Reddit reviews DOBANI Thumb Piano, Large

This thumb piano is kinda awesome.

They are actually fairly affordable There is a music shop that carries them in decatur. When I took care of my gramma and lived with her I would take my day off and walk to the music store, and play the instruments. Contrary to what was expeected, alot of people made decisions to buy an instrument that I was tinkering with, not becauseI was all that amazing, they just seemed to like the sound of it being tinkered with like a normal person would lol.

Aw!

Here's what I know:

The Hugh Tracey model is, I think, the best and most popular choice. I've never had one myself, but the tines are supposed to be soft and easy to pluck. It's got 15 tines, so that should allow for a pretty decent range of at least like 2 octaves. It also has an internal pickup, so I guess you could plug it into an interface and record it!

Here's the model I've had two of so far: the $40 Amazon model. Most people complain about how much harder the tines are to play than the Hugh Tracey's, but I think it plays just fine; the tines are kind of heavy so the tones on all tines are very full, except around the higher notes, where it gets kind of plink-y. The kalimba vibrato thing (when you stick your thumb in the hole and it makes this 'wah' sound) is still accessible in this model, but mostly just for the midrange notes – or at least that's what I've found. The tines are pretty hard to tune for this model, though. You have to use a coin or some kind of blunt metal object to nudge the tines back and forth, and it can get kind of frustrating.

Overall, I think the better choice would be the Hugh Tracey, but if you don't want to spend as much, the cheaper alternative is still a pretty solid kalimba.

Thumb Piano, Large https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009V9XBC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_gcTLybKKN6S8N

After watching this video I immediately looked into buying a kalimba (this one), but I'm finding a lot of reviews saying it's crazy hard to tune. Has that been your experience?