Do the pickups affect the acoustic sound of the kalimba?
When properly installed, the pickups have no impact on the acoustic sound of a board-mounted or celeste kalimba. A few times, I have seen kalimbas with loose pickups which rattled. You can fix this by tightening the nut on the pickup jack, or possibly by using a bit of glue. Box mounted kalimbas with pickups have a subtle effect. You make a “wah-wah” sound by covering and uncovering the sound holes. The pickup jack is one more sound whole. SO, the “depth” of the “wah wah” sound is slightly diminished when you have a pickup – this is like a 10-15% effect.
