Skilled Woodworker Silently Builds a Beautiful Five Octave Chromatic Kalimba of His Own Design

Finding that the chromatic kalimba he wanted was prohibitively expensive, the skilled woodworker of Measured Workshop decided to craft a beautiful, five octave version of his own design, graciously offering step-by-step visual instructions of his process. He also shared photos of the build as well as a short video of the fully finished instrument.

Chromatic kalimbas exist, but they are awfully expensive. Let’s just build one This is actually the Kalimbatone Mark II, I had a working prototype that I made a year or two ago, mostly as an exercise in tuning the kalimba tines. And that’s really the standout feature of this instrument. Compared to a traditional kalimba which has pretty enharmonic overtones, this has overtones that are tuned to be 2 octaves above the fundamental. In the lower register, this makes all the difference, it gives the instrument such a buttery smooth tone!

via Digg

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.