Gravikord "Signature Series"

On Jake Wildwood's blog:

This is a truly wonderful and crazy instrument -- being a dedicated, electric, hybridized variant of the kora, mixed with a modern kalimba's playing-style, and having some of the "open note" sound of a koto. The first and last bits (kora/koto, tone-wise) I picked-up on myself, just with my ears, though I found (hilariously enough) that the builder described the tone that way in his hyperbolic advert that came along with the instrument.

Of course, this has to be a consignor's instrument, and it is! It came in needing a few strings replaced and a tuning-up, which I did a while back -- and then I realized that I never posted an entry for it. That's what comes with being busy! Anyhow, if you want all of the details, Mr. Bob Grawi (the maker) has a 90s-retro site devoted to his creation and Wikipedia also has a nice, more concise writeup, too. Two thumbs-up for Wiki's easily-deciphered tuning chart.

Obviously, I can't play the instrument worth a hoot in the soundclip, but at least you get an idea of the raw, unfiltered, direct-to-mixer sound of the pickup. It has a huge, wide, range and the piezo unit installed in the bridge is quite "hot" and very sensitive. This is a good thing as it's easily plugged into any amp (it sounds great through a bass amp) without needing a preamp in front of its signal. I was very impressed with how responsive the pickup is, to be honest. This is a challenging instrument to amplify.