Autoharp

Before. Note the rusty pegs, the missing strings and general dirty, dusty look.



After. Note the clean, shiny pegs, the bright, full set of strings, the shininess. One little button had to be replaced and Alec didn't have any in a matching size, but that doesn't matter. (I took it outside so the flash wouldn't go off)



People say to me "Oh, you play the harp now, do you?" Well no, I don't play the harp and this isn't a harp. It's like a sort of push button pretend harp. the five bars with the buttons on have long pads on their undersides and these pads have little grooves cut out of them. When you push the button down, the whle pad presses on the strings to silence them - except for the ones where the grooves have been cut. So when a button is held down and you strum or pick, you only sound the notes that are in that chord. The bar pings up again when you let it go as it's on a spring.
This autoharp is pretty basic. It will play five major chords; C, G7, F, C7 and B flat. Most simple tunes have 3 basic chords so you can play lots of easy tunes and you have a choice of key to suit your voice because you could choose to play in C or in F. If the strings slip out of tune, you put a wrench round the pegs and retune them. There is no minor key but you could tune your third note in the major chord to give you a minor. That third would be under a damper in the other chords so that would work OK.
The one being played in the picture has loads more chords than mine has.

Mine has cost me £15 to buy, £250.00 to restore (including new strings and postage and packing) and the custom built tuning wrench costs £35. Quite an outlay.

At office Christmas parties I always have hopes of getting people singing carols but a guitar is too cumbersome to carry. If there is a piano where we are, I can't play that. I could sneak this in a bag then whip it out and say "C'mon!"