“This is the dawning of the Age of A-harpius”

Autoharps come in varied sizes, some are as long as the Guitaro and some are wider with as many as forty-five strings. Most have a depth of around 1″ to 1-3/4 inches.

My latest commission comes from an autoharp musician/aficionado from New York State requesting a much deeper instrument with more resonance and a richer tone. Early planning was for a three inch depth but we finally settled on a depth of 2-1/2 inches to make an instrument you could really wrap your arms around. The working title became “ED”, standing for extra dimension.

I began with my standard, one piece, pinblock frame which was extended in length to accommodate eighteen chords, an angled anchor bridge, and Daigle fine tuners. I added a 3/4 inch thick spruce spacer around the underside of the frame before attaching the soundboard, laminated back, and curly maple side veneer.

Players with a shorter reach than this musician might find it difficult to play this deeper autoharp comfortably. To make the instrument narrower, I built it without the curved treble side that usually adds an inch of width. That, with lower chord bar covers, makes it easier to reach the buttons with the left hand.

The solid cedar soundboard features an oval soundhole to round out the rich tone. The benefit of this deeper body with its larger internal capacity is greater volume and longer sustain.

Having thirty-seven strings, this autoharp is set up in the single diatonic key of A. The eighteen chord bars are alternating natural maple and painted black. The musician wanted, of course, the chords in the key of A but also alternative chords that would have an ethereal feeling. For this he sought the advice of Jo Ann Smith who designs expert chord layouts and charts for cutting each individual chord. Ordinarily, a single key can be covered nicely with eight or ten chords. This instrument has fifteen chords with three additional blank bars to be cut when determined later.