I don't have that many custom calls, but before I buy one, I do some "recon" on the callmaker and also get some input from guys that have their calls. I am by no means a collector, and all my calls get used in the field. Having said that, I heard of Ralph's calls before, but never seen any in person except for a few pictures. I never even knew he was on this forum, and when I made a post on here about finding lipstops, Ralph offered to make me a few lipstops for my one and only trumpet call that I had (not one of his), and he invited me over his house. Turns out we live pretty close. When I went over, I had no intentions of buying a call (I figured I had enough already), that is, until he showed me some of his calls....I was literally "floored" when I saw some of his work in person and I said to myself..."this guy really makes some "Top Shelf" calls", and I really wanted one. Well, turns out I got two of them.....a Roanoke trumpet and a tube call, both made from Mexican Cocobolo. Thanks again Ralph, I sure do appreciate it! I really like them both and they definitely will be in the woods with me this fall and for the rest of my life! Hopefully I can return the favor this fall with some "turkey doggin' action"....you will have a blast!
