Tuesday, August 10, 2010
A "2B" Home Resonator

Hey! If you bought a "2B" kalimba, you know it has magnets inside the kalimba body and a pair of magnetic feet that snap onto the kalimba body to hold the kalimba onto the goatskin resonator box. If you DIDN'T buy the goatskin resonator, there is a cool trick you can try. Find a frame drum - or any drum that only has one head and you can reach the back of the head on the inside of the drum with your hand. Put the "2B" kalimba on the outside of the head, and use the magnetic feet on the underside of the head to hold it in place. This will serve as an amplifier and also give you some interesting sound effects.

If you don't own a "2B" kalimba, you can create your own magnetic feet on your own kalimba. Buy some strong magnets, drill little holes in your Pocket Sansula or Hugh Tracey Celeste kalimba and then glue the magnets inside (for aesthetic reasons, try to get the polarity the same on all the magnets). Now you can use magnets to attach your kalimba to a big frame drum, just like you can with a "2B."

By the way, next month we'll hear from Sansula inventor Peter Hokema, and we'll find out how he invented the Sansula.