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1978
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30 Years E.C.S.
30 Years Love of Steel
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2008
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Apart from two years of
medicine studies at the University of Essen, my life has been shaped by the
examination of steel and sheet metal. This isn’t so remarkable because my city
– Dortmund – was one of the most significant producers of steel in Europe. My
career began around 1960 as an office machine repairer, later, I repaired
offset printing presses. Then, during a perennial employment at Thyssen-Krupp
and Hoesch, I learned about steel in liquid form as well as the procedure of
steel coating.
On the 4th of January 1978,
I saw my first steelpan – Love at first sight!
It immediately took root in
my head that I wanted to build such an instrument myself. I tried, threw away,
changed. After a half a year, I succeeded in eliciting fine and warm tones for
the first time. This research of steel’s secrets hasn’t stopped since. I have
systematically analysed the second overtone category and thereby gained
important expertise.
I’ve been working on the
perfection of Beauty for the last 30 years and I know:
It all comes down to
bringing the eyes to see because the visual appearance of a steel drum is the
most important component for a good sound.
Since that time, I have
created over 20 different types of steelpans.
For instance, solo
steelpans, like BigMama or the Queen, various Pans for children like the
PixiPan or the TeacherPan-Series, as well as the MeditationSteelPan-Series. With the
Integrated Layout, I have suggested – along with other tuners – an alignment of
the tone fields that allows all Pan Players the possibility to use the steps
2-5 of the Steel drum orchestra without problem. The SopranoSteelpan that has always
sounded clearly different has earned my special love: more than all the MelodySteelpans that I have heard as yet.
Ultimately, after 30 years
of research, experience and further developments, it is sure that:
It can only get better!
Therefore, I’ll stay on the
steel…
Your,
Eckie
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