FAQ

• You can go to the Acquire An Ayasa/Register tab and fill in the form with your desired instrument.
• We sometimes also have instruments that are available for purchase right now you can go to the Available Now tab in the menu bar to see what is available now
• You could also write us a direct email to info@ayasainstruments.com with your specific wishes and we can see what we can do for you.

When you have the instrument shipped you will need to pay through a direct bank transfer into our IBAN account. We will give you all the payment details once we send you the invoice. Usually you can transfer from your online bank account or you will need to go to your local bank. The easiest in our opinion for when you transfer outside of the EU is transferring through www.transferwise.com. They are really fast, cheap and reliable. If all of this does not work for you we sometimes agree to pay through PayPal, we do not prefer this as PayPal charges high transfer fees and exchange rates.

When you come to pick up your instrument you can either pay in cash or with a European Maestro debit card (VISA and Mastercard don’t work). You can also pay beforehand through a direct bank transfer as described above.

We offer a warranty that your instrument arrives safely to your home when you are having it shipped. It very rarely happens that an instrument gets damaged on the way. However, once you unpack the instrument we ask you to check it for damage. If the instrument is damaged it is important to send us pictures straight away and/or make a sound sample if you feel your instrument is out of tune. We will then make sure to compensate for the damage, usually we would send a replacement instrument.

We also give a warranty that your instrument stays well in tune for at least one year. Usually our instruments stay in tune for a long time! We have made instruments 6 years ago, when we just started, that still do not need a re-tune. If you feel your instrument has gone out of tune please send us a sound demo where you play the note that you feel is out of tune for at least 15 seconds continuously.

With every new purchase of an Ayasa handpan we include the “Ayasa Care Kit”. The kit consists five maintenance items to ensure the longevity of your handpan. These include a bottle of Phoenix oil, microfiber cloth, scotchbrite pad, SoundsInspiring Moisture Eater and the Ayasa care sheet.

Besides the maintenance items we also include an Ayasa T-shirt for free in your desired size, color and cut (M/F), Ayasa stickers and discount codes to David Kucherman’s online course www.handpandojo.com.

The process of making the Ayasa is a very extensive one, mainly for the purpose of note stability. What this means is that our notes become so stable, that they hardly ever need a retune. It is what differentiates the Ayasa from many other handpans. We know of instruments that we made 6 years ago, when we just started, that still did not need a retune.

However, it can happen incidentally that notes do start to drift afer a year or two. In that case you can always come to the workshop and get your instrument checked. If your instrument drifted because of natural reasons (that means not because of your inflicted damage) we usually retune the instrument for free. If you are living far away you can ship the instrument back to us or we can recommend you makers who can retune your handpan. Please do not search for a tuner yourself as we trust only a handful of makers that are able to retune the Ayasa without damaging it.

We always prefer to have your instrument tuned by one of the Ayasa main tuners, if you can come around to our workshop in Almere, Netherlands that would be best! You can also ship the instrument back and forth.

Alternatively you can have the instrument re tuned by another maker. Tuning a handpan is a very delicate art, one wrong hammer strike and the instrument could be damaged beyond repair. Therefore there are only a few makers around the world that we trust to tune the Ayasa handpan. Please contact us at info@ayasainstruments.com if you feel your instrument needs a retuned. Send us a sound sample in which you repeatedly play the note in question for 15 seconds straight, we can then use our tuning software to determine if the note is out of tune or not.

The handpan is a very intuitive instrument. Anyone can play the handpan by simply tapping the notes over and over again. After some time you can start to develop the sound of your touch, rhythm and melody.

If you feel you are getting stuck at playing it could be a great thing to seek out a teacher. In most big cities there are teachers readily available, we can help you find one by sending us an email and letting us know where you live.

Alternatively we often have great players coming over to give concerts and workshops at our headquarters. You can subscribe to the Ayasa Events mailing list to keep updated about our future events.

