What is special about the LUNA in regards to other Handpans ?

 

 

In order to answer this, we have to look at Handpans in general first:

 

The LUNA is a high-quality musical instrument from the Handpan family.
These are ideophonic instruments made of steel.

They consist of two lenticular bowls which enclose a cavity and have a central  tonefield, which is surrounded by a chorus of other tonefields.

What makes the Handpan so special is the fact that each tone field always produces a triad of sound - namely from the fundamental, the respective octave and a fifth octave in addition.

The construction of these instruments comprises many variables, such as the shape of the tone fields, convex, concave forms, tensile and compressive stresses, the material used, the number of tone fields, the shape of the bowls, the tuning of the overtones.

All this has a great influence on the overall sound of the instrument, and can usually be achieved by various means, which offer a wide scope for the personal handwriting of the craftsman.

 

 

 What are the general special features of the LUNA ?

 

 

 

The LUNA is consciously created as a fine, "feminine" representative of the Handpan family.

 

In addition to the sound quality and high stability of the individual tone fields,
her focus, unlike most other Handpans, is not on percussion and isolation of the individual tone fields,
but clearly on playing sensitivity, long-lasting sound with great richness of overtones, and a high overall aesthetic.

To achieve this, she differs from most other Handpans in the following points:

 

 

1. No series production and no press used

 

 

Each LUNA is individually handmade in my manufactory in the Allgäu, without the use of mechanical presses or the like.
I do not work in series, but always dedicate myself to one instrument - from the shell blank to the completion  -  in order to avoid a routinelike "matter of course" and a certain "impersonality".

 

 

2. The choice of material

 

 

The LUNA is build out of a special stainless steel alloy proved to be a very rich sounding, jet stable and durable alloy.
This alloy is partially responsible for the richness of overtones and the special sound character of LUNA.

 

 

 3. Specially developed shell blanks

 

 

The rapid rise of the Handpan and the high demand of the market lead most manufacturers to build their instruments on already developed and prefabricated shell blanks, for example Shellopan from Strasbourg, AYASA or Baur & Brown.

Although most of these blanks are of good quality, the LUNA is built on specially developed own shell blanks with a much flatter geometry than standard.

On the one hand, this allows a better mutual coordination of tuning technique and material, on the other hand it opens up a much larger space for the personal expressiveness of the craft, and ultimately also a wider spectrum of different handpan sounds.

 

 

4. Soft tuningstyle - "boarderless tuning"

 

 

In contrast to the currently widespread tuning with sharp tone field boundaries and high isolation of the individual tone fields,
the LUNA is softly tuned, which means there are no visible clear boundaries of the tone fields recognizable.

This type of tuning is much more time-consuming, since tone fields are increasingly to be considered as an overall systhem and have to be treated as such in the tuning process. A linear processing of "steps 1 - 2 & 3" is no longer possible in this non-linear spectrum. Instead to navigate in it experience is neccesary.

At the same time, however, the gentle transitions also block and break fewer vibrations, allowing the entire instrument to enter more into a "conversation with itself", and the reverberation as well as the lightness of the overtones to be struck in a targeted manner, can be significantly increased.

In addition, the result is an aesthetically pleasing overall surface with smooth transitions instead of hard boundaries.

 

 

4. Laquering - Urushi, an ancient asian technique.

 

 

The handling of Urushi, the remarkable sap of the Japanese lacquer tree, is based on a tradition up to 3000 years old, and its extent and depth can only be indicated here. Additional information can be found here.

The use of this lacquer, which is not comparable with synthetic lacquers and is much more complicated to process due to its chemical complexity, not only gives the LUNA its special optical beauty.

The organic, warm, smooth surface also differs significantly from bare steel in terms of feel.

The coating also has an influence, albeit a very slight one, on the overall sound of LUNA, and rounds it off.

 

Notice that only the smaller Newmoon-Models are laquered - the Fullmoonmodels are grinded and engraved and are left with the natural gold-silver color of the copper-alloy, wich imitates the color of the fullmoon.

 

 

 5. LUNA tunings and pure tuning according to the natural overtone series.

 

 

The LUNA is built exclusively in tunings specially developed for her, according to the natural overtone series.

 

This pure tuning avoids unclean beatings, as they become apparent in the common equal temperament, especially with thirds, and is the most natural and clean tuning that is made possible by the non-diatonic character of the LUNA tunings.

 

The 8 LUNA tunings cover Asian tunings as well as the usual European modes and, above all, the subdominant thing tuning allows the greatest possible variety of playing with a high degree of elegance.

 

Detailed information on the LUNA tunings.

 

 

  6. Decentral arranged resonance-opening at the bottom-shell

 

The LUNA wants to distance itself clearly from the Swiss “HANG” of PANArt Hang-Bau AG and recognize and respect their claim to copyright.
For this reason, the LUNA has decentralized the otherwise centralized opening of resonance-hole in order to maintain the necessary distance from PANArts copyright.

 

 

The path of art & nature - the philosophy behind LUNA

 

 

The LUNA is handmade in my modest Allgäu manufactory in small quantities with love by me.

 

My goal is to keep the art as close as possible to nature - an art form that emphasizes and integrates the beauty of nature.

 

For this purpose I do not use mechanical processing where it is not absolutely necessary and try to keep the tools and production palette as simple as possible.

Simple must not be confused with "easy", because this simplicity often requires a higher degree of experience and personal development.

What on the one hand can be seen as a lack of technical development can also be understood from this point of view as a dedication to the spirit of material and art, and creates a connection between material and art, subject and object in the creative process as well as in the routine of"grinding and filing" of one's own ability.

 

LUNA arises from this effort to maintain my contact with what touches me,

the love for art, the beauty of nature and the mystical wonder of the inexplicable.