A pan begins as a 45-gallon oil drum.  Tools needed to turn the drum into a pan are a sledgehammer, small hammer metal punch, ruler, a compass and chalk.  The unopened end of the oil drum is "sunk" with the sledgehammer - deeper for the higher drums and shallower for the cello and bass pans.  The position of the notes (around the perimeter and in the center) are outlined with the compass and chalk and then beaten out with a hammer and tempered with fire and water.  The final tuning is carefully done with a small hammer and rubber-tipped playing stick. Types of pans are the leads, the seconds, the cello and the bass pans.   Below are photos taken of Leroy Williams, owner of New World Standard Steel-Drum, Santa Cruz, CA, creating a pan.  Leroy is formerly from Trinidad and is a Master Builder and Tuner.

Tools of a Master Builder - mallets, sledgehammer, ruler, chalk and compass.

Pounding the drum with a mallet.

Notes on a Lead Pan

Notes on the Seconds Pans

The position of the notes, around the perimeter and the center, is outlined with the compass and chalk and then beaten out with a hammer and tempered with fire and water.  The final tuning is carefully done with a small hammer and rubber-tipped playing stick.  

Measuring for placement of the notes.

The drum marked with notes

Putting in the width of the notes.

The drum is sinked and ready for firing.

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