Save 50% on Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimbas

Use the coupon code Treble50 to save 50% on the Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba and its offshoots. Code Treble50 is good through Jan 5 2024. (This sale does not apply to Celeste Treble, which are low in stock.)

This is part of our “Great Kalimba Selloff of 23/24”. As they say, “Everything must go”. Eventually. Well, I will keep about 100 kalimbas in my personal collection, because I am just crazy like that. I anticipate playing a lot of kalimba in my retirement. I have so many recordings I am dreaming of.

If you don’t have a Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba, consider getting one. They are really fine instruments, quite versatile, and they are very important in the evolution of the modern kalimba.

See and Hear the Various Treble Kalimbas

Here are the Treble Kalimbas That Are On Sale With Code Treble50

The Standard Treble Kalimba (in G)

Know it or not, this is a very famous kalimba. (a) It is the first kalimba Hugh Tracey started making in the 1950s. (b) It is the kalimba that Maurice White retuned to a partially redundant pentatonic scale to play with band Earth, Wind and Fire.  (This is called “Evil Tuning”, an option when you get a Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba.)  (c) This is the kalimba that the Chinese kalimba makers copied in 2016 when they flooded the market with the 17-Note kalimbas tuned to C.

First, about the – low note is B, but in the key of G. If you play from the low note up, you start playing the chorus to the Christmas song “Silverbells… silverbells”. Oh, and we have lots of books for the Treble Kalimba.

The Treble + Pickup (in G)

This is the same kalimba, with an electronic pickup, so you can plug into a guitar amp and wail!

The Bb Treble Kalimba (in Bb – or C)

The Bb Treble Kalimba + PU (in Bb – or C)

OK – the Bb Treble Kalimba (pronounced “B Flat Treble Kalimba”) starts out life as a regular old Hugh Tracey Kalimba. This is how I modify the G Treble such that the key “1” note is in the bass – the lowest tine. The painted tines are important, because they orient the player in the same way as the other Hugh Tracey Kalimbas. Anyway, I can easily retune this one to the keys of A, Bb, B, or C. Alarm bells should be going off in your head – yes, when I retune the Bb Treble up a whole step to C, it is the same as the 17-Note Kalimba in C.

The D Treble Kalimba

The D Treble Kalimba + PU

The Bb Treble Kalimba has two continuous octaves in Bb, and puts the two extra notes at the very top (on the outside tines). The D Treble retunes a few tines on the G Treble to put us in the key of D. In the key of D, this kalimba has two continuous octaves of D, plus two extra low notes below the low D, in the center of the kalimba.

Box Karimba (17-Note, in A or G)

Box Karimba + PU (17-Note, in A or G)

At Kalimba Magic, we have become experts at taking a kalimba apart and rearranging it as a different instrument, to play different music. It turns out that the Treble Kalimba can be rearranged as the Box Karimba, with two rows of tines, capable of playing trad. African music.

Instructional Resources for the Treble Kalimba

Instructional Resources for the 17/C Kalimba

Instructional Resources for the Karimba

Kalimba Magic Closing in Spring 2024.

I will be retiring in spring 2024. At this time, Kalimba Magic does not have a buyer, so I am liquidating my stock of kalimbas and books.

I am trying to sell off my inventory at a substantial discount, but in an orderly way that doesn’t disrupt the kalimba market. Each week, I will be offering a different kalimba at a steep discount. If I don’t run out of that kalimba, I will eventually come around later and offer an even steeper discount. But if I run out of a certain kalimba, I am out of that kalimba, and I won’t be getting any more of them. Sorry.

So, I invite you to purchase the kalimba of your dreams now, before they are gone, and before I am done with my business. Or, I invite you to sit around and wait for the deals to get even better somewhere down the line.

Last week, we ran a 50% discount code for the Goshen 8-Note kalimbas.  Code Goshen50 will get you half off of these kalimbas until Dec 31, 2023.

Kalimba Magic – Since 2005

When I started Kalimba Magic in 2005, I never expected it would end. I was just living my joy, and sharing it with the world. Writing books to show the world how to play, and writing blogs and making videos. Giving lessons and presentations on the kalimba, karimba, and mbira. It was all a blast.

But things change. I cannot persist in the current business climate, dominated by inexpensive Chinese-made kalimbas and cut-throat competition in which my books and website have been pirated to benefit others.

I’m on my way out. I am closing my doors in 3-5 months. We will continue hosting and selling instructional kalimba downloads. We may partner with other kalimba sellers. But we will be done with shipping.

This is a shame, because Kalimba Magic offers a great many unique kalimba styles and tunings, and most of them have high quality instructional materials.  For over a decade, Kalimba Magic dominated the kalimba ecosystem online. But at this point, I cannot keep up.

If you have been intending to get something special that only Kalimba Magic offers, you may want to contact me about that. Sooner rather than later?

It has been a privilege, and usually, a joy, to serve the Kalimba Community. It isn’t quite time for “over and out” – but I’m getting there.

Blessings, and Thank You!

Oh, and use the code Else25 to save 25% of everything else we sell at Kalimba Magic. And Else25 will not expire until we close our doors.

Mark Holdaway // Kalimba Magic // Tucson AZ // Dec 19 2023

My Retirement Plan: Traveling the Country Giving Kalimba Workshops!

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