BEaWARE before you buy your 1st AUTOHARP. Hal Weeks Stalking the Wild Autoharp
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Let the Buyer Beware
This is a remake of my 2016 classic "Buying an Autoharp for Beginners" updated for 2024.
What are your basic buying choices and how to avoid pitfalls.
Different options available:
The Luthier harp
The Refurbished Vintage harp
The New Harp
The old black Antique
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A couple of weeks ago I found a Korean-made "Chromaharp" 21-chord in immaculate condition for $120 out-the-door at a local thrift shop. Not a scratch on the thing! Plus, a hardshell case. While I'm already a lifelong professional bar-room musician, playing fiddle and harmonica in dance bands since the early 1970's, I took a chance on this instrument on an impulse purchase. I've been studying UA-cam autoharp videos ever since. I've got lots of questions for you! Stand by!
Thanks for watching! Glad to help.
Thank you so much for your practical advice to avoid frustration and expensive pitfalls.
I found a vintage Oscar Schmidt autoharp on varagesale for $85. It's not tuned but maybe that's a good thing. I know nothing about tuning and don't follow notes or anything like that...I just plunk along and make up my own little songs so definitely not needing anything fancy.
However, the case looks really rough so probably not stored adequately.
I am so glad I watched your video first, the red flags were enough for me to make a decision. Had I gone all willy nilly and bought it without doing a bit of research I would most likely have set myself up for disappointment as an unhappy camper on a disability budget to boot.
Due to my health and injuries I am pretty weak now and so when on bed rest it's nice to be able to play things that don't require a lot of effort...like my harmonica, little tank drum, organ piano, mini accordion etc.
If I get to buy an Autoharp one day, I will be better educated on what to look for now :)
So I think I'm heading the Lyre way.
Thank you again for your advice and saving me disappointment. I hope the New Year is good to you all :) Music makes the world go round!
A great video!! I started out with a pre owned OS 21C Chromatic and within a year purchased a d'Aigle Tahoma and no comparison in sound, the d'Aigle aces it!! My plan is to do some work on the OS, lowering the action etc. It had new strings when I got it, I'll replace the felts and recut them to convert it to a diatonic F key harp. The anchor appears to be fine but I'll take the cover off before I start doing anything....Thanks for another terrific & informative video Hal!!
Thanks for checking it out
Im on a very strict budget. I bought a 1970s-era Oscar Schmidt autoharp. It had been sitting in a closet and never played. Its mint and is pretty heavy. Fortunately the strings were loosened before it was put in a closet. It sounds wonderful and is playing well. It was stored in its case. Its a B style and looks a bit like the second one you showed. $125.
Thanks I was wondering about the choices. I have a little ol harp from an attic and it serves me all enough but ill be saving for one of my dreams!
I hope you get one!
I have an Autoharp like the one you're showing at 9:21, only mine has a fine tuner on the front. I have been playing it since 2011 when I bought it new. I really enjoyed playing it. Until a few weeks ago when the 'passive pickup' broke! i would love to get that repaired.
It might need replacing. They often do. The wires are so tiny.
I have a nice luthier made autoharp with a built-in pickup. I recently found that I could use a Katana Go headphone amp with it. So cool, and lots of presets to play with.
MANY good points. When I was doing heavy research for a series of articles, I bought any number of 'harps cheap at auction just to fact-check some of the "urban legends" I found on the internet. Well, I like tinkering, so I restored a few "to playability," reconfigured a couple to make them more "Folk- and Bluegrass-friendly," and so on. But I have to say, if I was a complete newbie and had paid $175 for an instrument that looked good but turned out to need $300 in repairs, I'd have been bitterly disappointed.
Hal, at about what year did the Oscar Schmidt autoharps decline in quality? It would be useful to know when looking for an older model. Your video says "new Oscars" are not worth it, but which year about did that start? Thanks.
Good question! Go for american made. Look for the rectangle or Trapizoid around the logo.
Even without headphones, there is really no comparison sound wise. The top-tier's superior without a doubt
I found a hardware store tool that "might" fit as a tuning key! It's called an "adjustable tap socket" mine is by Irwin.
My t-handle tool is being used on a jr zither, a recent thrift store purchase.
I bought my first autoharp for $175 on consignment. A 15 bar harp with no pickup but I was hooked. Within a week I was playing all kinds of music. My next harp was a second hand Oscar Schmidt with 21 chord bars and a pickup and still under $300. As an ex-guitar player I can only say it is very hard to get decent playable electric guitar for under $300. My final harp would be custom made for me by d'Aigle and that was over $2000, which sounds like a lot but guitarists will tell you that a high-end Gibson Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster will easily run way over that. Autoharps are great value for your money and Oscar Schmidt makes very playable harps for much less than what you would pay for a guitar with similar features.
Did you play something before that? I did. It helped a lot.
Incredible evolution! Could you tell me what drew you to the $2000 autoharp? What are the improvements in the high-end model that you really needed/wanted? For instance, with cycling, very serious bicyclists will get to a point where they ‘need’ the $1000+ bicycle for speed/ergonomics/portability.
