van hyning had been searching for a proper set of gongs and obtained the original set from the stivanello costume company, which had acquired the gongs as the result of winning a bet. in 1987 he bought the gongs for his collection, paying thousands of dollars for the set, which he described as having "colorful, intense, centered and perfumed" sound qualities. he founded van percussion as a company that would rent out his rare and unusual instruments to orchestras around the world.