If you have purchased a kalimba from our company, you have noticed that each style has their own style of hole in the front of the kalimba. On our 'parallel' design there are 7 holes in the front, and on our 'luna' design there is a crescent moon shaped hole. Each different hole will cause a slight variation in the sound produced, but these designs also have 2 small holes on the back in an attempt to make them sound as similar to the 'classic' and 'helios' designs as possible.
So you may be wondering ~ do these holes in the front or back cause the notes to sound different?
The short answer is yes. Although, the sound is so indifferent that it will be very hard to notice any difference. There are kalimbas with only a hole in the front, kalimbas with both holes in the front & back, and even kalimbas with no holes at all. There are also both benefits and disadvantages to every type of kalimba.
The hole's main purpose is to amplify the sound of the notes, in the same way that acoustic guitars have a hole in them. If your kalimba has holes on the back, you can choose to cover these or one at a time to act as a sort of pedal effect when playing, causing slightly varied tones.