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Old 03-14-2015, 08:48 AM
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stratokatsu stratokatsu is offline
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Default What Have I Got Here

The other day, a neighbor approached me to tell me about a weird instrument she saw at a auction warehouse where she volunteers. People donate things that are auctioned or sold for charity.

This thing isn't in very good shape and I wouldn't know where to get strings for it, but I'm going to clamp the body together where it's separated and turn it into a piece of wall art.

The little metal tool is obviously for tuning and the long wooden rod has some horsehair attached at one end, so presumably it was a bow. It doesn't seem to have an attachment point for the other end of the bowstrings, so I might not be able to fix it.



Here's the label. I'm about to look on the web and see if I can find some history on it.

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Old 03-14-2015, 08:53 AM
Brendan688 Brendan688 is offline
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Default What Have I Got Here

Kind of looks like an Autoharp. Interesting find.
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Old 03-14-2015, 08:58 AM
HHP HHP is offline
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Probably a low cost version of a bowed psaltry.
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Old 03-14-2015, 09:04 AM
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It's called a violin-uke and was apparently made in the 30s by Marxchrome in Michigan. Oscar Schmidt was once involved with the company. With a sticker price of $28.50, this was apparently once of the expensive ones.
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Old 03-14-2015, 09:18 AM
brad4d8 brad4d8 is offline
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You could use a micrometer to determine the string sizes and probably get them as individuals. As to the bow, use a pick until something comes along.
Brad
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Old 03-14-2015, 09:20 AM
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I really don't want to play it. I'd like to remove the strings to clean it up and clamp the body back together, then replace some strings so it looks complete while I hang it on the wall or lay it on a shelf somewhere.
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Old 03-14-2015, 09:36 AM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Cool. How long is it? 10 inches or so?
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Old 03-14-2015, 09:41 AM
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It's 21" long...
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Old 03-16-2015, 09:32 AM
Dulcilo Dulcilo is offline
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There are a lot of these stored away in attics. They were sold door to door on an installment plan, with the promise that anyone could play music. The melody is played with the bow on the outer course of strings and chords can be strummed on the inner strings. In reality--difficult to keep in tune and difficult to make a decent sound with a cheap bow--so most ended up housing mice in attics across the country.
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Old 03-16-2015, 12:21 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dulcilo View Post
There are a lot of these stored away in attics. They were sold door to door on an installment plan, with the promise that anyone could play music. The melody is played with the bow on the outer course of strings and chords can be strummed on the inner strings. In reality--difficult to keep in tune and difficult to make a decent sound with a cheap bow--so most ended up housing mice in attics across the country.
You nailed it. That's exactly what this is. There are a lot of various box harp/box zither type instruments that got sold door to door a hundred years ago, and since very few of them ever got any serious use, there are lots of them cluttering up less expensive antique stores all over the country.

As HHP pointed out, this one is a type of bowed psaltery. But there were even more that looked like autoharps without the chord bars.


whm
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Old 03-16-2015, 12:30 PM
repete repete is offline
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Haha, YES, few of them got any serious use because they were impossible to play!

There is no good reason to restore any of them. They are amusing wall hangers. Growing up we did have a ukelin which was in good enough condition to TRY to play, but it was never a serious instrument.

Finding one with the bow is rare.

-r
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