Another great way of learning to play the handpan is by buying an online course. There are two great online handpan courses that we can recommend at the moment:

• Masterthehandpan.com
• Handpandojo.com

The Diameter of the Ayasa handpan is 55cm this is including the rim (53 cm excluding the rim).

The height is 28.5 cm. The height without measuring the center dome is 26,5cm.

The Ayasa handpan fits in a medium sized Evatek Hardcase.

We mostly ship instruments with Fedex, TNT and DHL. Occasionally we ship instruments with EMS,

Yes, once your instrument is shipped we will send you a clickable link to be able to track your instrument.

When we ship with FedEx, TNT or DHL the delivery time is usually between 2 and 5 days. When we ship using EMS the shipping can take between 2 and 15 days.

We fully guarantee that your instrument arrives in perfect condition at your doorstep. More than 99% of our shipments arrive in perfect condition. This is because we only ship instruments inside an Evatek Hardcase which is then placed inside a box with thick foam padding.

Please inspect the instrument and case carefully for any damages and let us know as soon as possible if something is wrong with either of the products.

Shipments within the EU cost €75.
World wide shipping is €150.

Included in these prices is the packaging and insurance, you will also be able to track your instrument.

Besides these costs we must ship your instrument inside an Evatek Hardcase, the costs of this are €150. The Evatek is a great backpack and carry case to take your handpan with you on all your epic adventures.

The Evatek Hardcase provides a good amount of protection to your handpan. Since we started ship instruments inside a box with special foam padding plus the Evatek Hardcase we hardly ever have any incidents of damage. Therefore it is mandatory to buy an Evatek Hardcase when you want your Ayasa handpan to be shipped.

This text is taken from the Ayasa Care Sheet.

Though your Ayasa has been treated to resist rust, it is still steel and prone to rust! It’s important to regularly treat your Ayasa. Here is a way with a few easy steps to do it:

1. Clean it. The best way to do it is to wipe it thoroughly using paper towels with Alcohol 70 or 96%.
2. Lube it. So far the best tested method inhouse is to lube it with Phoenix Oil. Use only a few drops and then spread it over the whole surface area of the instrument, making the instrument more shiny and giving it a darker color.
3. Leave it. The best way to make the Phoenix Oil stay on the surface, is to leave it overnight on the instrument.
4. Wipe it. After leaving it overnight the instrument will still feel very oily. Now you can wipe it with a microfiber cloth, taking off the excess Phoenix Oil. It is recommended, but not necessary to wipe your instrument after every playing session with the same microfiber cloth used to wipe off the excess. The cloth will still have the residual Phoenix Oil in it; wiping it after playing will put a thin fresh layer on the instrument, as well as wiping off sweat from your hands.

Yes you can take your Ayasa handpan to the beach. However, caution is advised! At the beach the air is usually extra humid and there is salt in the air as well. Humidity and salty air are the main causes of rust on a handpan. Therefore follow the guidelines listed below when you go to the beach:

• Make sure that your instrument is clean and oiled well before taking off to the beach.
• Make sure that your moisture eater is always dry and charged (you can put it in the microwave or leave it in the hot sun for a couple of hours) and is in the Evatek.
• Make sure that the foam inside your Evatek is dry too (leave it in the sun for a couple of hours, you only need to do this once probably)
• When you get to the beach, leave the Evatek closed until you decide to take out your instrument
• Once you take out your instrument, close the zipper of your Evatek immediately, this will prevent the foam inside the Evatek from absorbing the salty humid air and getting wet from that.
• Play your instrument for as long as you like.
• Once you finish playing, rub your instrument with the microfiber cloth (make sure that there is still some Phoenix oil soaked up in the microfiber cloth or pour a few drops of Phoenix oil on to the instrument). Make sure the instrument is really clean and has a new thin layer of Phoenix oil on it.
• Open the zipper of the Evatek, put the instrument back inside, close the Evatek immediately after.
• Once at home make sure to take the instrument out of the bag, check if it is still nicely oiled and if not make sure to give it a nice extra rub down 🙂

Even though it’s shape, it does not fly like a U.F.O.

