February 21, 2007
A Few Notes on Out-of-the-Box Karimba Tuning and Fiddling With Buzzy Notes

This tip comes from a conversation between me and David Pomatti, who has bought four karimbas:

David: "Incidentally, I tested the 'African' tuning of the new karimba with my new tuner, and most of the notes are a little bit sharper than specification (I adjusted the first one exactly). Is that within the norm?"

Mark: "Well, the tuning does change with temperature, or the bridge could move a bit (I've seen one kalimba with a slipping bridge that I had to glue down, but now I totally love it and forgot it was glued - but that is rare). Either of those factors could affect the tuning in a systematic manner. For example, if it were tuned in Africa on a hot day, the tines are longer, they push them in farther. Then we ship to Japan in the winter and the tines contract and go sharp."

"And the very first karimba I took out of the box had the four redundant pairs of notes out of tune with each other, but mostly they are fine. I check the tuning by ear, and brush up if I find something out, but it seems I need to start checking with the tuner."

David: "I would set to work on my second karimba as well, but the upper-octave notes on it are a little more "live" than on the one I adjusted, and I don't want to lose that. (On the first one--how do I make the notes more live/bright (resonant) without changing the pitch?)"

Mark: "Now that is one of the issues of kalimba maintenance - I find certain tines are just problem tines - especially the high F# on an Alto kalimba. I try pushing down slightly on the tine and wriggling it back and forth, grinding the bottom of the tine with the bridge rod, and then re-centering. Often that helps, though it can become a regular thing. OR, if you shift the problem tine over a bit (and the rest of the tines around there to make it "uniformly spaced"), that sometimes improves things. And, finally, there is the paper solution for buzzy tines..."

"It takes some fiddling to keep the kalimba playing at its best, but I find the kalimba tends to settle down - it's sort of like you and the kalimba get to know each other."

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