I posted this on my Facebook page after a couple of requests. I thought some on here may like it. It is long, so just omit it if is! Mr. E
History of the Stribling Turkey call.
As mentioned by Wade Wineman Jr. in his chapter in East of the Slash, “Gearing Up”, the only available heavy hinged lid calls made in the 1960’s in our area were Turpin and Stribling calls. When Mr. Wineman and I made our first calls in 1986 neither callmaker was still making calls. I borrowed a great sounding original Stribling from an older neighbor that I bass fished with, B. T. Scott. With it, Mr. Wineman and I fashioned a couple of crude, but very effective replicas. We used some of Wade’s Whiskey Island walnut from Tunica. Mr. Wineman made one call, but I enjoyed making the Stribling boxes and even started making Turpin style boxes. I was hooked. I enjoyed seeing how close I could get the sound to resemble our southern birds both spring and fall. The reason we made these calls originally was for extra volume. A good many of the original boxes had thicker sides than Turpins. Some of these calls hurt your ears when you played them, they were so loud. But ohhh they could get soft also, without losing the double tone.
I went by Rosedale, Ms. and discussed with J. C. Stribling’s brother how J.C. made his calls. He indicated that he got his walnut and persimmon from Anderson/Tulley lumber Co. along the Mississippi River. He would take his wood to the Vo Tech at The Rosedale High School and have them rough out the boxes and paddles. He would then finish them and tune them. He was a master tuner and had a unique method of tuning the double tone of both hen’s and gobblers into his boxes. He would then sell them in his tire and hardware store in Rosedale. I believe it was an OTASCO store. His calls were very popular with the early turkey hunters along the Mississippi River. Those early hunters had a wide variety of hen’s and gobblers to choose from at J. C.’s store.
One of those hunters that I became very good friends with during my early call making days was Dr. E. H. Winn Jr. He would have me bring several of my calls by his home to “play”, and in return he let me “play” his extensive collection of original Striblings. Dr. Winn had purchased some of the most amazing heavy hinged lid Stribling calls that I have played. You can learn a lot from a master player of the Stribling Call. I cherish our sessions and loved his stories!
Most of the old Striblings are not signed. When he did sign them it was a scratched J. C. Stribling most likely with a nail. 95% of his calls were persimmon over walnut with
With an Apple box every once in while.
