Knowledge Base

In a world of marketing and simple product labels, we are used to seeing the material named everywhere. Musical instrument makers encourage this: a customer asks how model A differs from model B, and the answer is “This one is pine, that one is Argentine white quebracho!” Suddenly it seems obvious which is better and more expensive.

In reality, it is more complicated. Unless you are choosing by appearance, the wood species alone is not a particularly useful guide. It will not tell you how a kalimba sounds: that depends on the whole design. The tine material is especially important. But even if manufacturers revealed all their real secrets and specifications, those numbers would still not be enough. It is the combination that matters: tine material, width, thickness, tuning and mounting, the mechanism and material of every part, and the shape and construction of the body. The same set of parts can be assembled into two instruments that sound different!

So our descriptions may feel less familiar because we do not rely on those easy labels. Instead, you can read about the qualities that matter and compare sound examples recorded under the same conditions. Even recordings have their limitations, of course. ;)