Autoharp™¹ Repairs and Questions

Arnold M.J. Hennig
Elderly Instruments Repair Dept.

Who Should Repair/Maintain/Customize Your Autoharp?

Many autoharp owners do much of their own work in the maintenance of their instruments. Much of the how-to information is contained in this publication, but each person must evaluate his or her level of skill before attempting to do any repairs or modifications to their instrument. If you do not feel confident about doing the work yourself, I will be more than happy to take care of your instrument's needs at the Elderly Instruments Repair Dept.

Contents

• Who Should Repair/Maintain/Customize Your Autoharp?
• General Info
  • Body Styles and Chord Bar Configurations
  • Strings
  • Replacement parts
  • Is it Better to Renovate or Replace an older instrument?
  • Chord bar options
    • To refelt or not to refelt?
    • Individual Chord Bars and Chord Bar Kits
    • The String Spacing Issue
    • Custom Chord bars
  • Pickups
  • Straps & Strap Buttons
  • How to Tune
    • A Note on the Use of Tuning Wrenches
    • A Note on the Use of Fine Tuners
    • Using Electronic Tuners
    • Touching-up the Strings by Ear
    • Retuning The Autoharp To Pitch by Ear
    • Tuning Method No. 1
    • Tuning Method No. 2
  
  
• How to do...
  • Removing and Replacing the 21-Bar Chord Bar Cover
  • Chord bar refelting
    • Replacing Autoharp Chord Bar Felts, Short Instructions
    • Replacing Autoharp Chord Bar Felts, Long instructions
  • Installing the Chord Bar Conversion kit
    • Removing the old chord bar assembly
    • Installing the new chord bar assembly
    • Conversion Kit Caveats
  • Installing Pickups
  • Restringing Tips
    • A note on tuning:
  
  
• Troubleshooting and Repairs
  • Evaluating an Instrument
  • Common Problems
  
  

  1

  The name Autoharp is a trademark of Oscar Schmidt.

  
  
  Arnold M.J. Hennig
  Elderly Instruments Repair Dept.
  April, 2003