Are Cheap Handpans Worth the Investment? Exploring the Quality vs. Cost Trade-Off

Let’s face it. Shopping for quality handpan instruments is hard. With prices from $300 - $6,000, you are bound to have many questions about handpan price, affordability and quality.

Are cheap handpans worth it?

It really depends. Although a cheap guitar can be playable and sufficient for a beginner, the same is not always  true for a handpan. To explain why, we’ll take a look at what makes a cheap handpan price cheap and whether it’s worth it for you in the long run. 

We’ll examine handpans in these price categories for the following criteria: price, manufacturer, sound & construction, service & repairs cost.

• $300 to $800

• $800 to $1,500

• $1500 to $6000+ 

Handpan Price: $300 to $800

Would you buy a piano if you had to hit the keys with a hammer to get them to make a sound? This is analogous for some handpans in the $300 to $800 price range. They really aren’t “playable” with hands. 

Oftentimes, cheap handpans will exhibit a range of quality issues including: 

• Requiring a hard hit for any sound to come out, making them sound or play like a dull lid 

• Be not fully in tune, which can result in displeasing sounds overall

• Have construction issues that make fixing them cost prohibitive or impossible

So, if you are looking at the cheapest handpans out there on it’s a relatively sure bet you will experience at least one of these quality issues in this price range.  

Cheap handpans are often are not worth the money since they don’t make good sound, or it’s too hard to get them to make any at all. These cheap handpans can’t be taken to a local handpan builder and ‘fixed’ or improved. They simply need a full overhaul, which means taking apart the handpan, or even starting over. Most small builders refuse service of instruments in this price range when repairs exceed the initial cost.

Although they may be useful for practice, you’ll want something better than the cheapest handpan out there to get better sound. So it just might be worth saving for a little while longer. Here’s what a recent customer of ours shared with us after having a “fling” with a cheap handpan. 

Handpan Price: $800 to $1,500

The majority of handpans in this price range are made in handpan factories. 

In this price range, you are usually flipping a coin on the quality of your future instrument. There are instruments in the price range that might be good, but many we’ve seen to date are not. We’ve been asked to fix or improve many instruments in this category. Cheap once can actually mean expensive later.

What to know about handpans in this price range:

• The handpan industry is relatively new, with few enduring quality standards.

• High production volume often results in lack of quality control, and skill in the tuning workforce. 

• Many cheap handpans still don’t sound good, won’t hold tuning for very long & might not be serviceable if broken.

• So a slightly higher price still doesn’t guarantee the sound will be much better in this price range.

• Factories white label their instruments and sell them under many different brand names, which makes company accountability & quality of service harder to come by.

• Many builders will still refuse service of instruments in this category because service can exceed the value of the instrument with marginal improvement.

• In some ways you’re paying more for less- you pay for the cost of dealers or online selling platforms. This doesn’t give alot of added value based on price, so select carefully.

This public video demonstrates the difference in sound quality, tuning & stability between artisan and mass produced handpans.

What to watch out for when shopping cheap handpans for sale:

If you are going cheap, consider these possibilities:

• Will your instrument arrive in tune? 

• Was your handpan ever in tune? 

• Will you have to pay a local builder to tune it, so it’s in a playable state?

• Is there even anyone that can or will service your instrument if needed?

• You most likely will have some real sound issues that are quality concerns, like crosstalk, too much resonance, low tuning stability, or too many notes. 

• You might only see stainless steel handpans offered, which isn’t the right sound choice for at least half of all handpan players.

• Accessories and surface art for '“too good to be true” prices are usually just that-- don’t be fooled! The handpan probably doesn’t sound like it should. 

• If you can’t find a video, beware. If you find a video and it’s heavily edited, or if it sounds not great to you, don’t wish and hope something better will arrive-it very well maybe worse.  

Why do good handpans cost so much? 

When we started building instruments in 2011, there were just a handful of handpan builders in the world. It was nearly impossible to find a handpan back then. Handpans were a rare commodity, and the internet was of little help. To get one, you’d have to be a dedicated individual with the time, resources, patience & little luck. Often people would wait years for the chance to play or buy one. 

But over the next 10 years, more and more new handpan builders emerged. By 2019, there were estimates of 200 or more small craft handpan builders worldwide. During this time, it seemed that there was a new handpan builder, scale, material or design popping up every other week. It was an exciting and innovative decade! The art of handpan building was thriving and individual instrument variety was at an all time high. But this trend may be starting to change. 

