One of the most common questions we get from customers is “How do I get a singing bowl set?”
People tend to find that sets bring out the best experience singing bowls have to offer. Few things can match being immersed in the sounds and vibrations of multiple singing bowls coming together to form a beautiful symphony. Many people start with buying one bowl and end up enjoying it so much that they want to add to their collection. Others want a set to begin with, or already have a collection but want even more variety.
While each handmade singing bowl can be great on its own, they don’t always sound great when paired with another singing bowl if you aren’t careful in your selection. We want you to have your subsequent bowls come together so the whole is greater than the sum of the parts! It’s like building a team, and it takes a little bit of knowledge and effort to make sure you can get a set that works great for you. Here, we’ll show you a way to build a set on your own and let you know about the pre-made sets we’ve created and now offer on the site.
Tip 1: Choose Exact Sounds.
This may seem obvious, but it’s worth repeating. You’ll want to be able to listen to the exact sound of the bowls you are choosing so you are confident they don’t clash. It’s a big reason why we record and label each bowl individually—you are able to compare the sounds of the bowls together before you buy. If you’re looking at singing bowls that don’t have a recording and note, you likely will be receiving a bowl that looks similar but has only a small chance of sounding like the recording.
Tip 2: Use the Notes as a Guideline (but don’t get too fixated on them!)
We are often asked by customers, “What notes should I get for my set?” While this question is on the right track, there is no “right” answer. Selecting singing bowls is a personal decision without a one-size-fits-all solution.
Instead, we recommend using the notes as a guideline to ensure spacing between your bowls. If you like an F bowl, you won’t want to also buy a similar size bowl in F#. Their sounds are highly likely to clash. However, you can get away with buying an F# (or even another F) bowl if you space out the octaves. You’ll also most likely want to have at least one bowl of a different note in between. An easy way to space out the octaves is to space out the sizing of the bowls.
A good rule of thumb is to make sure you don’t buy notes that are bunched together if the bowls are within an inch or so of each other. Generally, the more the spacing in size, the better chance you can get away with bunched up notes.
Finally, don’t just assume that a 6” bowl in C, let’s say, will pair well with a 7” bowl in C# or D. You’ll always want to test each combination yourself! That’s why we have created the “Compare” feature for every bowl, which we will talk about in the next step.
Tip 3: Use our “Compare” Feature
This is the best way to ensure you’ll enjoy your set! We spent a lot of time developing this feature and adding it to the site to help make the set building process much easier.
You’ll notice that each bowl has a checkbox in the description that says “Add to Compare.” As you search through the bowls on the site and listen to them, you can simply check the box for bowls you are interested in. When you’ve made your choices, just click the “Compare” button that shows up at the bottom of your screen. You will be taken to our Set Builder Tool, which places all bowls from your selection in one place.
Why is this important? When you’re listening to and selecting possible bowls, you are most likely choosing from more than one page. Say, for example, you are looking at a 5.5” Bronze Matte bowl and a 8.5” Tibetan Engraved bowl; those two are going to be on different pages. When you listen to the first clip, you have to leave the page to get to the second clip and aren’t able to hear the two bowls together. The “Compare” feature lets you play multiple sound clips at once from the bowls you’ve chosen so you can hear how they mesh. Do be careful however, as too many at once or too high of volume will distort the sound and not provide an accurate representation. Test out different combinations and see what you like best!
Always keep in mind that your ear is the best judge. Trust your intuition and go with what sounds best to you.
Tip 4: Choose from our Pre-Made Sets
We’ve saved the easiest method for last! Since we’re asked so often about offering sets, we decided to put some together and offer them as a pre-made option. We typically showcase them by striking each bowl from highest to lowest tone and vice versa. We try to create a variety of different sounding sets to accommodate the wide variety in personal preferences among customers.
The set availability is also dependent on our current inventory and will change when we have a lower or higher number of bowls available. You can click on a set and check the description to see the sizes of the bowls in it. As a heads-up, we do not create sets on demand. If you have something specific you want, you can let us know and we will take it into consideration for future sets, but your best bet is to use our “Compare” feature to create a custom set suited to you!
We hope this has helped provide more clarity on how to get started making a singing bowl set. If you have further questions, feel free to contact us via the website chat or by email at support@himalyanbowls.com!
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