Production Headaches

Make handpans they said…it will be fun they said…

And for the most part, they were totally correct! But any job isn’t without its headaches, and the world of handpans has some unique ones. For example, do you know what frequency your AC hums at? I do, mine’s 20-cents sharp of A#2. Do you know what note the local train honks in? I do! A very inconvenient F#. I had to purchase a new laptop last month for a tuning trip and although it worked great, the internal fan(s) hummed at, I kid you not, D4 and A4. Every single Xenith has a D4 and an A4. What a weird customer review that would be, “5-star computer but I give it 1-star because it hums in D’s and A’s.”

The heat treating company that I work for is aero-space certified which means they are required to rigorously inspect every part that comes into their warehouse. Upon receiving the most recent batch of bottom shells I was notified that a few had been damaged in shipping. Luckily, a bent flange is easily fixable. Still a headache though.

What I do like about this picture is the port. What a gorgeous sight. I know that with the production process used to form them they literally can’t be any deeper. And they did a beautiful job rolling over that inner edge. Without that, my poor hand would get chewed alive during the fine-tuning process. Now just to bolster the packaging for the next batch!

Of note: All the top shells for this production batch are currently being heat-treated, meaning we are way ahead of schedule on that front!

-Colin