Is it OK to talk about autoharps here???

[Gypsyblue]

Just curious if we have any serious autoharp players here. I love the autoharp and have four old Oscar Schmidt Appalachian harps. All of mine started out as chromatic harps but I restrung then and had custom chord bars made for use with diatonic tunings so each of my harps is devoted to only one or two keys. If I want to play in G I put down my F harp and play my G harp. Diatonic tuning results in a much richer tone than we're used to hearing from an autoharp (similar to a 12 string guitar vs. a 6 string guitar) because if the harp is tuned for only one key or two keys instead of many keys, you end up with a lot of extra strings that can now be tuned in pairs. Like most modern autoharp players, I studied what Bryan Bowers did to his customized George Orthey harps and then adapted that to my own harps - with a few changes to get some chords that I wanted to hear but which weren't normally available: the B7 chord in the key of G for example. Anyways, I apologize if this topic is way out of place here. Just seemed like with the love for acoustic music here, there might be some kindred spirits who play the autoharp and that it might be fun to talk with them about their preferences and what not.

[cotten]

Yes, it's OK to talk about autoharps here, though I'll move the discussion from "General Acoustic Guitar Discussion" to "Open Mic." I use autoharps mainly with children, and the standard tuning and chord bars are amazingly flexible. I have a music therapist friend who uses them with her developmentally challenged clients, some of whom are able to either strum or push the buttons.

I'm fascinated, though, by the changes you're talking about, and have some questions.
1. Where does one go to get custom chord bars, or the materials to make them?
2. When you mention string pairs, do you mean pairs in octaves as the lower notes of a 12-string guitar, or unisons?
3. In making such a G autoharp for instance, which chords would you select, and why?
4. Are some brands of autoharps more suitable for changes like these than others?

But another question would be is there a web site with instructions on refurbishing old autoharps with new strings, pads, buttons, etc.? Good suppliers?

Thanks - I have a feeling that you and I will not be alone in this conversation!

cotten

[Gypsyblue]

Originally Posted by cotten

I'm fascinated, though, by the changes you're talking about, and have some questions.
1. Where does one go to get custom chord bars, or the materials to make them?
2. When you mention string pairs, do you mean pairs in octaves as the lower notes of a 12-string guitar, or unisons?
3. In making such a G autoharp for instance, which chords would you select, and why?
4. Are some brands of autoharps more suitable for changes like these than others?

But another question would be is there a web site with instructions on refurbishing old autoharps with new strings, pads, buttons, etc.? Good suppliers?

Thanks - I have a feeling that you and I will not be alone in this conversation!

cotten

Thanks! You can learn a lot about these diatonic mods from watching the Bryan Bowers DVD: Bryan Bowers Autoharp Techniques. And from watching and listening to Bryan playing: http://www.last.fm/music/Bryan+Bowers

1. George Orthey is the man when it comes to handbuilt autoharps. http://www.ortheyautoharps.com/ He makes the finest autoharps. Buck Lumbert makes some nice harps and sells his chord bars separately and his are what I use. http://www.lumbert.net/chordbars.shtml

2. You tune pairs in unison. If you're converting a chromatic harp capable of playing in many keys to a diatonic harp capable of playing in only one or two keys you'll end up with many unused strings. So you tune those unused strings in unison with the string next to it. So in a "G" diatonic harp you'll typically double up the notes in the G, C, D and Em chords. On mine, I have some of the G, B, C, D and E notes doubled up in unison. Makes for a huge sound and a much richer tone.

3. I copied Bryan Bowers harps to get started. My G harp only plays in the key of G and has the richest tone because I had more strings available to double up. 12 strings are doubled. My C/F harp plays in the keys of C and F and has only 8 strings doubled. My third harp plays in the keys of D, A and E and has only 3 strings doubled. I prefer the tone of my C/F and G harps because more strings are doubled. As far as chord choices, when you buy your new bars you cut the felt yourself and decide for yourself what chords you need to play the music you want to play. My G harp has only 9 bars: G, C, D, Am, Em, Bm, B7, D7 and a partial A7 without the third because there's no C# strings on the harp. But that partial A7 chord allows me to play most of the important chords in the key of D on my G harp if I want to.

4. Most of us play 60's and 70's Oscar Schmidts, unless we can afford Orthey, or other handmade harps. I can't - I'd rather put that money into another guitar! I avoid the Chromaharp copy cat harp from the same era. Just brand loyalty I guess, but Oscars are kind of the Martin guitars of the autoharp world. I like the Appalachian model like Mother Maybelle played.

I wouldn't order custom chord bars to start with. Instead I'd study Bryan Bowers video and copy his set up onto my current harp with the stock chord bars and just refelt them. You can buy the felt from some of the venders listed here, some of whom sell on Ebay: http://www.autoharp.org/

Also, if you Google "Diatonic Autoharp" you'll find some articles on converting your harp to diatonic and also a link for a book by George Foss which also helped me get started.

For me, hearing Bryan Bowers was what made me want to convert my harps to diatonic tuning.

[bluesbassdad]

For most of my life I regarded the autoharp as a toy.

Then I discovered the music of Harvey Reid. He changed my mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIRdx-vSrTA

[Larry Pattis]

Yes, Bryan Bowers!

Master autoharpist, story-teller extraordinaire!

[cotten]

Thanks for the information, Goldenbird. Very interesting! I need to learn more about autoharps, and making music with them. Now to go explore those links...

cotten

[Gypsyblue]

Originally Posted by cotten

Thanks for the information, Goldenbird. Very interesting! I need to learn more about autoharps, and making music with them. Now to go explore those links...

cotten

Thanks! This is a must have: http://www.amazon.com/Autoharp-Owner.../dp/0786658835 Mary Lou Orthey and George Orthey put this book together. Covers a lot of ground including the chromatic to diatonic conversions I mentioned. It also covers the way different players re-arrange their chord bars. The Bryan Bowers system is where it's at for me.

[Sprinter]

We played auto-harps in music class when I was in 5Th & 6Th grade. They were fun. That was back in the mid 70's. I bet they don't play them in music class these days.

Sprinter

[martinedwards]

I got one from freecycle a few months back. two broken strings.....

a new set is about $70!!!!!

[WmRob]

I've played them before and enjoy them occasionally.

I work in a music store and when one comes in for re-stringing I want to slit my wrists.

More power to those who can play them well.

[RichardNH]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I recently acquired an autoharp and all the felt is missing from the chord bars. Is there a tutorial out there to re-felt from scratch? This will be a work in progress, I have no idea how to play one of those contraptions but sure I can learn a few tunes on it. I'm just a "dubber" guitar player with a Washburn 12-string that I play occasionally. Thanks for any input, and have a great 2018.

[frankmcr]

Move this thread to "Other stringed instruments" forum?

[cotten]

Hi Richard, welcome to the AGF! An autoharp discussion from 6 years ago will be fun! Can you tell us about which particular autoharp you have? The reason is that the chord bars can be replaced, but need to be specific to your particular instrument. For instance: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Oscar-Schmi...item3f8e371f43 or https://www.ebay.com/itm/Oscar-Schmi...item4d6814c117

It might be cheapest to find an old one like yours but in bad shape and cannibalize it - often the chord bars are still good long after the body is cracked and broken beyond repair.

Good luck with this project. Sounds like fun to me.

cotten

[cotten]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

Move this thread to "Other stringed instruments" forum?

(Yes, the AGF was organized a bit differently when this thread began back in February of 2011, and today a Moderator may well move this thread there.)

cotten

[Bilban]

Very quietly