Tuning polycarb, double reed duck call

[JeffP_Or]

After decades of using the Faulks C-100 [wood] I inherited, I bought an Echo Timber in hopes of having a quieter call [as advertised] that works when wet, frozen [as advertised and something the wood call has struggled with of late]. It is not an expensive call and I got it for cheap [on sale] and had no opportunity to try before the buy. My first venture into polycarb - double reed duck calls.

• Do they all sound so 'thin'?
• Can it be effectively tuned? [For raspiness mostly - honestly, to me, the quack/feed chatter sounds like someone stepped on a juvie teal hen that has a sore throat but not even that good]

Before I started messing with it, I wanted to ask for thoughts. I feel it needs a longer reed for raspiness - both or just the lower/longer? Also planning to sand/roughen the sounding board. Anything else? I've shifted the reed positions around - individually and as a 'locked' pair but seems to have little impact. Have also changed the volume of air I put through it - that works on the high-ball/comeback type calls but the quacks and feed chatter don't change. Growling through it helps a bit.

Maybe I just don't have a chance with the call.

 

[UpTop]

Honestly sounds like it’s your mechanics more than the call. Grunting is generally never the answer to find rasp, especially on a double reed, and a hard habit to beak. I’d imagine you could tune and tune the call but still not be happy. It’s the off season so you have a lot of time to work. I’d seriously consider getting a single reed echo timber and work on basic calling mechanics. Tons of good videos on YouTube about this. I say this with respect and sincerity

 

[JeffP_Or]

Thanks. I spent a bit of time this weekend moving the reeds around to no avail; similar to single reed, any shift that improved the sound on one call only exponentially made it sound worse for another. I'll keep working on it but was under the impression a double reed is easier to control than a single - I feel I do well enough with the single and was looking for a different sound to add to the lanyard - I sure got it!
And yes, I agree, the growling thing is a last ditch effort.

 

[Russ89]

No, the don't all sound thin. The joys of calls like that are you don't have to tune them for them to be effective. They work.

Also, humans and ducks don't necessarily like the same sounds, so what you're going for may not resonate (pun intended) with the ducks the way you intend. All that to say this: yes, you can tune that call. It's how many people learned to tune and build calls. Just know you might sand or scrape too much and then wind up either having to build it back up or buy another. My great uncle and uncle taught me how they make calls, and to this day I still tinker with the tone boards of every one I make to get the sound I want out of each one. Every one off the jig sounds great (and came from 30 years of my great uncle tinkering with pressures and sound), but I think each one deserves its own sound.

To get what you're looking for, get some mylar, play with widths, thickness (stick the reed to a block and use fine grit sandpaper on a flat table), and different tip profiles, and don't touch the soundboard or you'll wind up like I said at the beginning, maybe finding what you want or maybe not, but the reeds are much cheaper to play with.

 

[JeffP_Or]

^^^ Thanks for that; hadn't heard about shaping or sanding the reed, The shape is different than I am used to seeing in calls - not that I have had that many. Appreciate it.