In this email you will read all about:
- 1.2mm Ember and 1.2mm Stainless 430
- Tuning hammers and sticks
- Update on the current steel crisis
- Current stock overview
1.2mm Ember and 1.2mm Stainless 430
A limited amount of 1.2mm thick shells Ember Steel and Stainless AISI 430 is now available. The Ember tops are from factory (A) and the Stainless 430 tops are from the same factory as our usual 1.0mm Stainless 430 shells.
The 1.2mm shells are €72 each excl. VAT (and for shell orders of 100 or more the usual discount of €6 applies and each shell would then be €66). They thus cost €10 more than 1mm shells.
A few remarks:
- Be aware that with thicker material your tone fields will need to be bigger. Your ratios of dimple size to tone field size as well as length and width of dimples/tone fields may also need to change to optimize the tuning process and get to your desired sound.
- The 1.2mm thick shells all have a flange width of 13mm.
- For the moment we will not offer corresponding bottoms, you can match these shells with bottoms of 1mm Ember batch#4 and #5 since these have the same flange size or you can make the port yourself. May 1.2mm Ember and/or Stainless 430 turn out to be really popular we will start to produce bottoms as well.
- Because they are really small batches, the plates used for deep-drawing were cut and not slit to size. This means that on the inside of the shells there are (sometimes deep) scratches. Some shells may even show little bumps on the outside. For this reason we can thus can not guarantee the shells you receive will be in perfect condition as we would normally promise. May these thicker shells become popular we will order bigger batches to avoid these imperfections.
- Please be aware that because the shells are 20% thicker, they weigh 20% more. This means that as soon as you add one 1.2mm shell to your box, we can only fit a maximum total of ten shells instead of eleven in the box and when you order six or more 1.2mm shells in one box we can only fit a maximum of nine shells total in a box.
Tuning hammers and sticks
We are happy to announce that we are again expanding our Tools and Supplies section of our Maker Shop: our own hammers and sticks are here!
Tuning Hammer
We were happy to receive a great design for a tuning hammer from Kristof from Panmaker.eu. We decided to have this hammer made for us because we needed more hammers and Kristof stopped producing them. Then we decided to also offer them on the Makers Shop with Kristof’s encouragement.
The hammer is made out of five parts. The main part is CNC made from stainless steel and has two 10mm threads to mount the hammer heads. The front and back hammer heads* are made out of nylon and are also CNC made. The handle is a 22mm stainless steel pipe and a rubber grip is slid over for a comfortable and durable grip.
The tuning hammer is €65 excl. VAT, it includes all 5 parts mentioned above and is fully assembled and ready to use. The nylon hammer heads can wear out over time and we will add these as replacement parts for individual purchase on our Maker Shop at a later date.
We will only be offering one size tuning hammer, which corresponds to the biggest size that Kristof used to offer. We have tested all kinds of sizes and shapes of tuning hammers but found this one works the most comfortable for all note sizes. Working with one main tuning hammer in our opinion has a big benefit as the tuner can get completely used to the weight of the hammer and the sizes and shapes of the two hammer heads.
- We always use Pattex Power tape on top of the front hammer head to protect the hammer head from making scratches on the shell/instrument you are tuning.
Taxi Hammer
We have been testing many hammers for the purpose of loosening notes and for rough tuning. One of our favorite and main hammers we use is the Taxi Hammer as we like to call it. We mainly use the black rubber side of the hammer, as it loosens and tunes with making minimal dents in the notes. The yellow side can be useful in some situations but be wary of making scratches or dents, of course it’s possible to use tape on this side.
The Taxi Hammer is €20 excl. VAT.
Tuning Stick
Having a good tuning stick is a must to stabilize notes, a few hard strikes with the tuning stick will let your note go to its stabilized tuning. We have been enjoying the sticks by Innovative Percussion. We modified the sticks by sliding a custom cut rubber square, with a hole in the center, over the stick. Now one of the most annoying feats of tuning sticks is solved, it won’t roll off the table anymore!
The tuning Stick costs €20 excl. VAT. and always comes with our modification mounted on it.
Current steel crisis
We have been getting many emails regarding the current steel crisis since a recent post on Facebook. The questions are if we will have enough shells available in the (near) future and if the shell prices will go up or not.
We would like to mention that we have a rather good stock of shells at the moment (except for AISI 430 bottoms, which will arrive in about 6 weeks). We are working hard to keep a good stock of all our shell types and so far it seems there is not much, if anything, to worry about.
We are sure we can keep our prices the same for the foreseeable future.
Available Stock
Ember Steel #2 (B) (15mm* flange) - bottoms only
Ember Steel #3 - (15mm flange) bottoms only
Ember Steel #4 (B) - tops and bottoms
Ember Steel #5 (A) - tops and bottoms
Stainless AISI 430 (15mm flange) - tops only (bottoms coming in about 6 weeks from now, at the moment you can match these tops with the bottoms of Ember #2 and #3, these have the same 15mm flange).
Ember Steel 1.2mm #1 (A) - tops
Stainless AISI 430 1.2mm - tops only
DC04 Batch#14 - nitrided tops/bottoms, raw tops/bottoms
DC04 Batch#15 is coming in about 1 to 3 weeks from now
Scrap shells - Tops are €20 each and bottoms are €30. Can be used for making outlining molds, forming a shaping mold and experiments etc. Not suitable for making instruments, can be raw or nitrided, scratched, rusted, have a bad nitriding layer (which can make them un-tunable) or bumped etc.
*All stainless and Ember Steel shells have a flange size of 13mm if not specifically mentioned. All DC04 material has a flange size of 11mm.
We are fully stocked on tuning magnets, tuning rings, hammers, sticks, Merbenit, Phoenix Oil and Scotchbrite.
If you have any questions or wish to make an order, you can reply directly to this email and let us know.
As always… happy hammering!
Roy van den Bor and the rest of the Ayasa team
