Tag Archives: Autoharp fine tuners

A Duo of Doodads

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I have created two simple and functional accessories that I sometimes include with my custom autoharps. They don’t enhance the sound of the instrument or the skill of the musician, they merely make tuning a little more convenient.

Hex screws are components of autoharp fine tuners. They are adjusted with some form of a hex key that is usually supplied with the assembly. This necessary implement is usually stored in the case, pick bag, or somewhere in that room you just walked into but forgot why.

 

 

 

 

My idea is to install a fine tuning tool onboard, where it is handy when needed.

A small wooden knob is attached to a short length of hex key . When not in use it resides in the autoharp’s tailpiece and is held in place with an embedded magnet……………

 

 

 

…………..where it’s right at hand for quick tuning touch ups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many autoharps, especially manufactured ones, have decals, stickers, or note labels to designate the pitch of each string. These are unsightly and mostly unnecessary once the autoharp has attained a stable tuning. Some musicians convert their instruments to an alternative tuning such as a diatonic setup with a completely different tuning schedule that is no longer supported by the existing labels.

 

I printed a tuning chart that I glued to a thin strip of wood. This can be slipped under the strings when needed as a reference for tuning each string.

 

 

 

 

 

On the reverse side of the tuning strip is red felt. It prevents the wooden strip from scratching the soundboard and doubles as a convenient tool to remove dust under the strings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Appalachian Upgrade

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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 Dove

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Here is a new custom autoharp commissioned by a musician and performer from Ontario. He desired a bright white “dove of peace” shaped sound hole on an all black body. The dove shape that he chose was too delicate to cut into the soundboard so I inlayed it in a walnut veneer ring with a bright white plastic material.

The opaque black body finish was  a learning experience for me as I have always finished my instruments to show the natural woodgrain. Wood finishing requires a lot of between-the-coats sanding and with an opaque finish it’s possible to sand right through to the bare wood. To avoid this potential problem I dyed the wood black, applied multiple coats of black grain filler and lacquer, and followed with several coats of satin lacquer. A satin finish was preferred over a gloss finish in the hope that the unavoidable fingerprints and chord felt dust would not be as visible.

Walnut was the choice for the bridges, chord bars, chord bar buttons, bar comb covers, and tailpiece. Along with the brass hardware it makes for a subtle contrast to the solid black body.

 

 

Black delrin locks on the ends of the lockbars. The bar is pressed and the locks slide to wedge under the covers.

The instrument is set up as a thirty-seven string diatonic in the keys of G and D. The fifteen chord bars are arranged in three rows with the major chords in the middle, the sevenths on the top, and the minors in the bottom row. The two chord bars nearest the tail end are lock bars. One is a D lockbar that mutes the strings in the array that aren’t in the key of D (four C strings and one F). The G lockbar mutes the strings in the array not in the key of G ( two C# strings and one F). By muting the unnecessary notes the player is less likely to play them by mistake.

Chord array before cutting the felt and installing the locks.

One might wonder why there is an F note on a G/D autoharp. By changing one string in an F# pair to F and cutting an F chord bar, this autoharp can also play the IV chord needed in the key of C.

 

 

 

 

The thirty-seven strings are anchored at the tail end with a set of Daigle Flatline fine tuners. Each string can be fine tuned by turning its allen screw with a small wrench. This is especially useful with a diatonic autoharp that has several string pairs that need to be tuned in unison and beatless. Fine tuners are also helpful for tweaking the strings that go a little sharp or flat from day to day environmental changes in temperature and humidity.

A wood handled allen wrench was supplied with the tuning assembly but I made an additional, smaller one that seats magnetically in a hole at the end of the tailpiece. It’s handy, right there near the tuners and not lost amid all of the other paraphernalia that travels with the instrument.

The new owner  performs at a variety of venues, open mics, and with a regular bluegrass jam. He uses a sound system when he performs and plays his instruments unamplified with the bluegrass. The Dove can be amplified via a Schreiber electromagnetic pickup that is invisibly installed on the soundboard underneath the chord bars. It is wired to a 1/4″ jack that is imbedded flush on curved treble bout.