, if asked, he always recommended the buyer make their purchase choices based on the end grain of the blank vs the face grain....resulted in less disappointment. Anyway, I much prefer good surprises.....
Quote from: Ranger on July 17, 2022, 10:10:11 AM
No decent callmaker is going to send you a "display call" and expect you to accept it. And most don't take payment until the call is finished and ready to be shipped, for many reasons. One being they shouldn't want to send you a call they themselves wouldnt hunt with, and most would make that call over. They don't call it "display quality" but instead firewood.
If a particular wood is costing the maker more then I expect to pay more of course, but most times I'm looking for the makers choice and not my own. Then again thats only with a few reputable makers. Hunter in me wants the best sound, and the traditionalist in me wants domestic woods and not so caught up in the "tonal woods.". Walnut has probably killed more turkeys than any other wood, and it sure looks way better than plastic when laid on top of feathers.
I have seen calls that are clearly display calls, calls like some from Castadine* or Castatine* are meant to be displayed, that is what I was trying to get at bud. I have this box call not meant to be played and can't be played, just a piece of art.
(https://i.imgur.com/YjZAbg4l.jpg)
We're talking about commissioning hunting calls from custom makers, what the whole post is about.
Quote from: Tarheel on July 17, 2022, 01:26:22 PM
Over the years, I've spent a lot of money for wood...and I've paid dearly for the education I've received. Too many times I've been disappointed in the color and figure of the wood in the finished call. Too many times I had opted to spend the extra money for the expensive blank of wood, and I ended up disappointed. Not to long ago, I was talking to my desert ironwood supplier, and we were discussing how too many times the more expensive blanks were a disappointment. He said, if asked, he always recommended the buyer make their purchase choices based on the end grain of the blank vs the face grain....resulted in less disappointment. Anyway, I much prefer good surprises.....
Good point. The guy I buy most of my blanks from always had good pictures of the endgrain. Typically when I get the wood it looks better than the pictures he uses.
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I always look at end grain when choosing blanks and determining what end of the blank will be the bell.
The cost of wood blanks are really driving up the prices on Trumpets.
I called a wood dealer a while back about some Honduras Rosewood Burl call blanks he had advertised. The blank I was most interested in trying to buy the wood dealer wanted $150 for the blank...and he told me that wasn't his best and most expensive blank of HRB. If you hunt a trumpet made from a rosewood, you have to accept the reality the wood will darken, and the colors and figure will go dark. CA may impede or slow the darkening on rosewood.... but I personally don't know because I don't use a CA finish. Maybe someone that does know will speak to that. Regardless, the people chasing the highly figured and rare call blanks are having an impact. I told the wood dealer the price of the HRB blank was way above my budget. There was no way I would be comfortable I could cover the price of that blank in the price I would be able to sell a trumpet call.