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Try this alternate Kalimba tuning for an authentic world music sound. Last week, I bought the  C. B. Gitty Kalimba/Thumb Piano Kit as a way to break-out from building stringed instruments for a while. I was looking for an instrument that I've never made before and something that I could add to my collection.  The kalimba (also known as a mbira or thumb piano) is an African idiophone that has its roots in the Congo and Zimbabwe. I like them because they deliver serious w …

This past January I was out in Los Angeles for the winter NAMM show. NAMM is the National Association of Music Merchants, and it is the biggest music-industry trade show in the United States. I wrote an earlier post about one of the few innovative things I found there (check it out here), but this article isn't about the NAMM show and the room after room of shiny, factory-made instruments there.This tale takes us to the other side of the city, to a dingy little recording studio in North Hollywoo …