A New Thomas Bothe Kalimba!
The 2B/14L

We just got a new shipment of Thomas Bothe's wonderful 2B kalimbas. This shipment includes a new 2B that we haven't had at Kalimba Magic before, the 2B/14L, which is a larger version of the original 2B/14-Note. If you don't know about the 2Bs, prepare yourself for a real treat.

• What People Are Saying about Their 2Bs
• Meet the 2B/14L Kalimba
• Tunings for the 2B/14L
• Original 2B/14 is Back in Stock
• 2B/9-Notes Also in Stock

What People Are Saying about Their 2Bs

When we first got the 2B kalimbas a few months ago, people bought them up like crazy. And they love them. Check out some of our customer feedback:

What a sweet, heavenly, joyous sounding instrument! —Kathryn

You're right, the little darling plays by itself. This pearl puts me in heaven and I'm still on earth. What a feeling! Thanks! —Creighton

The 2B kalimba is a joy to experience because of its craftmanship and attention to detail. The tines are really really fluid on your thumb - so light and so little resistence that I can play for hours. The box resonator enables those tiny little tines to make big big noise with minimal effort! It's in a league of its own. —Glen

Introducing the 2B/14L Kalimba

The Thomas Bothe 2B 14-Note and 9-Note kalimbas are sweet, little instruments—really little. When Sean Patrick Murphy came by to select a kalimba for himself and his big Irish hands, he said he loved the 2B/14 - but didn't they come any bigger? I then showed him my preview model of the Thomas Bothe 2B/14L, which has the same basic 14-note layout of the 2B/14, but is much larger.

Sean Patrick Murphy is a musician in Memphis. He started out as a tuba player, but he is a great flute player, an ethnomusicologist, all around great improvisational musician, and marimba builder. He has a great gig building durable outdoor marimbas and installing them in parks and outdoor classrooms - you can learn more about Sean at BeingArt.com

Mark Holdaway on 2B/14L, Sean Murphy on bamboo flute

Sean Murphy on 2B/14L, Mark Holdaway on guitar

This video features Sean playing the 2B/14L and me (out of view) on guitar. Sean is an excellent musician who had had about 30 minutes experience with the 2B/14L at the time of this video. And look at what he can do with this little baby. It totally speaks to the user-friendly nature of these kalimbas, that someone can literally pick one up and make great music right away.

After getting his kalimba back home, Sean hooked up with guitar player Jeff Ray in St. Paul, MN, and Sean altered the 2B/14L tuning to better fit the songs he was playing with his guitar friend. Another great attribite of the 2B kalimbas is how easily they can be retuned.

Says Sean Murphy of his kalimba:
I'm very much enjoying my 2B. It's a joy to play, so much so that it seems to just play itself. I've been playing it a couple days a week for a dance class I accompany at the University of Memphis and the class seems to melt into the sound. I'm also being pulled into the concept behind the layout and beginning to understand it on more of an intellectual level as well as a simple aesthetic level. The kalimba is a very interesting thing indeed.

Tunings for the 2B/14L

The 2B/14L kalimbas are now available at an introductory price of $289 - the optional resonator frame and the bag are available for a bit more.

Here are the tunings that the new 2B/14L teak kalimbas have arrived in. These tend to be tuned about a 5th lower than the 2B/14 kalimbas. I can actually take any of the reguar 2B/14 tunings and transpose them down by a 3rd, 4th, or 5th. Similarly, any of these 2B/14L tunings could be put a little higher and offered on the 2B/14 kalimba.

• 2B/14L Tuning: Ab mixolydian 1 - Listen or View PDF
  Scale-like. Great!
• 2B/14L Tuning: B major 1 - Listen or View PDF
  Heavenly arpeggio. Very Good
• 2B/14L Tuning: C# dorian / B major 1 - Listen or View PDF
  Dramatic - lower half is pentatonic, upper is idiosyncratic.
• 2B/14L Tuning: Db major 1 - Listen or View PDF
  Heavenly arpeggio. Excellent
• 2B/14L Tuning: D major 1 - Listen or View PDF
  Heavenly arpeggio.
• 2B/14L Tuning: Eb dorian 1 - Listen or View PDF
  Scale-like. Great tuning.
• 2B/14L Tuning: E major 1 - Listen or View PDF
  Scale-like. This is the tuning in the demo video - good!
• 2B/14L Tuning: E major 2 - Listen or View PDF
  Heavenly arpeggio.
• 2B/14L Tuning: E lydian 1 - Listen or View PDF
  Scale-like. Angelic.
• 2B/14L Tuning: F major 1 - Listen or View PDF
  Heavenly arpeggio.

Original 2B/14 is Back in Stock

We also have more of the original 2B/14 Kalimbas, but we haven't had time to go through the tunings. You can either go through the original 2B/14 kalimba tunings or you can take the luck of the draw on the tunings. In my experience, they have all been great tunings.

All 2B kalimbas come with the magnetic feet so you can attach them to the frame drum or resonator of your choice. The 2B resonator frame with goatskin membrane is also available for an extra fee.

2B/9-Notes Also in Stock

We also have in stock 2B/9-Note kalimbas in these tunings.

All 2B kalimbas come with the magnetic feet so you can attach them to the frame drum or resonator of your choice. The 2B resonator frame with goatskin membrane is also available for an extra fee.