Flatboard vs Hollow Kalimba - Kalimba Comparison 

Aesthetically talking the flat one is the one for me. It looks simpler, and somehow more beautiful. But oh my once you hit the vibrato I totally lost it man! Was definitely not expecting that, oh my how beautiful it was. Just ordered my first kalimba! Thank you for this beautiful video!

You get Vibrate on the kalimba very well!! Awesome❤️

I have both. It depends on where I am playing it. The hollow one is used at our get-togethers, my flatboard kalimba I use at home.

I have both. And love both. Flet-board Gecko k17cap is amazing. It has music-box like sound, sweet. It is easy for playing because it has wider lamelas, and you comfortably play any song. Lower tines will give you some amazing, like "underwater sound" and great sustain (my came in B (or H in my country)). When you play it all look like you play piano. Tines are great made and put in one plane perfectly. On the other side, I have two hollows. One is 15 keys from Boyan Syanski, from Spain. It's circle shape kalimba with non-standard lamelas. He has just puted some very tiny aluminium parts, but souds great. Amazing big sound (I put my from low F). My second hollow is vintage treble Hugh Tracey kalimba. I get it cheap, but it is in very good condition. And here is must important difference between hollow and flat. Hugh Tracey are hollow, but made from SOLID AFRICAN KIIAT wood, with lamelas which has beautiful sound, AFRICAN SOUND. You don't have here "music box" sound as on flet, and some other hollow kalimbas. No, in every note you have PERCUSION part, some "plinky, click sound", and I simply LOVE IT. And african style music, made for mbira, sound great on it. I would like to know, does, on exemple, Meinel hollows have similar sound to Hugh Tracey, or it is just another amplified music box?

I bought a Hollow kalimba, but now I want a flat one, thanks for the information

To me the lower tines don't sound beautiful on the flatboard but sound beautiful on the hollowboard. That's a bigger trade-off for me than the higher tines. The demonstration was very clear, thanks!

Thank you for the comparison. I prefer the sound of a flatboard, so I ordered a Ling Ting K17A as my first Kalimba. Soooo looking forward to it!

Wow! kalimba collections 😍 And you can play so well even your fingernails are not too long.. You rock! 💜😊

Exceptionally helpful, thank you! I have a friend who is a composer and he wrote a piece of music box reminisce music for a character of mine that I think will sound just perfect on the flatboard!

Thanks for this, very informative. I'm planning to buy my 1st calimba and was eyeing on a hollow model, until I saw this video. Now I want to get the flatboard for the soft and more resonant sound, since I like to play some classic music. Volume is not an issue for me, as I will only play at home. If volume is needed, then I'll just try to use a clip-on pick-up (though I'm not sure if it will work 😅). Thanks again and more power to your channel; already subscribed. 😁👍

Thank you. Great information and great playing too! I've never seen the vibrato effect before. Bravo!

Really informative!

The E6 on my kalimba is so stiff that I have to put so much pressure just to get a sound out of it... EEEEEE

Thanks for the information!

So useful 👏🏻

so I dont know which one I want and both sound really cool so I might just buy both. And do you have any recommendations for online stores that sell kalimba's?

Cover the hollow to become flatboard?

I have a hollow. Now a want a flat board. Is the discount coupon still available? I want to purchase some for my nieces & nephews, can a get discount for buying multiples?

As a beginner which kalimba type should I go for? Thanks for the video, I needed it for preferences ❤️

Hi, may I know how thick is the flat board you ahve there? Thank you

🤩👍🏻

I bought the flat but i prefer the hollow one 🥲 i didn't know about it i should have did some research about kalimbas