• Roosebeck 17-key kalimba thumb piano in Rosewood
  • Steel keys of the Roosebeck Rosewood kalimba
  • Roosebeck kalimba in its box
  • Steel keys of the Roosebeck red cedar kalimba
  • Back of the Roosebeck red cedar kalimba showing the vibrato holes
  • Output jack of the Roosebeck kalimba pickup
  • Back of the Roosebeck kalimba with pickup
  • Keys of the Roosebeck rounded back kalimba
  • Rounded back of the Roosebeck Rosewood kalimba
  • Steel keys of the Roosebeck red cedar rounded back kalimba
  • Rounded back of the Roosebeck red cedar kalimba
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Kalimba

Roosebeck 17-Key Kalimba Thumb Piano, Rosewood or Red Cedar

$50
$50
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17 Steel KeysVibrato Holes5 x 7 InchesPickup Option

Ideal for: Beginners, gift-givers, songwriters and anyone who wants a calm, portable instrument

A wooden 17-key kalimba with a warm, bell-like voice.

The thumb piano comes from Africa, where it is known as the mbira or likembe; kalimba is the name most people know. Steel keys mounted over a wooden box ring like soft bells when plucked with the thumbs. This Roosebeck kalimba is 5 by 7 inches with 17 keys and two vibrato holes in the back. Choose Rosewood, red cedar, red cedar with a solid spruce top, red cedar with a built-in pickup for amplifying, or a rounded-back body in Rosewood or red cedar with lacewood.

Warm and Bell-Like

Red cedar and spruce give a bright, open voice; Rosewood a warmer, rounder one. The rounded-back models are shaped to sit comfortably in the hands.

Six Styles

Rosewood and Red Cedar: flat box with two vibrato holes. Red Cedar, Spruce Top: solid spruce soundboard. Red Cedar, with Pickup: built-in pickup with output jack for an amplifier or recorder. Rounded Back: Rosewood or red cedar with lacewood, 17 keys, two vibrato holes.

How to Play

Rest the kalimba on the fingers of both hands and hold it between your palms. Pluck the keys with your thumbs. Longer keys sound lower, shorter keys higher. On models with holes in the back, cover and uncover them with your fingers as you play for a gentle vibrato.

Tuning Before You Play

Kalimbas are not tuned before they ship, so out of the box the keys sit in an uneven, unfamiliar scale. Plan on tuning yours before you play. Each key slides across its bridge: tap the tip you pluck to push the key back and shorten it, which raises the pitch, or tap the other end, behind the bridge, to lengthen it and lower the pitch. Use a small tuning hammer or similar tool, and a clip-on or phone tuner to tell you when each note is right. Most 17-key kalimbas are tuned to C major, with the lowest C in the middle key and the notes rising outward, alternating left and right. Recheck the tuning now and then; keys can drift as the instrument settles.

Technical Specifications

Keys 17, steel
Size 5 x 7 inches
Back Two vibrato holes
Woods Rosewood; red cedar; red cedar with spruce top; Rosewood or red cedar with lacewood (rounded back)
Pickup Red Cedar with Pickup style only

What's in the Box

The kalimba.

17-Key Kalimba

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Roosebeck 17-Key Kalimba Thumb Piano, Rosewood or Red Cedar

Rosewood

$50
$50
Tradition you can feel, craftsmanship you can hear.
Solid tonewoods
Cured, cut, and chosen for sound.
Voiced by hand
Fretboards dressed, action set, bridges fit by our luthiers.
Made to be played
Built for working musicians, designed to sound better the more you play it.
Since 1973
Five decades of building instruments that last generations.