Hello, I am trying to build a homemade instrument for a school project and I found your video and I think your Kalimba looks great! Could you provide specific details as to how you built your Kalimba and any tips you would give. Thanks!!
Crystal, thanks for the compliments. I don't really have any instructions other than the ones I gave in the narration of the video. For homemade instruments, you just have to take the materials you have available and experiment until you get something nice. Be creative. The one tip I would give you is to try and find a tuner of some sort and tune your instrument to a specific key. Even the best instruments sound bad if they aren't tuned correctly, and homemade ones can sound great if they are.
You need to deaden the "dead end" of the tines. You have them on metal contributing to the sound - but those "dead ends" are not tuned! Don't let that end of the tines vibrate...