This was my first attempt at trying to make a kalimba (thumb piano). I used a piece of flat sheet steel, and welded some nuts to it and a couple of little strips of steel to rest the prongs on then I used another strip of steel to clamp down on the prongs and create the tension they need to be able to produce a noise. For the prongs I used stainless steel rod as it has a high tensile quality rather then mild steel or other soft metals like aluminum.

After that I played around with the lengths of the prongs and as shown in this picture on the right wavy arms. The length determines the pitch but the shape slightly distorts them. I like the idea of having more natural and organic looking shape to the prongs.

After my initial experiments with making these from a single sheet of metal I wanted to see what it would sound like being on a hollow box with an acoustic hole. So I prepared some sheet metal using a guillotine to get this pattern then I measured and marked it out ready to be drilled and welded together. I used a M.I.G (metal inert gas) welder to weld this thin gauge sheet steel together, setting the current low as to be careful of not blowing holes into the material and using a circular hole saw to make the acoustic hole.

The sound was suprisingly good and managed to amplify the sounds fairly clearly which I’m not sure I want but still I want to be able to make it louder and distort the noises being made. I intent to look into using electrical amplification, either like guitar pick ups or something similar.

Aesthetically I like these prongs, they were beaten with a hammer against an anvil curving them into wavy arms.

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