So I had this call, an E.L.K. Power Howler. I like it, it sounds pretty good, but it didn't have a lot of volume. Yesterday, I spent portions of the day working on boosting the volume by adding a horn to the barrel. Here's where the day started.
This horn I could tell had some color, but it also had a lot of defects which means a LOT of sanding. But first, the handy dandy hacksaw needed to slice off the flared end of the call to give me something to work a tenon into to make this work.
I turned a simple tenon on the lathe with a spare chunk of maple I had in the drawer.
That's when the fun begins. Sanding. Lots and lots of it. I use mechanical help (benchtop belt sander and a palm detail sander) when I can, but a lot of this I do by hand. I worked it from 80 grit down to 600.
After that, it was polishing paste from 5 micron down to .5 micron.
The magic of epoxy holds it all together.
It still sounds great but does seem to have a lot more volume now. One downside, it's a huge call. I considered taking an inch off of the open end of the horn, and I may still do that. That modification can be made whenever at this point. This call makes good howling vocals, but what I really like it for is pup distress and fighting sounds. It's time to shine will be later this spring once the pups are born.
This horn I could tell had some color, but it also had a lot of defects which means a LOT of sanding. But first, the handy dandy hacksaw needed to slice off the flared end of the call to give me something to work a tenon into to make this work.
I turned a simple tenon on the lathe with a spare chunk of maple I had in the drawer.
That's when the fun begins. Sanding. Lots and lots of it. I use mechanical help (benchtop belt sander and a palm detail sander) when I can, but a lot of this I do by hand. I worked it from 80 grit down to 600.
After that, it was polishing paste from 5 micron down to .5 micron.
The magic of epoxy holds it all together.
It still sounds great but does seem to have a lot more volume now. One downside, it's a huge call. I considered taking an inch off of the open end of the horn, and I may still do that. That modification can be made whenever at this point. This call makes good howling vocals, but what I really like it for is pup distress and fighting sounds. It's time to shine will be later this spring once the pups are born.
