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Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce
Looks like the same or a similar alloy to cymbals.  |
The one I got is more modern and is a silver color. It's more than 5 inches in diameter and about 3 inches deep. The walls are at least 1/8" thick. The bowl weighs over 2 pounds. When struck with the padded end of the mallet the tone is a deep gong. When rubbed with the wooden end of the stick I have gotten different tones, from deep to an almost shrill high pitch.
The only concern I have is for lead in the alloy. Although noone rubs these directly with their hands, I remember the rumors about
Benjamin Franklin's glass armonica causing lead poisoning. This is ironic since Franklin was one of the first individuals to warn about lead poisoning.
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Some of the people who performed regularly on the armonica complained that the instrument was upsetting them emotionally. They said that the vibrations were entering their fingertips and causing mental anguish. There has been some conjecture that these conditions were caused by lead poisoning that the performers acquired from lead in the glass hemispheres of the instrument. Lead was a commonly used metal in the eighteenth century, so it is difficult to determine if these players' maladies came from the lead in the armonica or from other sources.
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I don't intend to use it every day and I will be using a stick, so if there is lead in the alloy, it shouldn't be a problem.
BTW, I also bought a
Kalachakra Car Hanging
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