#Vintage autoharp value update

What's with the weird labeling system on early 3, 4, and 5-chord autoharps, and why do they label both A and Bb as note number 6? Either way, if you want to restring an autoharp, you'll find out that the strings are different between the two models.

A late model A may still be a very playable instrument, but used model Bs tend to be in better playing condition just because they're newer. They also changed the string attachment and removed the bridge.

Is my Autoharp a Type A or Type B? - In 1968, following Chromaharp's lead, Oscar Schmidt reconfigured their instruments to be more ergonomic.

Autoharps for People with Short Arms - Suggestions for folks who find standard-sized autoharps inconvenient or painful to play.

What is a Diatonic Autoharp? - An overview of the way some people reconfigure their autoharps to play in fewer keys but with doubled strings for a richer sound.

Making your Autoharp 'Folk-Friendly' - Adding chords you need for songs in G, D, A, and E, while removing chords you almost never need like Ab and Bb7.

Autoharp Factory Tunings - Describes the four most common chord layouts for new autoharps, and the two most common variations.

Here is my current list of autoharp articles: I don't know if I converted any of the audience (mostly fellow musicians and Folk music lovers) to autoharp players, but at least I gave folks a better understanding of the things than they had before. I tuned up eleven autoharps from different periods and companies to demonstrate, then at the end of the demonstration, I passed them out and had the folks who got one play two two-chord songs ('Old Joe Clark' and 'Buffalo Gals'). In August, 2018, I held an Autoharp clinic at a regional music festival where I've done banjo clinics in the past. But I have made a valiant attempt to collect, fact-check, and organize information for new readers.

Again, I am hardly the expert on these I barely play them. So I realized one article wasn't gong to do it, and I wrote several more. But the information I needed to answer reader questions was scattered all over the Internet, in many unorganized places like discussion forums and personal web pages. So I started to write ONE article to answer the most common questions and point to good resources for the rest.

#Vintage autoharp value update

Update for 2018 - After I first published this page, I started getting reader questions I didn't know the answers to. This despite the fact that many people have figured out inventive ways to play them and even inventive ways to remake them into unique instruments with distinct musical voices. And in many circles it still gets no respect. It got no respect from 'serious musicians' a century ago. The other bad news is that, to many people, it still bears the stigma of being an instrument for dummies. The bad part is that, even with good storage, the strings and springs age and rust, the felt hardens or crumbles, and unless you have time and skills to do the work yourself, they cost nearly as much to restore properly as a new one costs to buy. The good part of that is that they're relatively solid, so the physical structure lasts a long time unless it's exposed to temperature and moisture extremes. And there are plenty in attics and garages to prove it. More specifically through the early radio hits of the Carter Family. Then the autoharp made a comeback - through the radio of all things.

The autoharp and its ilk took a back seat to broadcast music programs for years.

Then the radio came along, and that was even easier to play. Mail-order catalogs listed instruments that 'anybody could play.' But the autoharp and some of its immediate ancestors came the closest to fulfilling that promise. Traveling salesmen hawked similar devices from the East to the West. Autoharp Buyers' Guide, from Riverboat Music (tm)īuyer's Guide for Autoharps - From Riverboat Music(tm),Īutoharps were one of many attempts to bring music into essentially non-musical households that started in mid-to-late 1800s.