Is your handpan out of tune? How to tell, check and retune it

Short answer: an out-of-tune handpan gives itself away with a note that wobbles, sounds hollow or dies away too fast. Check it at room temperature with a chromatic tuner app, one note at a time. Knocks, playing too hard and heat are the usual causes. Retuning is always a job for a specialist handpan tuner.

1. Signs your handpan is out of tune

A handpan almost never drifts on every note at once. Usually one or two fields change character, and your ear notices before any tuner does. Listen for:

• A wobbling note: as it rings, you hear a regular pulse, like a vibrato you didn't play. It means the overtones of that note no longer line up with each other.
• A hollow or "dirty" tone: the note sounds tinny and less round than its neighbours, even though you strike it the same way.
• Shorter sustain: the note dies away noticeably faster than it used to.
• Melodies that sound off: a phrase you know well keeps catching on the same note, or the handpan no longer sits right with another instrument.
• Buzzing: this can come from something rattling nearby (a ring, the zip on the bag), or from a deformed field. Rule out the outside causes first.

Before drawing conclusions, play the suspect note in the centre of its field, lightly, with your fingertips. A heavy or off-centre strike brings out stray overtones even on a perfectly tuned instrument.

2. Checking every note with a tuner

A chromatic tuner app on your phone is enough for a first check. It shows how far each note is off in cents, a cent being one hundredth of a semitone (Wikipedia, "Cent (music)").

1. Set the app's reference pitch to match your instrument: 440 Hz, or 432 Hz if that's what you ordered. Otherwise every note will read about 32 cents off.
2. Let the handpan reach room temperature for at least an hour, especially if it has just come out of a car or a cold room.
3. Play each note on its own, gently, in the centre of the field, with the phone about 20 cm away, in a quiet room.
4. Write down the reading for every note, Ding included, and compare it with your scale as listed on your model's product page.
5. Repeat on another day. A deviation that keeps showing up on the same note is a real signal; readings that jump around usually come from the microphone.

Don't get hung up on the numbers. One author quoted on Wikipedia puts the smallest pitch difference we can hear at around 5 to 6 cents, and phone apps are not lab equipment. A few cents do not make a handpan out of tune. What matters is a note that stands clearly apart from the others and sounds wrong to your ear. Each field also produces an octave and a fifth above its main note; a consumer tuner only reads the main note reliably, which is why your ears still matter.

3. What knocks a handpan out of tune

A handpan has no pegs and no screws: its tuning lives in the exact shape of each note field, hammered into a steel shell. Anything that deforms that steel, even invisibly, can shift a note. The usual causes, from most to least serious:

• A knock or a drop: the most serious case, because it can deform the whole shell and several notes at once.
• Playing too hard: forcing the strike, or using sticks or mallets, pushes the steel past what it can take. A handpan is played with the fingertips.
• Heat: direct sun, a closed car in summer, a radiator. The steel expands and the pitch drops; long or repeated exposure can leave a lasting deformation.
• Normal wear: thousands of strikes slowly work the metal. It's the most common cause and the slowest. In a review for the German magazine bonedo.de, the author wrote that he had never seen a handpan, whatever its quality, that did not drift at least slightly over time (bonedo.de review, in German).

Rust is not detuning in itself, but deep corrosion on a note field can change its sound: see our guide to removing rust and controlling humidity.

4. Temporary or permanent?

A cold or hot instrument doesn't sound the way it does at room temperature. Before you worry, tell apart what fixes itself and what doesn't:

• Temporary: the handpan has just come out of a car, an aircraft hold or a sunny terrace. Let it settle in its open bag, wipe off any condensation, then play again. If the notes come back, there's nothing to do.
• Permanent: the deviation stays the same, reading after reading, several days in a row, at room temperature. Or it appeared right after a knock. In that case the steel has moved.

After a knock, play every note before you carry on: a damaged field often shows up at once, by sound and by feel. Don't strike harder "to see": you could make the deformation worse.

5. Retuning: who, when and how much

Retuning a handpan means reshaping each field with dedicated hammers while checking the main note, its octave and its fifth. It's a craft that takes years to learn. Never try it yourself: one blow with a household hammer can dent a field for good, and over-worked steel can't be put right.

• Who: a specialist handpan tuner. Many will first ask for a video of every note played on its own, to estimate the work.
• When: there is no fixed schedule. One specialist European retailer suggests a retune every 2 to 5 years, depending on the model, the steel, storage and how much you play. A well-treated instrument can stay in tune much longer.
• How much: the same retailer quotes €100 to €300 for a retune, priced on how far the notes have drifted. Add insured, well-packed shipping both ways.
• What a retune won't do: change the scale. A D Kurd stays a D Kurd.

Buying second-hand? If a note sounds off in the seller's video, get a retuning quote before you negotiate. It's one of the checks in our guide to buying a handpan online without trying it.

6. Habits that keep it in tune

• Play with your fingertips, no sticks or mallets, and take off rings and bracelets.
• Keep it away from heat: never in direct sun, never in a closed car in summer, never against a radiator.
• Carry it in its padded cover, lying flat, with nothing on top. For the aircraft hold you need a hard case: see our guide to travelling with a handpan.
• Store it flat or on a stand, in a temperate room, out of harm's way.
• Keep a record of the tuning: the readings you take on delivery are your reference for comparing in a few years.

These habits go hand in hand with everyday care, covered in our handpan care guide.

7. What about an Enixpan handpan?

Every Enixpan handpan is made to order by Enixpan's partner workshop, hand-tuned to 440 Hz or 432 Hz, then checked note by note before it ships. It travels for about two weeks before it reaches you, so let it settle at room temperature before you judge it.

1. Play every note and take a reading with a tuner app, as described above. The method is explained in our guide 440 Hz vs 432 Hz.
2. If a note sounds off, film it played on its own, with the app's screen in view.
3. Send me the video: I'll reply myself and we'll look at it together.

Your purchase is covered by the EU two-year legal guarantee of conformity. And before you even order, you can hear every scale in your browser with the Nixis sound tester, or compare 9- and 10-note models such as the D Kurd 10-note handpan.

Frequently asked questions

Do handpans go out of tune over time?

Yes, slowly. Repeated strikes gradually work the steel. One specialist retailer suggests a retune every 2 to 5 years depending on the model, storage and how much you play; a well-treated instrument can stay in tune longer.

How do I know if my handpan is out of tune?

Listen for notes that wobble, sound hollow or fade fast, then measure each note at room temperature with a chromatic tuner app set to 440 Hz or 432 Hz. A deviation that keeps appearing on the same note is the real signal.

How much does it cost to retune a handpan?

A specialist European retailer quotes €100 to €300, priced on how far the notes have drifted, plus shipping both ways. Most tuners ask for a video of every note first.

Can I retune a handpan myself?

No. There are no pegs or screws: the tuning lies in the shape of each field, reshaped with hammers by a specialist. A DIY attempt can mark the steel for good.

Can heat or cold put a handpan out of tune?

A hot or cold instrument sounds different but usually comes back at room temperature. Long or repeated strong heat, such as a closed car in summer, can however leave a lasting deformation.

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