The Fretorfretnot workshop has been unusually busy lately. I work by myself building one or two instruments at a time, performing stringed instrument repairs for a local music store, and servicing pianos around ten local counties in two states.
During the early pandemic shut down and the following months, I restricted my piano work to the large spaces of churches at times when no one else was present. Only recently, since my three Covid vaccinations, have I resumed working in private residences. Catching up on nearly a year’s work has seriously cut into my workshop time. For that reason I have had a dream of taking on a few employees to ease my workload.
And a dream it was! As I slept, a small crew (elves?) assisted me with some of the more tedious tasks of autoharp construction. Alas, they had disappeared by morning, never to return. I would like to believe that they responded to some of the many help wanted signs posted in our area and found employment with fair compensation, benefits, and a living wage for their important work.
I recently completed is this thirty-seven string diatonic autoharp in the single key of A. I built it for ourselves because Marsha and I are trying to sing along with our instruments more and find that the key of A is a comfortable range for our voices. Being a single key diatonic, it has paired string courses in the middle octave and only the notes needed for chords in the key of A. This produces a very rich and full tone that works nicely for strumming accompaniment and playing melody.
Fifteen chords are arranged in a “Bowers” type setup with major chords in the center row, sevenths in the top row, and minors in the bottom row. This familiar arrangement is in place on all of Marsha’s instruments and permits a sort of “motor memory” to kick in when she changes from one autoharp to another, even if in different keys. Seven of the chords are “color chords” for enhanced arrangements.
The instrument has a 1/4 inch thick solid spruce soundboard. The one piece frame is laminated maple pinblock with a laminated maple back. The side veneer, end cover, and chord bar covers are made of curly maple. Chord bars are maple with alternate bars painted black. Black tuning pins, bridges, Schreiber fine tuners, and purfling complete the black/white motif.
My most recent instrument is this custom chromatic autoharp commissioned by a musician here in Ohio.
The twenty-one maple chord bars are capped with walnut buttons and are mounted upon combs made of #6 bridge pins and Delrin bases. Just to be different, I kinda hybridized the chord bar covers by making a shell out of walnut and very thin birch plywood. Its top surface is veneered with sequence-matched walnut burl. There is no distinct advantage for making it this way but the larger areas of felt damping on the underside seem to make the chord bars quieter.
The side trim and bridges are walnut.
I have recently completed three of my 3/4-size autoharps that are for sale and will soon be ready for delivery.
The design and construction is fundamentally the same as my full sized instruments. For structural integrity and tuning stability I build with one- piece laminated frames, and solid wood soundboards and components. They have a rich full voice for their size and are built to last.
I realize that the title of this post is kind of a stretch but it’s embarrassingly indicative of how my mind sometimes works. “My Name Is Morgan But It Ain’t J.P.” is an old time song that was covered by The New Lost City Ramblers. Mike Seeger, a member of the trio, famously owned and played an autoharp (not on that song) built by Tom Morgan of Morgan Springs, Tennessee. It was in admiration of Mike Seeger’s Morgan autoharp that prompted an Ohio musician to obtain the one I’m about to describe.
Long story short…. this beautiful instrument arrived in 1980 fully finished but absent the chord bars. For various reasons Mr. Morgan could not complete the chord set but instead sent along sufficient rough stock of Brazilian rosewood for their fabrication. The instrument has slumbered peacefully and unplayed for over forty years until it came to my workshop last October.
There are several features that make this a very distinctive autoharp. The woods, spruce and Brazilian rosewood, were purchased by Mr. Morgan at auction from the C.F. Martin guitar company where they had been in storage since the 1940s. The one piece spruce soundboard carries two of Morgan’s trademark “f” holes and is carved into a gentle violin- like arch. Although I couldn’t observe them because of the size and location of the sound holes, there apparently exist an internal pre-stressed truss rod and tone bars that, with a stainless steel anchor end reinforcing plate, make this a very stable instrument.
Although unplayed, the chromatic string set was forty years old and a little corroded. After much consideration it was decided to replace it with a scale designed for diatonic play in the keys of G and D. An optional F note replaces an F# in the scale to allow an F chord for play in the key of C. The chords were chosen based upon the songs that will be accompanied and extra stock was made into additional minor chords, two lock bars, and blank bars for future need.
