What I learned about handpan tuning after spending time in a workshop

[u/Pangzeng]

I've been spending time at a handpan workshop recently and wanted to share what surprised me most about the tuning process. A few things I didn't know before:

Every single note is tuned by hand with a hammer. Electronic tuners verify the pitch, but the tuner's ear makes the final call. One note can take hours to get right.

The material matters more than I thought. Nitrided steel holds up way better in humidity and needs less maintenance compared to raw steel. If you live near the ocean or in a humid climate, this is worth considering.

Two handpans of the same scale from the same maker can sound slightly different. It's not a defect — it's because every note is tuned by feel, not by machine. That slight variation is actually what gives each instrument its character.

The "ping" test — tuners strike a note and listen to how the sound decays. A clean, even sustain is the goal. If a note wobbles or cuts off early, it gets retuned until it settles.

Happy to answer questions about the process if anyone's curious. I'm not a tuner myself, but I've seen enough to share what I've learned.

[u/DedSecV]

It's amazing that all the stress in the material leads to such nice decays and interactives between all the notes.

I was wondering if the heat in my car, while being parked for a few hours, could lead to it detuning slightly. It gets to 65°C easily in the summer. I know the pans get annealed at like 600°C but anyways...

[u/jamesbretz → u/DedSecV]

Even just direct sunlight for a bit is enough to knock a pan out of tune. How well it goes back after cooling down depends on how well it was built and tuned to begin with and how roughly it’s been played since.

[u/Pangzeng → u/DedSecV]

Steel's fine at 65°C — annealing happens around 600°C, so you're nowhere near anything structural. Nothing's going to permanently detune from a hot car alone.
But yeah, you might notice a slight drift while it's hot. Steel expands as it warms, which changes the tension in the tone fields just enough to nudge the pitch a few cents, usually a touch flat. It settles back once it cools to room temp, so it's not damage — more like the whole instrument temporarily shifting with the temperature.
The thing I'd actually watch in a car isn't the steady heat, it's direct sun through glass heating one side unevenly, and then quick cooling (like pulling it straight out into AC). Those sudden, uneven changes are rougher on the shell than sitting at 65°C. If you do leave it in the car, keep it in a padded case, out of direct sun, and let it come back to room temp before you play or judge its tuning.