What type of sound board do you like for a slate pot-style call? Wood, glass, crystal? I'm thinking of picking up a call kit and have a few choices. I think my Cody slate call has a wood sound board. I'll be using a 3.5" calling surface and a 3" (maybe 2.5") sound board.

Also, when gluing the sound board and calling surface I plan to use a clamp. I'm wondering if I need to apply a certain amount of pressure or am I ok just making sure it's tight?

Thanks!

I like double strength glass for a sound board, a little more raspy and loud compared to the single strength. I have also heard some really good calls with wood. Woodcrafters in Roanoke has a really nice selection of thin wood that would be great for a soundboard.

When clamping the slate and soundboards in the calls I have made I have used spring clamps. I tape a piece of cardboard to each side of the clamp and use three clamps on the soundboard and then the slate to even the pressure out.

EDITED

Just remembered you are no where near Roanoke If they don't have a store locally they are on the web, also http://www.rockler.com and http://www.customsawing.com have thin board of differn't species.

Scott - Thanks for the info. I want to get into making some calls on a very limited basis (just for fun) and want to try to make some quality stuff. My problem is I don't have any room for woodworking equipment so I'll be basically "assembling calls" instead of truely making them. Any other ideas on how to begin would be appreciated.

I used to make some slate calls ...I used an internal sound board made of a cedar house shingle on some of them..if you find a placewhere soemone is tearing down a cedar shake sided house(or redwood) you might borrow a couple of their shingles from the waste heap. the stuff I found was tapered to a very thin thickness , and could cut it with scissors to fit the inside ofthe call the way I wanted it...I think it is a nice subsitute if you cannot find the thin cedar that many people use.