The note pattern is then marked onto the surface,
and the notes of different sizes are shaped and molded into the surface. After the tempering,
the notes have to be softened and tuned (initial tuning). The softening is part of this initial
tuning process. The technician will use the best possible tuning device to get the right notes
for each of the playing areas and to the pitch that is wanted. Often they will use an electronic
tuner called a strobe tuner to assist the tuning of the steelpan.
The note's size corresponds
to the pitch—the larger the oval, the lower the tone. The size of the instrument varies from one pan
to another. It may have almost all of the 'skirt' (the cylindrical part of the oil drum) cut off and
around 30 soprano-range notes. It may use the entire drum with only three bass notes per pan, in which
case one person may play six such pans. The length of the skirt generally corresponds to the tessitura
(high or low range) of the drum. The pans are usually either painted or chromed. Other processes such
as nickel plating, powdercoating or hardening can also be applied as a finish.
Despite being a
relatively new member of the percussion family, steelpan tuning techniques have advanced rapidly.
Because of the short 'voice' of the pan, needle/LED display type tuners cannot track the signal to
identify a tone. Strobe tuners are real-time tuners, ideally suited for the task. The need to see the
first few overtones further makes a strobe tuner a necessity for steelpan tuning. Steelpan makers have
used strobe tuners since it was discovered that, by adjusting the overtones (1st (fundamental), 2nd and
third partial), the pan's sound seemed to sparkle in a way that it did not previously.
There are
several ways in which a steelpan may become out of tune (most commonly this is caused by playing the
steelpan with excessive force and incorrect handling) and it is quite common that steelbands arrange
to have their instruments tuned once or twice a year. A tuner must have great skill in his/her work
to manage to make the notes sound both good and at the correct pitch. Much of the tuning work is
performed using hammers.
Anthony Williams designed the 'Fourths and Fifths' arrangement of notes,
known as the cycle of fifths. This has become the standard form of note placement for lead pans. Other
important developments include the tuning of harmonic overtones in individual notes, developed
simultaneously and independently by Bertie Marshall and Alan Gervais.
The Caribbean Research
Institute CARIRI investigated possibilities to mass produce raw forms with the use of pressing machines
in the 1970s. Much of this project took place in Sweden in collaboration with the Saab Company. Although
first results were promising, the project has been abandoned due to lack of finances and support by local
pan tuners in Trinidad. Another method of shaping the pan was attempted: by spinning. The pan was spun on a
lathe-like device, and a roller on the end of a bar was used to sink the pan. While this did create pre sunk
pans, a problem was that there would often be scratches and grooves in the steel.
Since the steel is
stretched and thin, any scratch will expand and can crack. Often drums have lettering embossed into the bottom.
If done carefully, these can sometimes be stretched without breaking, but cracks around lettering on some drums is common.
To avoid this problem, makers position the inner notes to avoid most of the letters. Brazing over the holes and grinding,
will often fix the problems, without damaging the sound, but it has to be done nearly at the end of the sinking process,
and well before any final shaping.
A Swiss steel pan manufacturer (PANArt) researched the field of fine-grain sheet
steel and developed a deep drawn raw form which was additionally hardened by nitriding. This process, and the instruments
they called Pang, were presented at the International Conference of Steel pan and Science in Port-of-Spain in 2000.