Boy, last evening , I came across the Mother Load of Plum tree' s . There very few and far between here , and one place alone side the road in town had 5 nice ones , well last evening I' m driveing by to fine some died pc' s and theres the tree' s in a heep,, there building in this lot. Well I stopped and asked the fellow if I could cut up and take the best part of the tree' s,, he says YEP were chipping them tomorrow. [:-] I came home with a good half ton truck full of Plum just for strikers ! ...BT

Plum? hmmmm never tried that on a striker. Maybe a little birdie can tell us when one arrives on ebay?

well i got sound out of one using it on The Freak and it sounded pretty good, but the other one wont get anything out of it, what is the best way to prepare the tip of it to get sound, thanks. who_else

who_else,
Well there are several ways to prepare your striker tip. I like to sand the edge off of mine, all the way around, and kinda give the tip a small radius. Then I will start using it on my calls and sand it back down to flat a little at a time until I find the right spot. Also your length can play a big role. If the striker is too long it can affect your sound. It' s kinda a pain until you figure it out.

I start with an onverall length of 8 1/2" and then cut back from there. I usally end up with a striker between 7 3/4" & 8 1/4" . Depending on the type of bell you use will effect overall length. Differn' t weights will give you differn' t vibrations.

Hope this made since.

A few years ago all I did was make corncob strikers! Made so many that I gave them away to everyone I knew. I mostly use turned, one piece strikers now, but the sounds from a cob/dowel combo are as good as any.

PBB

hey who_else I started making my own strikers this year and have found that to get good sound out of any two-piece strikers including corncobs you have to make sure the wood dowell fits tightly. I sue liquid nails to glue mine and if there are any gaps between the dowell and the cob I take some slivers of wood and insert them in the gaps and cut off the excess. Give this a try, trust me it works. I have also found that by using liquid nails that you can adjust the dowell in and out of the cob while trying it on calls to get the best sound. The liquid nails is stiff enough to hold the dowel in place but still allow you to move it. Another benifit of Liquid nails is that it dries much faster than regular wood glue. I also spray just the wood of my corn cob strikers with a matte spray varnish, and I also plan on staining some of the ones I made with green stain to sort of camo them. Hope this was a help to ya.