Instant Thumb Piano: How to make a set screw lamellaphone

This is a method to quickly and easily make a musical instrument capable of melodic percussion and noise experimentation.

The thumb piano, known as a kalimba or mbira and by many other names, is a lamellaphone that uses plucked prongs called tongues, keys or tines to generate acoustic vibrations. The length of the tine determines the pitch.

Generally, the thumb piano uses some kind of mechanism to create a great deal of pressure to anchor the tines across 2 bridges which allows the free lengths of the tines room to vibrate. The tines are usually of the same material and gauge (thickness) to ensure consistency so the pressure is distributed equally holding everything in place and in tune.

The method shown here is simplified and wonderfully versatile. It allows the use of more fragile, delicate, and unusual materials for the body of the instrument, and it provides a way to use oddly shaped tines of different materials at the same time while permitting the tines to be swapped out and tuned with ease.

There are interesting possibilities here: a simple armature or jig that becomes a tool with which to investigate the sound that different materials make - how they vibrate, how they resonate and how different combinations of factors can change the sound quality.

Experiment and explore and find configurations that work for you.

More photos:
Flickr set

Video link in Step 6.

Step 1: The Grounding Bar

The grounding bar is an item used by electricians to ground house circuit wires. It comes in a variety of lengths and can be found in the electrical section of most local hardware stores or builder/contractor supply centers.
The bar shown is about 4 1/2 inches long and 1/2 inch in width.
The 3 empty slots are drilled all the way through, this is where fasteners can be used to attach the bar to something.

Comments

[Oledoug]

One of the best tines I've used come from Windshield wipers.....Check with you local repair shop and have the save you the stainless strips from the old wipers....The work great and are easily found.....

[marktreefrog]

by gluing down the grounding bar and finding more screws I was able to use all of the ports. So no gaps. I used JB weld for this.

[yapruder]

Good, thanks for posting.

The way I like to do it is to use a tap to thread the bottom of several of the holes and then screw in place from underneath to free up all the horizontal holes.

Another way is to use speed nuts which are flat, square and springy. You find the size that fits in the hole, screw in from the top down past the horizontal hole and use a hex nut to again anchor from underneath. Then the top of the anchor screw becomes the floor of the set screw.

I'm sure there are other ways people will come up with as they experiment. This instructable was trying to keep things as simple as possible.

[marktreefrog]

I like that idea. I will have to try that. Another fun addition is a piezo pickup and jack. this picture shows every thing tape in place temporarily before glue and soldering for a more permanent fix.

[blacksmith_tb]

What's the source of the 'blue spring steel tines'? They look like a nice, uniform choice.

[mmbutler]

A typical metal-tine grass rake will give you a lifetime supply of one width of blued spring steel tines, though they'll typically be overpainted some other color . :)

[DublA]

Of course!! A rake! You can't imagine the time I spent wandering around Home Depot aimlessly trying to find something approaching spring steel.

[yapruder]

I get the blue tempered spring steel from a local Machinery & Tool Steel Co., a big industrial distributor. They do have a minimum, but even so I think it is only 10ft. rpc

[tankdo]

Well, first, good instructable! i have the same problem trying to find the "gorunding bar" because im in latin america and i didn´t knew the spanish name, that piece is also known as Terminal Bar or link bar conector, in this case, a 15 way Terminal Bar, i hope this help!

Para los amigos hispanohablantes: la pieza se consigue como Bloque De Terminal de metal o latón o Barra Terminal de latón, o Bloques de Tierra de 8 vías (o de las vías que sea dependiendo del nùmero de hoyos) está catalogado en la electrónica como accesorios de puesta a tierra, por eso en inglés lo llaman Grounding Bar.

Espero que les haya servido la informaciòn, realmente es un instrumento hermoso y vale la pena hacerlo!

[rhysc]

Did anyone from Australia figure out where to buy ground bars? The closest thing I could find was this:
http://updates.clipsal.com/ClipsalOnline/ProductInformation.aspx?searchMode=group&first=30&skip=47&code=48002&level=4

[Dagless]

I'd try electrical suppliers/wholesalers such as Lawrence & Hanson or Rexel. I worked at a similar electrical supplier in New Zealand and we stocked these in varying lengths. We called them busbars (pronounced 'buzz bars'), so they're possibly called that in Australia too.

[insanepotato]

I'm in Australia, would Bunnings have "grounding bars"? I've never seen or heard of them in my life.
I'm planning on using cheap Asian tongue scrapers as tines, since its possible to find some that are almost identical to that blue steel (just not blue), although I'm not sure what I'll mount it on xD

thanks for sharing the idea btw =D

[spark master]

Make friends with an electrician who does rennovations a lot, the piece you want is inside a circuit box(panel). It is where we tie down the neutrals in USA we have 110-120 volts ac, not 200-210 v ac . There should be a strip inside the box that has a grounding strip. When we do a rennovation (say pullout a 60 amp or 100 amp house service, the box is garbage and sent to the scrap heap. I no longer do electric work, but people toss them out occassionally. I made a Kalimba with my kid so I will need to look around for one of these.

This is a great idea I never thought of!!! But where does one get better boingers, err reeds. Regular pulling snake is fine for about 8 notes that's it.

thanks

sparkie

[yapruder]

>But where does one get better boingers, err reeds. Regular pulling snake is fine for about 8 notes that's it.<

Using a piezo pickup should help expand the range. There are some instructables and Youtube videos that describe how to build one.

[spark master]

wow a hot wired kalimba , are the piezo's cheap?

sparkie

[yapruder]

The most common diy uses a Radio Shack "buzzer", probably about 3 bucks. That piezo is thin and flimsy. Piezos come in many sizes and thicknesses. Search online for sources, they are generally low price but because of that there is often a minimum purchase maybe from 10 to 100. I had good luck with an electronics & science supplies liquidator, I think it was 12 for 5 bucks.