The twelve, 5/16 inch-wide chord bars are arranged in two rows as was probably the intention of the builder. They rest upon #6 steel pins driven into Delrin bases. The Seeger autoharp bore round buttons that were sometimes broken. These chord bars were fitted with comfortable dished trapezoidal buttons made of rosewood.
It was both an honor and a challenge completing this beautiful sounding instrument. Rosewood is a hard and oily wood that was not kind to tools and abrasives. I had some anxiety over making the most use of the limited and irreplaceable chord bar stock that was provided.
Finally, after over forty years of initial correspondence with the instrument’s luthier Tom Morgan, weeks of consultation in my workshop, and even a global pandemic, the patient musician and his Morgan autoharp #80002 sing together.
My most recent non-autoharp build is this eight string octave mandolin that I made for myself. The octave mandolin is commonly tuned to GDAE, one octave lower than its smaller cousins. With a longer 22-3/4 inch scale and eight strings, it lends a wonderful mellow voice to the Celtic music I love to play.
The teardrop shaped body is made of book matched ribbon mahogany. The five piece neck of African mahogany, ebony, and birdseye maple is reinforced with a two-way adjustable truss rod. The fingerboard, peghead overlay, and heel cap are made of ebony and inlaid with mother of pearl. White/black/white purfling, black fiber binding, a herringbone back strip, and a laser cut rosette trim the body.
As a luthier for 40+ years I have built hundreds of dulcimers and a great variety of other stringed instruments. In 2012, my first foray into the blogosphere was titled “Whatshebuildinginthere” in which I wrote about my instrument building with an emphasis on experimentation, information, and encouragement to help other musicians and builders. At some point autoharps took control so in 2016 I began this new blog calling it “fretorfretnot”. I expected to carry on blogging about both fretted and not fretted stringed instruments but again, autoharps ruled. Only lately have I found the time to pound frets instead of tuning pins.
I recently completed and delivered this commissioned instrument to a musician in New York state. After the initial contact and much discussion by e-mail, the entire process required only three months. The wait probably seemed longer to the musician anxious to receive his first luthier built autoharp but its completion was well within my usual two to five month time estimate.
The chord bars, bridges, side veneer, chord bar covers, and tail cover are made of African mahogany stained with Minwax red mahogany oil stain. The chord bar covers, chord buttons, and tail cover are capped with curly maple finished natural. The soundboard is spruce, the back is maple veneer, and everything is finished with up to six coats of semi-gloss Deft lacquer.
The Schreiber electromagnetic pickup is specially wound for this thirty-seven string array and is fastened underneath the chord bars by metal tabs that fit in slots on the underside of the Delrin chord bar combs. A small length of coax is routed through the inside of the instrument to a 1/4″ jack.
Many of my autoharps are shipped out of state and abroad to musicians who will likely want to experiment with alternative chords or attend to future DIY adjustments and repairs. For this I include some extra blank felted chord bars, extra chord felt, self adhesive under cover felt, and extra springs. The wrapper from the custom string set will help them order the proper strings when it becomes necessary and a laminated strip indicates the tuning of each string. Also included is the allen wrench that comes with the fine tuners and a new star tipped T-wrench.
I have always maintained my own instruments, mostly out of economic necessity but especially for the challenging DIY learning experience. This has led to a deeper understanding of what my instruments are capable of and how I might modify them to meet my personal needs. That has led to my forty plus years as a luthier, building and repairing a variety of stringed instruments.
Plans for the Schmidt Model 73 are available for purchase from the Guild Of American Luthiers.
Musicmakers offers a free download of plans and assembly instructions for their long discontinued “Autochord” kit and continues to sell the collated hardware to complete it. The Autochord differs somewhat in size and construction from other ‘harps but offers many helpful ideas. The file can be enlarged to full size at a retail copy center.
The Autoharp Owner’s Manual includes excellent plans and instructions for building
The best framing material for tuning and overall stability is the multi-laminated maple pin block manufactured for pianos. It grips tuning pins without cracking and remains stable in changing environmental conditions. It is particularly effective when cut as a single unit for the angled treble side, as it eliminates a troublesome joint that wants to creep. I like to cut the entire frame from a single blank so that there are no joints to fail. Pin block can be obtained from a piano technician or piano supply but the planks are fifty-nine inches long, so it’s unlikely that they would sell only enough for one ‘harp. Contact me to purchase a more economical size.
Fret Or Fret Not 
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