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.
The latest from here at Fretnot Laboratories is this custom thirty-seven string, fifteen bar diatonic in the keys of G and D. It features Daigle fine tuners, two lock bars, flat chord bar buttons, and five extra blank chord bars for future substitutions. A custom oval rosette was fashioned using walnut burl and plastic white-black-white purfling. Walnut burl also trims the tops of the chord bar covers and the tail end cover.
Since introducing my new twenty-three string, seven chord child size autoharps two months ago, I received a lot of interest and positive comments. My goal was to produce a serious instrument for the young learner to play while growing into a standard, full size autoharp. I guess I wasn’t too surprised when several adults found them to be a good size as a travel instrument or for someone challenged by the size and weight of a more standard autoharp. At only eighteen inches long and weighing only four and one-half pounds, they are easy to hold and carry.
Several years ago they produced their version of an autoharp and called it an “Autochord”. It was a unique design that differed from the more conventional Chromaharps and Oscar Schmidts. Thirty-eight ball end guitar strings spanned from bridge pins to an anchor end bridge made from a section of brass tubing. The chromatic tuning was scheduled from F2 to A5. The fifteen chord bars rested upon 1/8 Delrin rods drilled directly into the soundboard. The body of the instrument consisted of a 1/4″ redwood soundboard with a bass bar, a 3/8″ plywood back, and a laminated frame with gaps at each end of the long rail.
This interesting instrument was offered as an easy to assemble kit for someone with basic DIY skills. Like all of Musicmakers kits, it would, with attention to detail, bring satisfying results. The result however, was a rather large, heavy, and somewhat unconventional autoharp.
This Autochord kit came to my workshop in the original shipping carton. It was purchased in 1995 and had only the soundboard and back glued to the frame. The current owner asked me to complete it and install fine tuners.
I made several modifications to the original design. The Daigle fine tuner system came with its own bridge so I deleted the kit’s brass tube. The wound bass strings supplied were standard guitar strings that had windings their entire length. Greg Schreiber made a custom set of wound strings that had windings only within the speaking length of the strings. I substituted threaded adjustable bridge pins so I could accurately level the strings for effective damping.
The design specified drilling the Delrin chord bar combs directly into the soundboard. Instead, I made separate Delrin bases that can be more easily adjusted for smoother chord bar movement.
With that in mind, I present my own iteration of a child size autoharp designed as a serious, good sounding, and well built instrument for the young learner. I believe that a quality, attractive, and stable instrument with standard string spacing, and a logical chord bar setup will make it easier to learn and to later grow into a standard autoharp. My aim is to produce a smaller scale instrument for fun as well as serious study and not a colorful toy of passing interest.
The high quality Schreiber custom string set is specially gauged for a string schedule tuned: G-C-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A-A#-B-C-D-E-F-G-A-A#-B-C.
At this time the only option I can offer is the choice of woods for the side veneer, chord set, bridges, and end cover. This prototype is cherry but other choices include walnut, maple, and mahogany. In the future I plan to add greater customization and alternate chord setups with more chords in two or three rows.
With few exceptions, autoharps have been made of wood. Solid and laminated hardwood frames have been enclosed by hardwood, softwood, and plywood with the builder’s and player’s personal preferences guiding the combination. Decades of research and experimentation with natural materials have led to construction techniques for building good sounding and structurally stable instruments but swings in temperature and humidity persist in causing cracks, bulges, separations, tuning instability and even implosions. Temperature control, humidifiers in the winter, dehumidifiers in the summer, and fine tuners all help us avoid adverse environmental effects but, as careful as we are, there can be some disappointing surprises. Could there be a material that’s very stable and sounds good? Carbon fiber may be the answer.
Carbon fiber, a very strong and rigid composite material, has been used successfully to build musical instruments for many years. The first luthier to utilize this material in sheet form for autoharp construction was Pete Daigle of Daigle Autoharps in Seattle, Washington.
My recent interest in trying carbon fiber has taken the form of this new thirty-seven string chromatic. With my one piece laminated frame and back and a carbon fiber soundboard, I’m hoping that this buggy will never crash and the only maintenance necessary will be the occasional tune-up and maybe a couple of future brake jobs.
I ordered a 12″x24″x1/8″ blank sheet of carbon fiber from the DragonPlate company in Elbridge, NY. The purchase cost and machining labor was about five times greater than that of making a comparable wooden top. 
The 1/4″ side veneer, tailpiece, and chord bar holders are made of red oak with an interesting “bark intrusion”. The eighteen maple chord bars are lacquered black and the buttons have been randomly burnt with a mini torch to resemble the oak trim.
The standard chromatic tuning schedule includes a thirty-seventh string tuned to D6. The eighteen thin chord bars are carried by steel pins driven into Delrin bases. The three row setup favors the keys of C, G, and D and includes the Cdim7th, C#dim7th, and Ddim7th chords.
To access the chord bars for adjustment or change I made magnetic holder covers that can be easily popped open without removing screws. The caps are aligned with tiny pins at each end and held fast in the center by small rare earth magnets. Self adhesive felt strips on the underside of the caps quietly adjust the chord bars’ height for a low playing action.
So, how does this carbon fiber sound? For us, it is too soon to say anything other than “different”. Folks who play the Daigle carbon fiber harps report that they are loud, bright, and have a “crazy amount of sustain”. It does seem louder than our other instruments but we need a “breaking in” period before we can assess its tone, articulation, and presence. Almost as important is the expectation of greater structural stability and the attractive visual combination of carbon fiber and red oak.
“Ah, but I was so much older then
Our lives have changed a lot since then but there is still that old friend nostalgia. For me, it surfaces from time to time in the form of a rather whimsical creation like… this “Hippy ‘Harp”.
Apart from the paint job, it differs little from my standard instrument. It’s a thirty-six string chromatic with fifteen thin chord bars painted in a rainbow pattern ( it might be said that all of the chords are “color chords”). The quiet chord bars are carried on #6 steel bridge pins driven into Delrin bases. Structurely, it features a laminated pin block frame, birch ply back, and a solid poplar soundboard. A peace symbol rosette is inlaid in the sound hole and an there is an additional sound hole in the back that makes the sound more audible to the player’s left ear and is useful for handling the instrument. 
The latest autoharp to emerge from my workshop is this thirty-seven string diatonic beauty ordered only two months ago by an autoharp friend named Lori. She currently plays chromatic autoharps and was amazed at the richer tone and greater volume of a two key diatonic. She often plays in the key of D with a dulcimer group but also finds the keys of G, C, and A useful. This diatonic is primarily set up for the keys of D and G but with the addition of a single F string can play the F chord needed for the key of C. The key of A is also present with the chords A, D, and a partial E7.
Two of the fifteen chord bars are lockbars. They are fitted with small sliding Delrin locks on each end that slide under the chord bar holder caps. There is a G lockbar and a D lockbar. When locked down the bar mutes those notes not used in that key so they cannot be played accidentally.
Fret Or Fret Not 
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