Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/464218
S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 1 7 2 very finest I have heard with regard to sound reproduction, though they will certainly call a turkey. I can say they represent uncommon and masterful originality and beauty of a type that would furnish lovely accompaniment for a vintage fowling piece. Or for anyone who just appreciates fine folk art at large. I'm proud to have them in my collection. I guess, in the end, they were right, Ma. "What goes around comes around." Thanks to you, music boxes and fine music accompanied some of my earliest and dearest childhood memories and fascinations. Funny. Seventy-two years later, nothing has changed. Music Box Masters/Artisans Each of these makers has achieved unique mastery and distinction in a signature artistic niche, in sound, fashion, or both, and can build to desire. Following is their contact info: Jeff McKamey, 423-987-1362, www.twistingcreekcalls.com. Marlin Watkins, 330-223-2683. Larry Gresser with Ron Gould, 815- 467-7330, www.prairiecalls.com. Irving Whitt, 864-223-4154, www.ihwcustomcalls.com. David Halloran, 716-397-3407, www.davidhalloranturkeycalls.com. Rick Larnerd, 570-396-4845, www.gobblerknoblongrifles.com. Tony Quarino, 704-661-3007. Russell Beard, 678-614-8859, www.beardhunter.com. Dan Wittenburg, 509-838-7985, www.danscalls.com. T here are other more obscure, sometimes reclusive or "semi- retired" callmakers, who craft only occasionally or quite selectively. Some are very good. One of the most enjoyable aspects of call collecting is ferreting them out, and persuading them to their/ your signature best. exceptionally beautiful woods. Larnerd has made two calls for me, the first an Appalachian Classic with a fabulously burled walnut paddle—the handle veneered with staghorn—over a box railed with equally eccentric curly maple. You may gather I love dogwood, as once again, the walnut paddle is adorned by a dogwood blossom, in this case an appliqué with petals of lightly- shaded curly maple matching the rails and staghorn sumac to form the leaves. The second box is of splendidly feathered black cherry, the end blocks of mountain walnut. The paddle handle has been whimsically fashioned to the shape of an emerging fiddlehead fern, common throughout the Appalachians about turkey time, and the paddle is inlaid overall with four-leaf clovers of Paua abalone within rococo filigree. I cannot honestly say that Larnerd's creations are among the