Around 2020, or maybe earlier, one or more handpan factories opened up in China and possibly elsewhere. These factories mark the first time in history that the handpan instrument entered production on a large enough scale to bring prices down. Not long after, handpans went from a relative obscurity to a nearly recognizable oddity, reaching eyes on social media, ears in TV series, and an Amazon presence for cheap- less than $1000.

While we love the idea of handpan price and accessibility not being the biggest barrier to owning these instruments, we are concerned that some newer first time players may get their hands on a poorly tuned or broken instrument in the lower price ranges, thinking, This is what a handpan is like. For us, and for many, handpans are at their core, all about sound.

Why is it so hard to shop for handpans?

• The largest handpan factories can build up to 12,000 handpans yearly or more. 

• Handpan artisans like us, only create between 1 and 250 instruments a year. 

• There are alot of handpans for sale, and craft handpan builders are getting harder to find. Many handpans look flashy, but actually don’t have a great sound. Check out Master the Handpan’s Handpan builder list for some local options. 

• Deceivingly, Less can be more when it comes to handpans.

• The type of handpan material will have a huge impact on playability & long term stability (the cost of going cheap can later add up quite alot when handpan retuning is $150 or more for service, not including the cost of shipping.

•  You’re gambling with whether a handpan arrives in tune, or stays in tune, with these cheap handpans. 

Since it’s incredibly difficult to build high-quality nitrided handpans, most handpan factories appear to have abandoned using nitrided steel. But there are some real benefits to using this material for both the player and the listener. It takes years to build quality and process controls to achieve great results, which is why for the longest time, handpans were so rare. Most handpans in the $300 to $1,500 price range are factory-made instruments made of stainless steel. Right now we’ve heard of newly manufactured stainless instruments arriving out of tune, or falling out of tune within months. While higher quality instruments will stay in tune for 4 year or even longer. If you don’t want to worry about sound quality or maintenance, consider spending a little more upfront.

Handpan Price: $1500 to $6,000+ 

In this price range, we still urge you to vet your handpan builder carefully. Price doesn’t necessarily indicate quality for all, so proceed with caution! Make sure you know if you can get your instrument serviced, and where your handpan was made and, preferably, by whom.  

In this price range you can find high-quality instruments from small craft handpan builders, and we recommend you do so. With great service & handpan sound created by true artisans that care about sound. Finding a builder in your country can give you some great benefits:

• Often you’ll get a higher quality instrument for the same price

• Often you’ll get higher quality customer service from builders vs. online re-sellers

• You’ll need to call your local handpan builder anyway to fix your instrument if any drops or accidents occur. Shipping instruments overseas or into other countries for repair is prohibitively expensive, or impossible

• Your local builder is knowledgeable, dedicated to the craft, and should be able to help you select the right handpan scale you love

• Your local builder may also have a hand in building communities around the instrument and help handpan music thrive  

• Your local builder is advancing the art form of this very young craft. Your purchase helps them do the work they do and build the sounds you dream 

• You’ll support the origins of the craft in the face of mass production and the current trend towards homogenized, less lively, and more mechanical, sound

• You’ll get a 100% unique handpan, made by a person that cares about the work they do

So, are cheap handpans bad?

Are cheap handpans bad? It depends on a lot of factors, but Yes, in our extensive experience, they can be. It’s a little like gambling if you purchase one.  It might be pretty good, or it might be next-level bad. 

An example of that is receiving an instrument that was broken apart on arrival. We’ve helped customers from these companies deal with some of these situations (because they don’t have customer service in the USA). And while we always do our best to repair and restore what we can, there are some situations that are simply not fixable because the initial build quality is just too poor. And that’s money that cannot come back to you. 

We’ve had enough people lament their first cheap handpan purchase experience, which is why it’s prudent for handpan shoppers to consider it before making a purchase. The same people are often blown away by the sound and experience of playing our handpans. 

So, we urge buyers to vet builders & handpan sellers carefully. If there is something we really don’t want to see, it is this — buyers purchasing poor-quality products and thinking, This is what a handpan is supposed to be like.

Looking for an affordable handpan from a reputable maker?

Here are 3 options to consider:

• Check out this list of Handpan makers in the USA

• Get on the email list of your local builders; sometimes, they have special sales & discounts.

• If you’d like, reach out to our team for unlisted, used, or demo handpans.

You can also get answers to common questions about handpan pricing, costs, shipping, availability, maintenance, tuning, and more in these handpan FAQs. And don’t hesitate to contact us directly for more answers or schedule a tour to see our handpan builder workshop.