Jokes aside… We highly recommend that if you want to take your instrument on a plane you take it on board as a carry-on luggage. The flight personnel will probably tell you it’s too big to fit in the overhead compartment, however the Evatek Medium case that we sell with our instrument fits in every overhead compartment of planes that have at least three seats on either side of the walking isle. This is much safer than checking in the instrument.

Try your best to convince the staff that your handpan is a very delicate and expensive instrument and that by checking it in it can get damaged really easily.

Most of the time, and especially on long distance flights, it is not a problem to bring it on board. Budget airlines like Ryan Air or Airasia are usually the most difficult airlines to take a handpan on board.

When you do have to check it in you can wrap your Evatek in a few layers of bubble wrap, especially protecting around the zipper where the rim is. Alternatively place the Evatek in a box with foam padding.

When you play in the sun for a while the instrument slowly starts to de-tune. You can hear this when you are playing, when you really feel that it is going out of tune then it is better to take the pan out of the sun. However, the instrument usually comes back to the original tuning after it cools down again, so it is not a big problem if you play it in the sun for a little bit.

Phoenix oil is our all time favorite oil to protect and clean your Ayasa.

• Thanks to a special formula Phoenix Handpan Oil protects your instrument from rust and leaves a shiny finish on it.
• Phoenix Handpan Oil is skin safe, nonhazardous and made with 99,5% of raw vegetal material.
• Phoenix Handpan Oil is not sticky and can be removed easily from your instrument and from the cloths used to clean
• Phoenix Handpan Oil doesn’t leave residue and helps to eliminate dirt from the instrument. After using Phoenix Handpan Oil your instrument will sound clear without any alteration.
• The pleasant scent of lemongrass is the natural smell of some ingredients in our secret formula

A bottle 100ml is €15. One bottle is included with every new Ayasa handpan.

At all times you want to prevent rust. However if your handpan did start to rust it is important that you take action.

Make sure that you have enough alcohol with a percentage of 70% or greater. You can find this at the pharmacy, paint store or your local DIY. Use the Ultrafine Grey Scotchbrite handpad that you got with your handpan and lightly start sanding the rust affected areas. Make sure that you get as much of the rust off as possible without taking off too much of the dark nitriding layer. Once the pan started to rust, you will always see these marks, but that is okay. Just make sure that the top layer of the rust has come off.

Then clean the pan using a lot of alcohol and white paper towels. Clean the whole pan with as many paper towels and alcohol until the next paper towel stays white when you wipe the pan. Then you can use a few drops of Phoenix handpan oil to cover the handpan in a small layer of oil.

If you have rust on the rim, you can use sanding paper with grain 400 to sand off the rust if you can not get rid of it all using the scotchbrite pad. After sanding with 400 grain sanding paper, make sure to clean it carefully with scotchbrite and alcohol and then with paper towels and alcohol.

For further instructions on how to take care of your handpan, read the Ayasa Care Sheet (printed version included with every new Ayasa).

There are different elements that you should keep in mind when deciding on your first handpan scale.

If you want to play together with a friend that already has a handpan, it is important to pick a similar scale otherwise the instruments will sound dissonant when played together. You can tell us the scale that your friend has and we can let you know which scales will fit together.

In case you want to play together with other musicians, for example guitar players, it is often best to go with a natural E-Minor or D-Minor scale. Our favorite is the D-Kurd 9 (a natural D-Minor scale), it is also the most popular handpan scale. This means that if you might want to play with other handpan players in the future you have a good chance for a match! E minor is also great, especially when playing with guitar and concert flute. We make the E-Amara (Celtic Minor) and E-Kurd.

