Manufacturers routinely cast handbells with a stem at the crown, identified as the tang, facilitating the machining and tuning of the bell. For some models, portions of the tang are retained for handle and clapper fastening, while in others, attachments are made through a hole in the crown. The effect of the tang on the frequencies and amplitudes of musically significant modes is of interest to both handbell ringers and to scientists concerned with an understanding of the tonal structure of handbells. Modal mapping, using nearfield sound radiation and time‐averaging holographic interferometry, was used to study G4, F6, and D7 handbells with and without tang. Tang removal lowered the frequency of the fundamental by approximately 1.3%. Holographically observed mode shapes for the musically significant, lowest modes (2,0; 3,0;, and 3,1) indicate very little vibrational encroachment into the crown area, suggesting that the crown and with it the tang, do not play a significant role in handbell timbre.