This is a frequent question that comes up when looking at and buying high-quality, handmade singing bowls online. How can you know if what you read online is accurate and that you’re looking at truly authentic Tibetan singing bowls? It’s a great thing to ask! Authentic singing bowls are often an investment, and it’s imperative that you can trust where you’re buying from beforehand.
Our Key Trust Factors:
1) established history - operating since 2001 and founded by a world expert in singing bowls with his own published Singing Bowl book.
2) individualized purchasing options - see and hear the exact bowl you're purchasing rather than hoping for the best
3) trustworthy, verified reviews - 4.9/5 rating from over 2,000 verified reviews using a trusted Google partner
4) 30 day satisfaction guarantee - we are confident you'll enjoy your handmade singing bowl
One thing that sets Himalayan Bowls apart is our individual attention to each product. You will notice bowls of all different sizes, measured to the quarter inch, and notes (we use A4=440Hz to determine the note) on the website. Most singing bowl sellers have a generic picture of a singing bowl and perhaps a sample tone to listen to. There’s nothing wrong with this method, but it does limit you. You can’t choose the exact size you want. You can’t listen to each bowl individually to figure out which speaks to you the most. And with many customers building singing bowl sets, it’s highly unlikely your singing bowl set will be harmonious when you can’t choose the exact sounds you like—you definitely don’t want a set of singing bowls that clash with each other!
This individualized attention also gives you more certainty in your purchase. What you see and hear is exactly what you’ll receive. If your bowl doesn’t sound like sound clip, send it back for a full refund. As each bowl is unique, some bowls require slightly different playing techniques to get the desired sound. You may need to try striking in different spots—higher, lower, or in another section of the rim—or use a softer or harder strike. You will naturally come to know your bowl better through regular use and be able to draw the most out of it!
Himalayan Bowls is also a pioneer in the singing bowls space through the efforts of our founder, Joseph Feinstein. Joseph is one of—if not the—top singing bowl experts in the world and a fountain of knowledge and innovation. Joseph’s musical background and passion for sharing the joy of singing bowls led to him starting Himalayanbowls.com over two decades ago. He was the first person to make a true e-commerce singing bowl website, where customers could actually purchase bowls fully online. He was the first to add individual pictures of singing bowls and the first to make recordings of the bowls available. We also now have a selection of singing bowl sets available for purchase, along with the ability to create your own with our “Compare” feature. Simply click “Add to Compare” on bowls you like around the site, then click the “Compare” button at the bottom of your screen to be brought to a page where you can listen to your selection in one place. Add and remove bowls as you like until you have the perfect set for you!
Joseph has also always had a strong commitment to sharing the truth about singing bowls. As singing bowls have become more popular in the West, people have taken advantage of New Age sentiments by propagating lies about the history of singing bowls, the “sacred” metals used to make them, their benefits, and claiming their bowls are handmade when they’re really selling machine-made, mass produced bowls. These lies have been extremely pervasive; nearly all websites that talk about singing bowls either knowingly or unknowingly continue to spread one or more false claims. The vast majority of sellers either go along with it or actively create and spread the claims because it helps them sell more singing bowls. Who doesn’t want a singing bowl made of 7 sacred metals? Then you dig a little deeper find out two of the claimed seven metals are lead and mercury—those two harmful substances are certainly not present in any singing bowl, new or antique, or lawsuits would abound. In order to both provide a voice of reason and to stem the tide of an increasing number of falsehoods, Joseph released The Singing Bowl Book in 2016.
The Singing Bowl Book is a deep dive into the world of singing bowls and is the result of Joseph’s many years of singing bowl research, extensive travels through Nepal and Asia, conversations with historians and other experts, and true scientific analysis of singing bowl manufacturing and composition through the centuries. Himalayan Bowls continues to stick to the true history and refuses to engage in false claims for the sake of selling a few extra bowls.
While Joseph stepped down in early 2022 after 21 years, he still has strong ties with Himalayan Bowls and the greater singing bowl space. Each of the world-class antiques we sell were personally picked out by Joseph in Nepal, where he had early access to the highest quality antiques due to his great relationships with locals and families that have worked with singing bowls for generations. Himalayan Bowls also has the greatest variety of new handmade singing bowls from Nepal thanks to Joseph.
A final—and easy—way to check for quality is to read through our reviews. They are a testament to our high quality service and dedication to sharing these beautiful instruments. We partner with Shopper Approved to collect reviews from verified customers. Shopper Approved, unlike many other review services, does not permit editing or deleting reviews and conforms to Google’s strict requirements for legitimate reviews. We have used Shopper Approved for the last 6+ years and have a 4.9/5 lifetime rating from over 2,000 verified reviews. When you can hear and see the exact bowl you purchase beforehand, it makes it easy to have a 5-star experience!
You can rest assured that Himalayan Bowls delivers top notch quality and service as always. Our mission is to share the joy of singing bowls, and we proudly support many artisans in Nepal in the process. As mass produced singing bowls and Amazon continue to make up more and more of the singing bowl space, your support helps keep true artisans that have passed down handmade singing bowl craftsmanship for generations employed and able to share their art with the world!
Thank you!
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