I learned of the Stribling Call from Wade S. Wineman Jr. Most turkey hunters and just about every callmaker have never heard of the Stribling box call.
With that said, I will shed a little light, as I have learned it on these calls over the years. I started hunting with Wade back in about 1978. I do not keep up with dates very well, and he can give you exact dates since he has kept hunting journals from way back. In fact, his books East of the Slash and Bird of Courage were written in large part from those journals. His books talk about them quite a bit.
I mentioned these calls in my post, Special calls for Special Friends. My calls are similiar to the original Stribling but my paddles are rounded and the Stribling is unique. I use the conventional paddle because the original Stibling paddles are heck to tune. You can make a lot of glorified firewood before you get the right sound.
Old Man Stribling could tune one and I will post a picture of one when I finish the Special Calls for a special Friends.
I did want to show the difference. On the left is my modified Stribling paddle with the rounded conventional paddle. Next is my copy of my friends original Stribling.
You will note that the flat paddle bottom and the 45 degree sides. The double tone is acheieved with the heavy hardwoods when it drops off the 45 onto the flat bottom. On most that I have run, the dropoff occurs on the back side of the french curve or the end close to the caller. The drop off is abrupt. This is what creates the abruptness of the yelp and the rasp on the backside of the curve. A DEADLY COMPBINATION for a hunting call.
If you look at the shaded areas on the two calls you will see the difference. This call hits exactly where my friends orginal is hitting and the sound is close but not quite. A little fine tuning is needed with the original in hand.
