Autoharp repair | Fret Or Fret Not

Recently, a musician from Louisiana sent me an “Old Black Box”, or rather, a thirty-six string, twelve chord Oscar Schmidt autoharp that was manufactured in 1958. As with many of these older “A” models purchased on-line, from families, or from estate sales, it was covered with dust and gunk. Still, it had possibilities so the owner had it polished and restrung with Schreiber “Old Model A” strings. It was sent to me in excellent condition for a couple of useful upgrades.

The twelve- chord chord bar set was also in excellent and original condition. The 5/16 inch wide bars had plastic golf tee buttons in two rows and were carried in slotted plastic holders. I was commissioned to make a three row set with wooden buttons and carried upon quieter and easier to play chord combs.

Originally, these instruments were set up for play on the lap or a table while strumming between the chord bars and the anchor end bridge. Many modern players reinstall the entire chord bar assembly closer to the anchor end to allow more playing space in the treble area when holding the autoharp upright.

The owner learned to play the old way, below the chord bars. He also wanted to be able to play above the bars in the high treble area. To accomplish this I made chord bars 3/16 inches wide which made the chord set narrower. By repositioning the set in the center, there was now 1-1/2 inches above and 1-1/2 inches below the chord bars allowing play both ways.

Another upgrade involved adding a thirty-seventh string tuned to D6. This was done by extending each of the bridges by 1/4 inch and installing a tuning and hitch pin.

I tried to retain the aged/historical appearance by coloring the new chord bars and holders black and installing a used tuning pin to match the old ones.

An autoharp musician and friend here in Ohio purchased this 21 chord Oscar Schmidt “Appalachian” from an online auction. He had been searching for this model for some time and was excited when this this instrument arrived in fair condition. Everything, including the plastic case, seemed to be original but worn and soiled from forty plus years of use. The felt was scored, the buttons were worn and discolored, and the strings were near the end of their life. The cherry colored finish had the usual nicks and thin spots, and visible inside the sound hole were some unacceptable glue runs and globs. Upgrading this autoharp to the level of the luthier built instruments that he currently owns and plays called for new strings, fine tuners, a new chord array, and a thorough cleanup.

After the old strings and hardware were removed the cleanup involved scraping and sanding the hardened glue inside the sound hole. The surface dirt on the outside was removed with a damp cloth. I polished the tuning and bridge pins by looping a cloth shoelace around each one using a see-saw motion. Where the finish was worn thin, I sanded it with 400 grit paper and touched up with semi-gloss lacquer. After everything was clean and tidy I hand polished everything with Meguier’s, a gentle, non-silicone automotive clearer wax.

Twenty-one chord C models have an aluminium anchor bar that fits more or less snuggly in a pocket routed in the frame, and sometimes string tension exerts enough force to pull the bar forward and up. I replaced this with a fine tuner assembly made by Greg Schreiber. It fits into the pocket in the same way as the original anchor bar but can be secured with screws and shimmed so that it is unlikely to attempt escape. The assembly weighs a few ounces more than the original bar but far less than the Oscar Schmidt fine tuners that weigh a full pound.

Another superior feature of the Schreiber fine tuners over the OS tuners is the flat bridge that keeps each string level regardless of how much the tuning cams are adjusted. The poorly designed OS cams raise and lower the individual strings causing inconsistent damping, making it necessary to periodically level and re-tune all of the strings.

With this fine tuner assembly, each string is threaded through a small cam and secured to the anchor bar with an Allen screw and a washer. Fine tuning is achieved by turning the screws with a provided Allen wrench.

After installing the fine tuners I replaced the old chrome anchor cover with laminated cherry stained to match the autoharp body.

The original aluminium chord bars were felted with worn blocks and had discolored plastic buttons. Since the owner wanted a non standard chord array and a consistent button appearance, we opted for a new blank conversion kit that contained twenty-one blank bars, buttons, holders, and cover.

There were other advantages to replacing the original set. The blank bars and buttons were cut and labeled for the new setup leaving the original bars free to create additional chords that could be swapped in as the music required. The new chord combs are made of a smoother, more resilient plastic material than the brittle originals and with softer springs and new padding in the plastic cover, the playing action is easier and quieter. Instead of the original felt blocks that are prone to falling off, the bars are felted with continuous strips that can be V notched for the open strings.

The owner decided to keep the instrument chromatic and consulted with Jo Ann Smith to design the best chord layout for the music he plays. Jo Ann provided downloadable files for the button array and an actual size template for cutting each of the chord bars. To me, recommending chord setups, marking, and accurately cutting chord felt is one of the more tedious and time consuming tasks of autoharp lutherie. Jo Ann provides this wonderful aid at a fair price.

With new strings, hardware, and a more useful chord bar setup, the owner plans to share this good sounding autoharp and his favorite Mike Seeger songs with fellow students at the university where he attends.