Soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us autoharps tea and rum…..

As a landlocked luthier here in Ohio, I truly miss the ocean. Marsha and I have lived in a coastal town on the Great Barrier Reef. We have wandered beaches in Florida, Cape Cod, Oregon, Nova Scotia, Iceland, and Ireland. We even spent two months at sea working on a container ship that crossed both Tropics and the Equator. With only some photos and a smattering of shells to sustain our fading memories, I sometimes regret leaving those experiences behind for life in the flatlands.

Nothing pulls me out of the doldrums like a new, creative, and whimsical project. Something that swims against the tide. An idea that has been drifting around in the fog sounding the siren’s call……. seas the day! weigh anchor! come about!

Then the wave hit me, an autoharp in the key of sea. To be more Pacific, a diatomaceous, er, diatonic autoharp in the single key of “C”.

This thirty-seven string instrument has twelve chord bars shaped like waves. The three rows of buttons resemble white caps. Bridges, chord bar holders, tail cover, and side trim are made of curly maple dyed bright blue to show an iridescent, wave like grain.

A laser cut rosette adorns the sound hole and bare footprints cross the sandy colored solid spruce soundboard.

The laminated back has been painted bright blue using netting as a stencil. Captured in this fish net is a colorful jellyfish soundhole.