for starters i would go with a knight and hale(think thats who makes it lol) "ol yeller" its made out of "sla-tek" i think its almost like a ceramic surface...very easy to use...the surface holds wooden strikers VERY well...glass and real slate can be a little bit more "slippery"...and the call doesnt need much conditioning(sanding)..sure it needs it...but it seems to need less then real slate or glass to me....it is my favorite sounding call and the one i always go too....from quiet little yelps to LOUD full range yelps....IMHO its a GOOD call..and its fairly cheap..i want to say around 15$ or so.....im sure theres lots of good calls on the market....but i went custom too...havent played with much else...actually hand made by me custom...except for that Ol Yeller...i made my own slate and glass calls in shop class a while back in highschool...and make my own strikers every year still.....the strikers are key....the ones that come with calls you buy will work and sound OK....but i like carving mine with a knife and carrying a couple diffrent strikers....they all make a diffrent sound...so you can sound like many diffrent turkeys.....sometimes a bird will respond better to some more then others ect.....i always have atleast a few strikers in my vest......you can buy more strikers...and custom ones as well....so more exotic woods run upto 15-20$ but can be worth it....