I think it depends more on the weather and the time of year.

In the early season when the air is cold and the mornings are still... it doesn't take very much sound to travel a long way. A gobbler, believe it or not, can hear you call further away than you can hear his gobble (I'm a bad example because as duck hunter I am hard of hearing prematurely... and since I'm a good duck hunter and take lots of people duck hunting... I'm extra deaf from having shotguns go off in front of my face 30 times a season).

As the spring springs into warmer weather and vegetation starts to emmerge, you get the baffling effect. All those new dense, moist and succulent leaves will soak up your calls like sponges. Wind is another important factor... harder calls cut wind better.... crystal is my favorite surface on windy days. Box calls cut wind better than anything else, and they carry forever. Turkeys hate heavy wind... so look for them on the lee sides of hills or in protected bottoms. Don't expect a heck of a lot of gobbling either.. but there again... you never know.

Mouth calls are actually the quietest of the bunch. They are good for close in work... hands free. Great on still days... early mornings... in the woods. Lots of folks in my part of the world hunt fields.... field turkeys are damn hard to kill once they get smart too.... and I hate sitting in fields all day looking at nothing but winter wheat, dead corn stubble or bean straw.

I haven't ever heard that different gobblers like different calls... and frankly I wouldn't really know how to find out.... I guess the ones I have killed have liked the calls I have used good enough anyway.

What I think you are getting at is this (correct me if I'm wrong): You are askingin a nut shell if you use one call (say a slate) on a turkey and don't get a result will a different call (say a mouth call) make him gobble?

Assuming said turkey heard both your calls.... the answer in my experience is almost always no. (with ducks and geese the answer is yes.... but not with turkeys). Turkey calling is not nearly as exact a science as duck and goose calling is... it is way way easier in my opinion to call turkeys.

Now, sometimes you can get what I call a courtesy gobble out of one... say you yelp.. you might be able to get him to gobble at a hard cutt or a kee-kee... doesn't mean he is coming to you though... lots of variables there. Changing the call you make rather than the call you use is what you should do.

Let me give you a practical example since I've already written way to freakin' much in the this thread anyway:

I remember sitting on a ridge in the mountains one morning and hearing another hunter walking along calling like a damned old fool. Sounded like he was farting in a beer can... terrible screetches and missed notes coming from him. He walked right up on me too.... and from a blind spot whereI couldn't see him. I could hear hisfootsteps and I was starting to get nervous because some turkey hunters are loose cannons. I whistled sharply and he stopped and putted. "What the hell???"I said outloud and involuntary... damned if that turkey hunter didn'tputt again and fly off making all kinds of commotion.... of course it was a real hen turkey. Point is this... there is nothing in the woods that sounds scruffier than a real live hen turkey. So don't really worry too much about what call you are using or trying to sound like one hen versus another hen because they all sound like crap compared to what most people "think" turkeys sound like (in reality... if hen turkeys sound like crap.... then so should we... follow?), just make the right noises at the right times and in moderation. Real live hens are not very loud.... don't ever be louder than you need to be. Keep it simple.... start off low... call softly at first... wait a while.... next time step it up an octave or so. Birds don't always gobble... in fact... there are a couple of general rules I follow when it comes to working birds... but I'm going to make you wait for that. I've worn my fingers out.