Woodstock Natural Emperor 34.5 Inch Gong
Item#: WS082Sale Price: $54.99 SAVE: $15.00 (21%)
List Price : $69.99
- Hand-hammered bronze gong
- From master chime craftsmen of Woodstock, NY
- Cherry-finished ash wood components
- For indoor and outdoor use
Additional features
- Measures 34.5 inches long
- Generous 1-year defect warranty
This natural colored Emperor Gong captures the romance and splendor of the Far East with its wonderful sound and graceful design. Our Emperor Series is inspired by traditional Asian design, intended to reflect balance, harmony, grace, and beauty. Perfect for indoors or out. Gong is 10 inches in diameter. This gong is crafted by master wind chime craftsmen of Woodstock, NY, under the Woodstock Chimes name.
Wind Chime Length: The length of a wind chime is measured by the overall length of the chime (not tube length)- hanging hook to the end of the sail. This windchime is 34.5 inches overall.
More About Woodstock Gongs
Woodstock Gongs are ancient Asian-inspired instruments updated for today's setting. They are still made in the traditional manner, with hand-hammering and secret finishing techniques to ensure every instrument has its own special voice. They all sound deeply resonant, are emotionally relaxing and have a beautifully exotic look.
From Discarded Lawn Chairs to Carnegie Hall: The History of Woodstock Chimes
A lucky find
A trip to the landfill proved very inspirational for Woodstock Chimes® founder and CEO Garry Kvistad. While teaching at Northern Illinois University in the early 1970s, Kvistad had the opportunity to enroll in a course that taught techniques for making instruments. Not having a budget for his new hobby, he took a trip to the local landfill and hunted for scraps that he could craft into instruments. He discovered a pile of discarded lawn chairs and used their aluminum tubes to create his first metallophone, a percussion instrument similar to a xylophone but made with metal instead of wood.
Cultivated creativity
After playing the metallophone on tour for a while, Kvistad began wondering what other types of instruments he could create, particularly ones more people could play or enjoy regardless of their musical training. In 1979, his fascination with the Scale of Olympos - a 7th century B.C. Greek pentatonic scale modern pianos can't play - prompted him to craft a wind chime out of aluminum lawn chair tubes that could play the notes of that scale. He cut and tuned the tubes to match the exact frequency of the scale. This experiment laid the foundation of the just intonation tuning process he would employ when making wind chimes in the future.
Success that sticks
The Chimes of Olympos® attracted a fair amount of interest when Kvistad exhibited it at the Cincinnati Craft Fair. When friends and acquaintances continued asking for his hand-made wind chimes, professional musician Kvistad shifted his focus from building and tuning percussion instruments for other musicians to making wind chimes out of his home. He continually cleaned out the local hardware store's supply of 1-inch aluminum tubes to respond to the growing demand for these beautiful-sounding chimes.
Appreciation for Kvistad's precision-tuned wind chimes spread, and he was featured on NPR's All Things Considered in early 1980, followed by an appearance on the Today Show in 1983. By the late 1980s, Woodstock Chimes were being sold in all 50 states and distributed internationally. Two custom sets of Woodstock Chimes were commissioned for a special performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra commemorating the 100th anniversary of Carnegie Hall in 1990. Woodstock Chimes moved into its current 108,000-square-foot facility in Shokan, N.Y., in 1999. What started as a trip to the landfill and a creative experiment had grown into a major success story for the field of music.
Woodstock Chimes today
Today, Woodstock Percussion Wind Chimes are available in over 50 different styles, many of which are tuned to scales or melodies from various musical cultures. Woodstock Chimes are precision-tuned using a sophisticated computerized tuning process in order to achieve supreme tonal quality. The frequencies at which the different tubes vibrate are integrally related, thus producing the purest musical intervals. This unique tuning process sets Woodstock Chimes apart from other wind chimes in the industry and is one reason why Woodstock Chimes continue to be best sellers. From the first Chimes of Olympos, to those made today, Woodstock Chimes ring with a tonal purity you can appreciate the first time you hear them, and every time thereafter.
Length
34.5 inches
Material
Brass
Wood
Ash
Style
Feng Shui Chimes , Gongs
Volume
High
Brand Name
Woodstock
Finish Color
Bronze
Woodstock brass and bronze products can be cleaned with a non-abrasive cleanser, but they should not need regular cleaning. After the first year, you can apply a clear coat of lacquer to keep the brass or bronze from tarnishing. If it does tarnish, it can be cleaned with brass cleaner.
Hardwood parts can be maintained by periodically applying a thin layer of Danish or lemon oil with a clean cloth. Regular oiling will help protect the wood and retard the natural aging process. Use mild soap and water (or a foaming, non-abrasive cleanser) to clean tubes, glass, or plastic parts. Try not to dampen the string(s).
