John's Balan'daki instruments are without a doubt the most articulate and consistent players I've ever had the pleasure to work with. By articulate I mean that every little thing that you do inside your mouth while playing is projected out loud and clear, well above the drone. The pleasingly rich overtones [harmonics] cut through and ring out over a wide range from high to low. His instruments have a responsiveness matched only by the rarest of traditionally crafted instruments.
All the basic tricks that the seasoned players would know about are in there and easily performed such as jaw drops (bending the drone note down a 1/2 step or more), vocals of all kinds from high falsetto shrieks and yips to the lower ranges of grunts, growls, and humming tones respond beautifully to mix and flutter with the fundamental drone in such a way as to make even the most jaded aficionado get goose bumps.
The horn sounds or "Boops" as I like to call them play like butter and transition smoothly and easily from drone to boop a quality that's often hard to find. I should mention that this quality alone can be one of the most frustrating to find for me personally, being a player who likes to hop back and forth very rapidly between drone and boop percussively. I can't tell you how many instruments I've tried out in the past that responded beautifully in all other areas as I put them through their paces only to find them disappointingly lacking when I got to the boops. And it is this quality that I often see as the final indicator of a truly well balanced player after everything else has been demonstrated.
Now by consistent I mean that I have had the undue pleasure of playing almost every one of John's Balan'dakis, and so far not a single one of them have I found to be lacking in any way to the contrary they have exceeded my expectations every single time. Consistent also means they are all equally easy to play which is important, especially for those who might be just learning how to circular breath or relatively new to the instrument. With the articulation that these babies have, it would be very easy for a beginner to learn the basics since you can hear everything you do so well. Consistent does not however mean that all of John's instruments sound the same, and that is one of the most interesting thing about these instruments. Since John bases the final shape of the instrument on the trees natural form they, like traditionals, each have their own voice and personality.
Experienced collectors can appreciate this, knowing that each one of these instruments is unique and not some manufactured clone. It is thanks to John's years of experience wholesaling traditional didgeridoos, where he got to see and test out first hand more instruments than most players will ever see in a lifetime, that he was able to learn what various shapes and sizes had what effect on the playing characteristics of an instrument. This knowledge along with knowledge gained from his experiences with the esteemed aboriginal yirdaki maker Djalu Gurruwiwwi, as well as John's skill as a craftsman allows him to accentuate and bring out all the wonderful characteristics inherent in each piece's natural shape.
As a professional didgeridoo player I know that John's instruments will surely be a permanent part of my performances from now on and I would recomend them highly to players of all levels.
Ian Hesford