Autoharp

[MaineGeezer]

I'll put this under "Anything Else" because it sure doesn't have anything to do with building guitars.

About 8-10 years ago I saw an autoharp at a local flea market for $25. I figured I could get at least $25 worth of amusement out of it, so I bought it. And it's sat around collecting dust ever since.

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The other day I decided it had probably stabilized in its new environment sufficiently ;-) and it was time I did something with it. I think it's an early model autoharp. It has only 12 chord bars (newer ones have up to 21 chord bars), it has small round pushbuttons, and the construction is a bit on the crude side.

The selection of chords and their layout puzzled me. I looked on the internet, and found some discussions of chord layout on an autoharp. Those descriptions were for 21-bar autoharps, but I decided the concept could be applied to 12 bars as well.

I couldn't figure out which keys it was intended to play in, but it didn't seem to be what I wanted. With only 12 chord bars you can't get too extravagant, but I finally decided on this layout, 3 rows of 4 chords each:

C G D A
G7 D7 A7 E7
Am Em Bm F#n

That will let me play in G, D, and A, and a bit of C. Seven of the chord bars I can use as-is, but I have to cut new felts for 5 of them. I hope the old felt on the bars I want to keep still has the proper hardness to work.

[Skarsaune]

I've been gifted one of those, needing repair, from my wife's family.


It's still in the closet. Might be a while before I get to it.

[JLT]

I had one of those for a while, but since I didn't play it very often I donated it to Autoharp Angels:

https://daigleharp.com/autoharpangels.html

They have a very good reputation in the autoharp community.