Kalimba Thumb Piano 17 Keys, Portable Mbira Finger Piano Gifts for Kids and Adults Beginners Wood
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- Rigorous Raw Materials Selection: The Newlam 17 Keys Kalimba thumb piano is handcrafted with high-quality material and ore steel bars. Natural air-dried wood provides an ethereal timbre, which is a wonderful match with the natural wood grain.
- Embossed Notes & Hand-rest Curve Design: The keys are embossed with letters and notes, different from other stickers notes finger piano. Hand-rest Curve Design is to the correct angle ergonomically.
- Easy To Play: 5 minutes to learn a song. After you place your order, you will receive the play guidance and tips to play a song easily in 5 minutes. Suitable for kids and adult beginners and professionals.
- Product Includes: thumb piano, tune hammer, instruction book, stickers, flannelette bag, and cleaning fabric.
- Music Present: If you are looking for a present for a birthday Christmas, or for a music lover, musician, this Kalimba is a good choice. A kalimba can be used as an everyday instrument for someone who wants to play music but doesn’t want to carry around a big guitar or piano all day long.
Miss CC –
Order received in good condition and on time.
DJ GodsOwn –
Great for a beatmaker:
So I ordered this Kalimba after I saw a SP-404 mk2 beatmaker use one in the process of creating a song. I thought it was pretty cool, so I decided to get one. This one comes with a lot for the price. As others mentioned in their reviews, you get a bag for it, a cleaning cloth, a tuning hammer, finger guards, and some stickers to help you differentiate the keys. It’s a great deal for this full setup and I’m very happy with my purchase.
I downloaded the tuner app for android and I can confirm that the unit comes in perfect tune out of the box. If you ever need to re-tune it, you have the hammer to do so. The wood on the unit feels very high quality, and it sounds great. I prefer to use it with the finger guards, because I feel like I get a better sound out of it that way. The sounds sound clearer to me using the guards. You don’t have to do that though if you don’t want, and can just use your bare fingers.
All in all, this Kalimba feels well put together and for the price you can’t go wrong for all you’re getting with it. I highly recommend you grab this unit if you’re even remotely interested in playing a Kalimba. At $23, you can’t beat it. I’d give it 10 stars if I could!
Grog77 –
Got for my 8 year old grandson, but we all had a good time with it! Nice quality, sounds good!
Mariana Robles –
I love this, it’s so beautiful and comfortable to hold, I’ve always wanted one of these and am learning how to play one of my favorite songs “La Vie en Rose”. It gives me a lot of peace playing with it from the vibrations and the beautiful sound
Alice D. –
Grand daughter loved this better than the small ones we saw at the mall. I’d like to have one myself!
Miss CC –
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Off the bat, I’m going to be reviewing this kalimba as a Starter/beginner kalimba and not as an extremely professional, high-end piece. I’ve been playing kalimba for a very short amount of time on my partner’s much more expensive alto kalimba and loving it. But the alto has fewer keys and the keys are set up opposite of a usual 17 key and finding tabs for the alto was very difficult. I’m someone who gets into hobbies and then drops them a few months, even weeks, later so I didn’t want to purchase a pricey kalimba if I wasn’t invested.
That’s where this kalimba comes in. For a little over $20, I figured I could mess around with it, see if I enjoyed the instrument before purchasing an expensive kalimba. I was extremely surprised by my initial impressions of this kalimba. The look of the instrument is absolutely stunning and the sound right out of the box is lovely. I believe I may need to tune the furthest keys as they are a little buzzy but, overall, you get a pretty solid piece for next to nothing cost-wise.
Pros
– Very inexpensive
– Beautiful appearance
– Classic, “music-box” sound
– Tune correctly out of the box (two keys are any exception)
– Lots of goodies (tuning hammer, manual and music tabs book, stickers for the keys, black bag for storage)
– Ergonomic shape with the side dents for your thumb to rest
– Like most kalimbas, learning the basic mechanics of how to play is very easy
– Engraved keys (the listing and many Q&As answered by the seller say the keys are not engraved but mine did come engraved and I think it is absolutely beautiful plus helpful)
Cons
– Multiple reviewers experienced the same damage from a crack starting at the soundhole and running to the base after a month+ of owning (I have not experienced this but will update if this happens)
– Tuning hammer feels it is made of cheap material (will see if this is a problem later on)
– No real paper trail on where this instrument was manufactured (may not be a con or even a care for many but knowing where your piece was made and exactly by who can be important for some)
– Does not include a pickup (this might be a moot point for many but, higher-end kalimbas, such as the alto kalimba from Kalimba Magic I first started playing on, have an electronic pickup for amps)
– No ability to request non-standard tuning (the vast majority of people want a kalimba tuned in Standard G. However, if you want a different tuning [aren’t confident you could do that yourself], you won’t be able to ask with any of the kalimbas found on Amazon for a different tuning like you can with other manufacturers like Kalimba Magic)
Pro/Con/Neutral
– Small (great for children and folks with small hands like me but might be annoying for someone with larger hands)
– Lightweight (again, great for children and small-handed folks but could be frustrating for someone who wants a hefty instrument)
– While gorgeous, I do question the quality of materials used. The craftsmanship is beautiful but, without knowing the specific source of all the material, it is difficult to provide feedback on the quality.
I’ve included a few pictures and a (poorly focused) video of the kalimba being played. You may be able to hear the “buzzy” or “fuzzy” end keys in the video but, overall, this was tuned wonderfully. Additionally, I have not tuned or done anything to the kalimba besides play it a few times. This is the sound out of the box.
I think this piece does the job for anyone test-running if they want a kalimba or not. It is very cheap which makes it easier to jump into; no pressure if you don’t enjoy it and decide to give it away, donate, or just leave it on your shelf to mess about with once every few months. For a starter kalimba (barring any sudden and random damage as other reviewers have experienced with this specific piece) I rate this 5/5. It has everything a starter kalimba should have at a price point that is very difficult to beat. Compared to other, high-end and professional kalimbas, it absolutely lacks in multiple areas but, if you’re just test-running this interesting and wonderful instrument, this little piece will help you explore. And, when you’re ready to upgrade to a professional kalimba, you won’t feel as though you wasted any money or time with this little cheapy buddy!