This section covers the object itself. The first file names the parts and explains what each one
does. The second deals with the metal: which steels are used, what nitriding and stainless
actually mean, and how the choice changes what you hear.
Two things are worth knowing before you start. First, almost nothing here is standardised. There
is no published specification for a handpan, makers differ on dimensions, sheet thickness, port
size and heat treatment, and the figures below are ranges observed across the market rather than
rules. Second, material names have drifted into marketing. “Nitrided” is a real process and
“Ember” is a real material, but both words are now used loosely enough that you should ask a
maker what they mean rather than assuming.
If you want to know why any of this produces the sound it does, that is
Acoustics and physics. If you want to know how the
shaping is done by hand, that is Making and tuning.
Start here.
New to the instrument, read ANA-01
and ANA-11. Between
them they give you the vocabulary and the one material decision that affects every other choice
you will make.
About to buy, add ANA-09
and ANA-15. Note count and rust
behaviour are the two things buyers most often get wrong.
— Ibi