Or was it more like a splurge crowning jewel in your collection? Thank you!
You can hear it in the first part of the first strum.
I'm in tears. i bough a Chord Autoharp, the strings are rusty, I'm in the UK and have no idea where i can buy the 32 strings needed, I'm a guitar luthier, and can restore the chord bars and springs, its just the strings AND finding the right tuner. Can you help ?
Hi ya' Hal.... where in the wide world of sports do you think I could find a slotted style tuning key for a very, very old Max Osterode, German made concert zither? My square style ones obviously won't work. Your time and suggestions would be greatly appreciated my friend. Thanking you in advance.
All the best to you and yours,
Michael Nightsong
Hi there. I myself have scoured the internet looking for one. I've restrung 5 concert zithers, and each still had it's tuning key....looks like an old clock winder...and I've seen brass "clock winder style" tuning wrenches but they fit the square lugs like all the other wrenches do. Untill you find one (likely with another zither....you might have to buy another zither just to get the wrench...until you DO find one, you will have to tune with a needlenose vice grips...but set the jaws a little wide and put a shop towel or piece of rubber sheeting between them and the pin so that the grips dont chew up the tuning pin. It's annoying but it works. Good luck to you!
Oh one more thought....keep an eye on Ebay. "Antique zither wrench" or something like that. One of the big problems (as I'm sure you know already) is that everyone calls their modern wrench a zither wrench....which they are. I have no doubt that MODERN ZITHERS are still made in Germany somewhere....but I'm sure that those use the modern, square pegs.....the pins we put in autoharps come to us from Germany...and are called zither pins. So "zither wrench" is an appropriate term for the square wrenches....but you need a VINTAGE or ANTIQUE one. Ebay...and keep checking back.
Hi! Hal, I have question. I live in Canada but
I'm not good at English. Can I buy only chordbuttoms what made of wood?
I realy want it and need it! Help me, please! 🙏
I am considering the beginner package but can’t decide between a right or left handed harp
That's fantastic! You'll love it either way!
@@wildautoharp I really like playing on my lap. I will call when I finally decide
Can I get more information about the bottom line luthier autoharp please ?
Http://www.autoharp.com feel free to contact via phone or email we'd be glad to discuss!
The Oscar ones I only seen on Amazon. They don't sell any different ones.
Hi Hal! I am enjoying your videos and the info that you are sharing with us. I am wondering if there is any way to date an OS15B model? I’m wondering if there is a way to tell a 70s vintage from a newer model? Thank you.
There is but it's very hard to describe the most accurate ways. So the easiest at a glance ways are if the tuning pins are nice and chrome-y looking you've got a newer one. The older ones are usually either flat metal or actually a bit corroded. Short answer.
@@wildautoharp Thanks for the reply, Hal! I am happy to report nice chrome-y tuning pins and a well seated anchor (I know--for now, but will reinforce when we restring and re felt). We have already successfully reinforced another OS15B as per your excellent instruction video. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Again, thank you.
My mom has an OS That looks like the one at 9:21 but without a pickup. she's lost the tuning tool... Is there anything she can use as a replacement? Where would she get it?
check the other comments, please.
my OS 100 autoharp (right handed) is too much for me to play vertically. I have no idea how old it is as it has no serial number. I want a laptop harp. Do you all take trade ins?
More often consignments.
My new Tahoma doesn't sound like that. A lot of the strings that should be resonating sound muted. Don't understand why.
I had to work with the fine tuners to get mine sounding better. Make sure they aren’t sitting too high.
@user-il9oc5tc9i tha k you. I've tuned 3 or 4 times already with the fine tuners, which I understand is needful for new strings settling in, and there seems to have been a little improvement so that may very well be the problem. Thanks so much.
@@geniesmith7319 I just replaced all my strings over Christmas.
Sorry. Finger slipped! They are well stretched by now, but I still do some tuning on the pins. Just make sure there is some pressure on the strings with the fine tuners. It’ll improve.
@@Ellen-n2g thanks so much!
how do I know how old my Schmidt zither is
If it's an autoharp you coud send photos to us at daigle autoharps and maybe we could tell you. If it's some kind of chord zither we couldn't tell you. If you are attempting to determine value I can tell you that even the most rare and most well preserved are worth almost nothing. They are worth less than the time it would take to do the research. Somewhere there is an online archive of all these zither family varieties so you can know what they are and where from but seriously...no value.
Oh no. I just bought one of the Oscar Schmidt that you hate. Great. I’m screwed.
Hopefully you’ll like it
Are you pressing more than one button at a time on that 21-chord autoharp?
No just one. I have another that requires two for every chord. More chords that way but a lot more challenging.
JUST GET A KANTELE-TO HELL WITH IT A kantele (Finnish: [ˈkɑntele])[1] or kannel (Finnish: [ˈkɑnːel]) is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the south east Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with the Estonian kannel, the Latvian kokles, the Lithuanian kanklės, and the Russian gusli.[2]
I love those!