How to tune a kalimba

A new kalimba often arrives a little out of tune, and a knock or a change of temperature can move a tine. Tuning takes ten minutes, a tuner and the small hammer that comes with most kalimbas.

The rule: longer tine = lower note

The part of a tine that rings goes from the bridge (the metal bar that holds the tines) to the tip you pluck. The longer that part, the lower the note. So:

• Note too low (flat)? Tap the tip of the tine gently towards the bridge, away from you: the ringing part gets shorter and the note goes up.
• Note too high (sharp)? Tap the other end of the tine, behind the bridge, so the tine slides towards you: the ringing part gets longer and the note goes down.

Move it very little, less than a millimetre at a time, then check again.

Step by step

1. Set the tuner to A4 = 440 Hz (the usual setting) and start with the long middle tine, 1: it should read C4.
2. Pluck the tine and read the tuner. Mute the other tines with a finger so that only one rings.
3. Tap, pluck again, read again, until the needle is in the middle.
4. Go through all 17 tines, then once more: moving one tine can move its neighbours a little.

Reference notes

Press a note to hear it, in the browser. Tick “Hold the note” for a steady tone to tune against by ear.

Tips

• A clip-on tuner (a chromatic one) clipped to the kalimba hears the tine through the wood and ignores the room; a tuner app on a phone works too, close to the tines, in a quiet room.
• A small hammer: the tuning hammer that comes with the kalimba, or a small wooden or plastic one. Never a big metal hammer: it marks the tines.
• Tune at the temperature you play in, after the kalimba has been in the room for a while.
• Pluck the same way each time, not too hard: a strong pluck reads a little sharp at first.
• A tine that buzzes may touch its neighbour or sit loose: check that the tines are straight and evenly spaced before you tune.

Then play: the easiest songs · the kalimba notes chart