that's pretty much all i've done; i didn't put rubber bands on it -- should i? i didn't "sand" the underside of the paddle, or the sides of the box -- just used a scotch-brite pad to dust off the old chalk from the paddle & the sides, chalked it back up, and ran it ...

Personally, tuning a Vintage call is like refinishing a vintage guitar, it’s highly frowned upon by the collectors and could go bad.
Now that’s a personal decision that you have to make. If I were in your shoes, I’d want to hunt it too. I’d probably just use the ok side and leave it at that. If you decide to tune it, I’d try to get box call maker to help you. They may do it for you but most call makers are tight lipped about how it’s done. Some of them are that way because they buy in to it, others just go along with it because they don’t want to face the ridicule from the others. The ones that buy in, will shun you like you and turn their back as if you slept with their little sister, if you share too much information.

Scotch Brite is all you need, you don't need to use sandpaper, the scotch brite will take off the old stuff that's all you want. Did you figure out if you have a two-sided box or one? The screw, don't turn it more than a quarter turn either way, if it doesn't get better, turn it back to the original position. It is hard to yelp on the hen side because of the positioning of your hand and moving it left to right for right handers. The right side of the box, I use it to make a jake sound. I'll yelp a few times then make a funky sounding gobble with it. That is later in the morning or if I have a tom holding up on me. I can also make a very deep cluck with it after a worbled gobble. This is because a lot of young toms are still learning a good gobble, but like most on here, I have also killed some old toms that had an awful sounding gobble. Those boxes are fantastic at making a gobble. If you want to tune it, use scotch brite to get the old chalk off ---- use blue chalk --- use small rubber bands that aren't tight, they need to be a little loose, the tight rubber bands pulls the paddles against the top of the box too hard ----- One more old trick, use a couple pieces of paper towel stuffed the length of the box, this will give the call a more throaty sound, kind of like a good muffler on a Vette vs. a fart can on a ricer.

well - you're speaking to a guitarist, and I know all about "vintage value" ... quick story - i actually found a vintage guitar in the early 90's that the finish had been stripped on; i found a luthier outside Nashville that did *ALL* of Gibson's repair/custom work, back in that day, and I gave it to them to restore -- which they did an *AWESOME* job ... about a year later, there was a guitar show up there & i was encouraged to take it to George Gruhn to have it appraised; when it came my turn in the line, he basically refused to take the guitar -- refused to appraise it, saying it was a "player's guitar" ... since i was (and still am) a guitar player, i actually accepted that as a compliment & endorsement to play TF out of that guitar ... not gonna tell you what it appraises for now -- but let's just say that supply & demand caught up with George ...

this call is mine, given to me by my uncle -- and collectors can debate what i do with it after i'm pushing up daisies ... but i do see your point 100%

Let’s save the George discussion for another day! Plenty to say there.
Being you’re a guitarist and understand the physics behind vibration and tone/pitch, you could probably figure out a good deal of tuning the call yourself.

Tell us what you have tried so far. Other than adjusting the paddle screw and chalk, I'm not aware of much else that can be done.

I still hunt with a couple of Birmingham calls, both a Fool Proof and a.World Champion M.L.Lynch started making his calls in his garage on Edgewood Blvd.
They generally have his address on the inside, and quite often contact info on the outside.
The REALLY old ones have a Homewood address, not Birmingham. I've never seen a Homewood call priced where I was willing to pay for it. The old ones work great, but just be careful. They can be crushed in a pack .
The calls specify #10 rubber bands. Hooked up right, the World Championt can be shaken to imitate a gobble. The bands won't keep it silent in your pack. Use an old sock.

After every season I blow all the chalk out of the wood grain with a high pressure air nozzel. Its the only way to get most of the old chalk off. Scotch brite is ok but it pushes a lot of chalk deeper into the grain