If you do not particularly have the interest of playing with others we recommend to check out all the scales in the Our Instruments tab in the menu bar. Listen carefully if there is any scale that resonates more with you. You can also search YouTube, usually the scale and the corresponding notes are mentioned in the description of videos made by handpan players. We can make any scale so please let us know which you like best!

The most sold instrument as mentioned before is the D-Kurd 9 (D-Minor). The pros of this scale is that it is very versatile. Once you learn a bit how to play the scale, you can play in different moods. Moods ranging from sad, dark, melanchonic to happy and euforic! There are also many chord possibilities. Often for beginners that do not have a clear preference, or other reasons for deciding on a scale, we recommend the D-Kurd 9.

Finally we always invite you to come to our workshop to freely try out different scales and ask any questions you would like to ask. In that way you can make a decision much more on your own gut feeling when you actually touch an instrument, you are also free to leave the workshop without buying an instrument of course!

If you want to combine your next instrument with one that you already have, it is a good idea to look at two things:

1. Ideally you want your handpan to have a different mood than then the one you already have. For example if you choose a C# Amara when you already have a D-Kurd you are choose two almost identical instrument, just the pitch is one semitone lower and you skip one note on the C# Amara. Therefore we don’t recommend this, it can be a good idea to research videos and see which kind of mood you would like to add to your collection, for example a major scale like Asha or an oriental scale like a Romanian Hija are two very different moods besides the Kurd.
2. Choose different notes on the pan. ideally you want to create a chromatic set, that is that you have all the different notes (think of the piano, that you have all the white keys but also all the black keys). For example the C# Amara and the D Kurd create a chromatic set if you place one of them on a stand next to you. You can for example skip the the C notes on the D Kurd and take the C# notes from the Amara and you create the D Harmonic Minor scale. However, as explained above, these twp instruments themselves are very similar. Another way to create a chromatic set with a D – Kurd is to take an E-Asha. The E-Asha is a major scale, very happy, and very different than a D kurd. Playing the E-Asha by itself you have a completely different instrument and create different moods. When you combine the E-Asha with the D-Kurd you also have a chromatic set, therefore we feel it is a “better option” than buying a C# Amara for instance.

If you have any specific questions about a scale that you now have and how to extend it, we will be very happy to help you to research which scale would suit your needs the best. Be sure to send us an email to info@ayasainstruments.com.

If you want to play together with a friend that already has a handpan, it is important to pick a similar scale otherwise the instruments will sound dissonant when played together. You can tell us the scale that your friend has and we can let you know which scales will fit together.

If in general you want to play together with other handpan players but you don’t know which scale they have, we would recommend going for the D-Kurd 9. It is the most common handpan scale out there!

In case you want to play together with other musicians, for example guitar players, it is often best to go with a natural E-Minor or D-Minor scale. Our favorite is the D-Kurd 9 (a natural D-Minor scale), it is also the most popular handpan scale. This means that if you might want to play with other handpan players in the future you have a good chance for a match! E minor is also great, especially when playing with guitar and concert flute. We make the E-Amara (Celtic Minor) and E-Kurd.

However, it is important to know which scales the musicians play that you want to play with. In that case ask them what the scales are that they usually play.

We are located in Almere, it is very close to Amsterdam.

Navigate to Almere Centrum train/bus station and then take the M1 bus to the stop "de Steiger" from there it is a 5 minute walk. Check out 9292.nl for best travel options.

Ralf, the founder, started building his first instrument in 2014 in his fathers garage. After a few weeks he already finished his first instrument that was already reasonably good. After making a few videos and posting them on YouTube, Ayasa became one of the pioneering handpan builders out there and to this day we keep pushing the limits of the instrument further.

Yes we always welcome players and beginners to come and test our instruments first hand. There is no other way that is better to select an instrument than coming physically to our workshop. We welcome you with a cup of coffee or tea and the time to try different instruments.

Please email us at info@ayasainstruments.com for making an appointment.

You can reach us by sending an email to info@ayasainstruments.com. We only reply during week days, please allow at least 24 hours before we answer you.