So while I'm laid up
I've started on a project that I can do while siting down.

Long ago when I was young and rode a mastodon to school every morning, I used to visit an old fellow who lived in a massive Victorian house. (I lived in the middle of nowhere with no kids my age around, so I got to know a lot of the old retired types pretty well.) One of the things he had in there was an ancient autoharp, which fascinated me to no end. He let me play with it once in a while, but it was drastically out of tune and had been sitting there for years- I have no idea where he got it from or why he had it, but there it sat on a shelf.

After he died his estate was tied up in legal limbo for many years. When the dust settled the women who inherited his house decided to restore it to its original glory, and has been doing so beautifully. When I learned of this I dropped by one day and introduced myself, and told her of my visits to the old guy, and she took my on a tour of the house. It was almost exactly as I remembered it, only she had had the decay and broken things repaired. I was ecstatic to see the wonderful job she had done with it, and told her how happy it made me to see the care she had taken with it.

And then I spotted a pile of stuff off to one side, odds and ends that she was trying to decide what to do with. Right in the middle of it was the autoharp. I asked her if she would be willing to sell it, and she hesitated because she wanted to check with her relatives first. I agreed to stop by in a couple of days. Long story short, I bought it from her for $50 (which I'm told was far too generous for this particular instrument). It may seem silly, but it's a tangible part of my childhood.

It had been neglected and abused over the years. At one point some idiot had tried to put the back on it again with finishing nails, and one of the little screws that held on the bars was replaces with a large wood screw. But I know a guy who repairs instruments, and after a bit of discussion he agreed to repair it.

Much as I love the guy, he's frustrating at times- he had it for years and never really finished the job. He managed to get the back off of it, steamed it flat, glued it back together and attached it and refinished the back. He was going to change all of the felt pads, but never quite got that far. So now the bars don't quite work, but the main part of the instrument is restored.

My task is now to finish fixing the bars. He removed the felt pads from one of them, so I need to completely replace those, but he left the rest intact. I have to replace a few bits of those, but nothing major. I've replaced the tiny steel screws that held it together with new brass ones that won't rust so if I need to repair it later I can get it apart easily.

After that I need to get a tuning wrench for it and figure out how to play it. As it's one of the earliest ones made, the keys involve little slides to get different effects and chords from it rather than being like the 21 bar type you get today. It's not exactly straightforward.

Here's a good picture of an identical one: www.fretlesszithers.com/autoharp.html Go down to the 4 bar type, which is No. 3. Mine is the one shown on the far right, a No. 3 Type 2, circa 1890.

This should keep me busy for a while.
( Wanderer, Mon 29 Mar 2010, 17:39, 4 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

very cool
autoharps sound great, and they're quirky enough that you don't have to be a master player to entertain
i hope you find enough resources on the web to figure out how to play it
( mictoboy shitting in your cunt since, Mon 29 Mar 2010, 18:52, Reply)

I've found
clips on YouTube of a woman named Jo Ann Smith who explains something of the technical aspects of playing one. Pretty informative, if not exactly entertaining.

If I can get this thing to live again I'll be very pleased with myself.
( Wanderer, Mon 29 Mar 2010, 18:57, Reply)

Your story made me fuzzy
I hope you get it sorted and learn to play it.
( Peej, Mon 29 Mar 2010, 21:04, Reply)

I'm part of the way there.
I've spent some time today calling around to music shops, but as it's not exactly a mainstream instrument and isn't really considered a "proper" instrument, some of them were outright rude. But on another website I posted my tale and a fellow there pointed me toward the website of a guy a few hours from here who specializes in them.

One of the women I spoke to today did give me a good tip, though. She told me to get a clock key to tune it with instead of trying to find an actual wrench. So I got my daughter to drive me to a junk store, where I bought the one with the biggest handles that fit it. (The woman kept trying to talk me into prettier ones, but I wanted this one to give me better leverage for finer tuning.)

I now just need to get some new felt for the pads and put it back together. With luck it will be finished in a day or two.
( Wanderer, Mon 29 Mar 2010, 23:43, Reply)