Posted by Habanera Hal on January 22, 2012 at 6:54pm
Decided to kick out some kalimbas today. All made with small cigar boxes I had laying around. I used various woods for the bridges and tine covers (eliminates possibility of getting poked or cut with the tine end), electrical grounding bars from Lowe's and stainless steel bicycle spokes for tines. Tuned to C Major, some 8-note, some 10-note. Boxes glued shut to eliminate any buzzing.
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You're welcome Rob. As a tip, the bicycle spokes/ grounding bar combo may be a bit harder to tune initially than sliding flat bars, but the screw locks the tine down, so I think it will stay in tune much longer once you get it there.
Very simple and easy. Since the bicycle spokes are quite sharp after being cut off, I was afraid of little fingers getting cut (not to mention the liability). I took some scrap and drilled holes aligned with the tines on the back of the grounding bar, slipped the block over the ends, glueing the cover to the bridge. It still allows for some adjustment of the tines back and forth for tuning. On future examples, I will make the cover (and bridge) deeper to allow even more adjustment.
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You're welcome Rob. As a tip, the bicycle spokes/ grounding bar combo may be a bit harder to tune initially than sliding flat bars, but the screw locks the tine down, so I think it will stay in tune much longer once you get it there.
Thanks for the picture. Next build I'm going to use spokes for sure. The guard also makes it look alot more finished.
Thanks for the advice.
Rob,
Very simple and easy. Since the bicycle spokes are quite sharp after being cut off, I was afraid of little fingers getting cut (not to mention the liability). I took some scrap and drilled holes aligned with the tines on the back of the grounding bar, slipped the block over the ends, glueing the cover to the bridge. It still allows for some adjustment of the tines back and forth for tuning. On future examples, I will make the cover (and bridge) deeper to allow even more adjustment.
Very nice.
What do you use for the tine covers?
Nice looking group of kalimbas Hal.