The development of the Hinger Touch-Tone tympani were the result of many years of a wish list of things that Fred Hinger always wanted to incorporate into tympani for himself. In his entire career he never used plastic heads but played exclusively on calf heads. This of course presented many problems associated with humidity and weather, which became difficult to solve. On very damp days he found it much better to be able to play on the backbone of the animal skin, but on very dry days it was much better to play on the belly of the skin, which produced a much better sound in each of these conditions. The tympani bowl rotation design was a direct result of his need and requirements based on playing conditions. Other new tympani designs included moving the master key or fine-tuning handle to the player side rather than being across the drum, as in a traditional Dresden style drum, while maintaining the pedal rotation from the heel to facilitate quick tuning changes. In the late 1960’s, he began working with an engineer /machinist, named John Harden, and together over a period of several years developed the unique design of the Hinger Touch-Tone tympani. A very comprehensive patent was applied for and granted by the United States patent office. Bill Hinger produced all of the tympani over the next 16 years, which are still desired by players and copied by other manufacturers today.
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