Two sorts of brass are used: cold worked brass and annealed brass (more workable than the first one).
Brass is used to make mouth bird calls. This type of bird call requires dexterity and can be considered as a musical instrument.
After the various pieces of the bird call have been cut, and before they are assembled, they are nickelled to avoid oxidation.
After assembling, the bird call is crimped and welded with tin.
n°6 bis - male blackbird
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• Wood :
We use three sorts of wood : boxwood on the one hand, and hornbeam and beech on the other hand.
Boxwood is the noblest wood. It is dried during three years and hollowed out. It is a high quality sound conductor. It has a polished aspect and is used to make mouth bird calls.
n°26 - common cuckoo (Boxwood)
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Hornbeam and beech are used for bigger bird calls because they generate more resonance. They are used to make friction calls, that will be rubbed against a piece of metal, to imitate nightingale, for example. They can also be used for mouth calls, to imitate mallard.
n°26 bis - common turtle dove (Beech)
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n°52 - nightingale (Hornbeam)
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n°55 - mallard (Beech)
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• Rubber
:
It is used to make rubber calls. The call is squeezed to get the sound. This is the simplest to use but also the least efficient because it makes a repetitive sound ; you cannot produce a melody.
n°35 - moorhen
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• Plastic :
It is used in certain bird calls as an air conductor.
n°57 - boar
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• Leather :
It is used in certain bird calls to make an air bag.
n°28 - sparrow & greenfinch
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The sounds you can hear on the site are produced with bird calls
If you cannot see the bird calls or hear the sounds, you can freely download Macromedia Flash Player
