I am not a gong expert. I have very little experience with similar gongs of other brands.
It has a beautiful sound with a long sustain for its size. Amazing how attacking the centre or the edges sounds different in such a tiny gong. It fits well to a range of small gongs, bells, chimes and singing bowls. Weighs 255 g. The holes for suspension are well finished, sanding not needed. This may be an exception rather than a 20 cm Thomann gong trait, so be prepared for some sanding. All the few gongs I have, including those not from Thomann, but all made in Wuhan, China, with this exception had sharp edges over the holes that abrade cords. Also many others reported these sharp edges on different Thomann gong pages.
Comes with a 55 cm long 5 mm diameter soft braided cotton cord.
The bright bronze and the rough natural materials used for the cord and the mallet makes it really pleasing.
The simplified Chinese characters, present on all Thomann-branded wind (feng) and tam-tam (chau) bronze gongs look beautiful, but the meaning is not clear. Since many of us use this gongs in sound massage, music therapy or other sensitive context, the meaning is absolutely essential, especially in this case, when the meaning is controversial to Chinese native speakers. A Chinese friend of mine did not want to disclose one of its awful potential meaning and said the meaning depends on context. This includes beheading as per the review of nikreiman 01.08.2021.
A clarification from Thomann on the intended meaning with explanation is necessary, please provide information. This might be a symbol you have chosen to represent your gongs. It should be declared somewhere at the webpage Thomann gongs.
I looked the words up on the Internet. I do not speak Chinese. I found the following:
头人 tóu rén
depends on context
- human head
- person
- Refers to relationships with people
- number of people when counting; per capita
- strawman - A proxy set up to evade legal responsibility or certain responsibilities and obligations.
chief, chieftain
traditional reading direction right to left:
头人 rén tóu
头 tóu:
Pinyin: tou
IPA: [tʰɤʊ̯]
Zhuyin: ㄊㄡ
Wade-Giles: t'ou
- head, chief, boss
人 rén:
Pinyin: ren
IPA: [ʐən]
Zhuyin: ㄖㄣ
Wade-Giles: jen
- person, people, human being
The first character from the right (Chinese order) stands for people (Pinyin transliteration: rén), the second stands for head, also boss (tóu). The meaning of the two characters depends on context according to a Chinese friend, including beheading as per the review of nikreiman 01.08.2021. An explanation of meaning and a hint on pronunciation would be a important from Thomann.
With medium hardness the mallet sounds pleasant, but softer and harder mallets are also worth experiment with to have a wider range of how the gong sounds. The raw hardwood handle is sturdy, with a good balance. It is roughly made and comfortably thick, thus the hand does not slip and has a stable grip when using; a huge advantage over many of its super-polished high-brow competitors. Dimensions [mm]: Head diameter ~35, Height ~29; Total length ~228; Handle length ~200, diameter ~11. Weighs 30 g.
The packaging was perfect. The Thomann Team was very helpful and responsive when selecting this gong online.
If you need a small, lightweight instrument that sounds beautiful, this one will do. It suits well with a range of other instruments.