[yapruder]

I don't know Bunnings but as a home warehouse it ought to have some version of the grounding bar. Tongue scrapers as tines is a great idea. Probably interesting sounds and good hygiene!

[Warlrosity]

It is more of a ... Hardware store! Massive,green,amazing! Btw nice work!

[insanepotato]

turns out, they dont have them, so still no kalimba for me haha

[yapruder]

There is always the web option. A search for grounding bar or kit will give a bunch of results that you will have to refine for Australia or a firm that will ship there. Make sure you use a product photo to select from, in some cases "grounding bars" can actually be more like flat metal plates with holes rather than bars with set screws.

[mmbutler]

In the Commonweath there's a tendency to use the word "earth" where Americans would use "ground". Insanepotato, you might try to use "earth bar" or "earthing bar" as search terms. Schneider Electric makes them, I think, but even if not, a bit of looking for "electrical supplies" in the phone directory should point you in the right direction. Rexel Electrical is one Aussie company name I have heard. Good luck!

[wocket]

i wonder if anyone actually ended up finding some in Australia?

[curious.jp]

Apologies for the late reply. Yes, I did - under the name "earth bars" or "neutral bars". I ordered a handful of brass ones from Metroid Electrical Products in Victoria, and they were in my mailbox the next day. Work well with bike spokes and street sweeper tines, but Australian designs often have a doubled row of holes for attaching the earth wire.

Explain what you want - after I explained it to their sales guy, he provided me with engineering drawings for a variation which isn't on the website.

[Warlrosity]

too bad

[cheveux.boucles]

That was a great instructable - thanks!  I ended up using hammered-out bicycle spokes as the tines, and a cigar box as the resonating chamber, and it sounds great - especially with a contact microphone right under the bar.  Keep it up.

[mistic]

made one years ago- I eventually drifted to stringed instruments- made a mini-zither- but found some minor problems such as boxes giving unusual strange resonances -unwanted discords ,etc. still it plays like a harp and goes nicely with my kalimba. {see my instr- Mini-zither}

[amplex]

awesome sounds, i love the creative tines and the difference in tones you get from them, im definitely going to build one of these asap!!!!

[agis68]

Very cool..i will make one five stars...excellent project and well done

[8bit]

Five stars! Excellent!

[yapruder]

UPDATE: Here is a good example of using mallets or drumsticks to tap long tines resulting in great bass tones, check out the sound sample:
http://www.suddensound.com/workshop/samples/hammeredkalimba.mp3

Courtesy of Greg Bossert of Suddensound.com:
http://www.suddensound.com/workshop/hammeredkalimba.html

[Immrwrite]

This is awesome! I'm on my way to the hardware store right now! finally a use for all those small wooden boxes that tend to collect around me. Thank you very much for a great Instructable!

[sarandi]

I was just thinking...I've seen tines like that somewhere - and then it hit me: Old windshield wiper blades have similar metal inserts! Thanks for the wonderful ideas - the grounding bar is genius. It could also be used to build a stringed instrument!

[AndyGadget]

Cycle spokes make excellent keys. Mount them with the mushroom shaped bit pointing up and it's much easier on the thumbs if you're a nail-biter. Tune the thing to C Major (CDEFGABC...) if you want to play 'real' tunes on it, or to a minor pentatonic scale (e.g. ACDEGA...) and any 'improvisation' will sound harmonious. A software tuning aid is essential if your musical ear is anything like mine. The Mk2 version will have a thin wooden top as I suspect ply is not the best choice for a soundboard.

[yapruder]

In the photo in step 6, the box has a cycle spoke mounted about 5 tines in from the right side. I used the other end from the shroom screwcap, the tip is flattened with a hammer. For delicate thumbs, you can coat the end of a tine in the dip coating stuff from hardware stores -- called plasti dip or similar. I made a kalimba using 1/8" Luan plywood with umbrella rib tines that sounds fairly good. The entire box was made of the Luan glued together though, not just the soundboard. Some configurations of materials will bleed off vibrations or dampen the sound. Quirky materials and unpredictable results means much room for experimentation.

[aeray]

Just built one for my brother using the ground bar method, pegged black walnut for the box sides, dense, almost-instrument-grade spruce for the top and bottom, and tines from an old rake for the keys... total cost $6 for the ground bar. Looks good and those I have shown it to who don't have a tin ear like me say it sounds good too. Excellent idea.

[mcraghead]

Time to go ground-bar shopping, indeed!
And then... plug it in!

[estevan]

i need some suggestions as to where i could get some decent tines. i went to a home depot and my options were severely limited and i was uncertain as to how to describe what i'm looking for in terms of tine material. Any places online i could order materials?

[yapruder]

At a home depot type of store the most obvious possibilities are wire and nails but keep in mind that there are all sorts of odd clips, fasteners and lever springs that can be hammered and cut to size. You can get electrician's fish tape there - it comes on a spool and is used to thread wire through conduit - but you will get much more than you need for one project, better to buy it at a used tool store or a liquidator/resale place or garage sale. For real blue tempered spring steel, I have not really looked online, try a local machine shop and see if they can order you some or direct you to a distributor. In Step 6, I give a list of some tine alternatives. I was surprised by how nice the plastic hobby paint brush handles sound and those you can get in packs of ten or more really cheap!

[jerbob]

I've seen those streetsweeper bristles on the edges of streets all of my life. What a cool use for them! I used them as a kid to make mini-knives. Most kalimbas are tuned around a Major 7th chord.

[evil_paul]

Thank you so much for sharing. I have really enjoyed seeing your creations on Flickr and I can't wait to have a go at making my own.