August 3, 2006
What About Those Buzzers?

The Karimba comes with little brass rings on the lower tines. In Africa, all traditional karimbas come with some sort of buzzers. If you've been following the physics Tip of the Day, you know how amazingly pure the tone of a Hugh Tracey (ie, buzzerless) kalimba can be, especially after the first 0.1 seconds of the sound has passed and all the high harmonics have died down. We often find pure tones like this to be simple or childlike. We also have a desire for interesting sounds. The buzzers on the kalimbas add high frequency noise and interest to the sound.

However, more than half the people I have sold karimbas to don't like that buzzing sound. There is more energy in the buzzing than in the fundamental pitch, so it is sometimes hard to tell what note you played! Here are some simple things you can do to make a sound that is easier for you to listen to.

• You can take the buzzers off. Hold the karimba upside down, with the tines pointing down. Lift a long tine off of the bridge just enough so the brass buzzer slips past the bridge. Repeat for all tines with buzzers. Save buzzers for a future time when you desire a more interesting sound.
• Look at the part of the tine with the buzzer. At the "z-bracket" and at the bridge the tine vibrations will be at a minimum. However, in between those two endpoints, the tine vibration will be maximized. As the tine slides back and forth on that part of the tine, the buzzing will become louder or softer (like ocean waves, if you can get the sliding slow enough). One thing I like to do is to hold the karimba with its head tilted slightly down so the buzzers are all away from me, and then tape them into place underneath the "z-bracket", so that their buzzing is minimized.
• Some people are bothered that the upper row of tines does not have buzzers. One of my Kalimba Magic readers suggested getting staples and folding them around those upper tines (between the "z-bracket" and the bridge) so they will have their own buzzers.

We'll have to do an up-coming "Physics of the Kalimba" on the buzzers sometime soon!

And good news: the Karimba Book went to the printers today! It is 42 pages, has about 50 exercises, and has about 20 black and white photos to show you things like how to remove the buzzers. It should be available in 10-14 days. We'll put it on sale for a week at $15, after which it will be $20, available only here at Kalimba Magic!