Some time ago, June 8th, 2018 to be precise, I posted here about one of my first “art ‘harps.” That autoharp creation was much like my usual custom instruments but (pun alert) highly decorated with a whimsical, tie-dyed, peace, and counter culture theme. It was quickly scooped up and shipped to a faraway continent where I hope that it is still singing amid the billabongs and coolabah trees.
Moving ahead to 2025, that first Hippy ‘Harp attracted the attention of a musician from New York who performs with autoharp and teaches music and theatre to children. She asked if I could recreate a version of that instrument.
The appearance of the new Hippy ‘Harp is much the same as the original with a peace symbol rosette, tie-dyed paint job, and rainbow colored chord bars. This new version includes a solid cedar soundboard, Daigle fine tuners, and a Schreiber electromagnetic pickup.
What really sets this autoharp apart is the chord bar setup. I had begun building this instrument as a fifteen chord chromatic with the standard setup of major, minor, and seventh chords. At some point in the process I asked the musician if she might be interested in a chord system that I was just learning about, the PRIZIM.
The PRIZIM system was developed by Pennsylvanian autoharpist Loren Todd Crowley et al. With this intriguing design, a greater number of chords can be played by pressing two chord bars at a time. Hippy ‘Harp with standard chromatic tuning and fifteen conventional chord bars is mechanically the same as my other autoharps. The exception that makes this a PRIZIM is the patterns of open note cuts in each of the chord bar felts.
Online PRIZIM chart for 21 chord chromatic autoharp
The PRIZIM system can be adapted to almost any autoharp. Chord charts and cut patterns for twenty-one chord autoharps are available online. Because I was in the middle of building a fifteen chord instrument, I consulted with Loren for advice in using fewer bars. The result was a full compliment of two button chords in the keys of C, G, and D and dozens of combinations.
On paper, the PRIZIM’s unusual (to me) chord names and layout was confusing but once the instrument was set up, I could understand the logical layout and how easy it is to play. Chord names like stars, 6/7s, 9s, and add2s do not appear on any manufactured chord labels. For initial orientation I labeled the bars with basic chord names and provided the musician with a hand drafted chart. The experienced player should quickly grasp the logic of the system and will no longer need rely upon the labels.
For the past 40+ years we have lived in rural Darke County Ohio along the head waters of the Wabash River. From time to time we’ve viewed satelite photos only to see a greyscale images of our wooded three acre property between farm fields and the river reservoir.
This site has been waiting way too long for an update. In the months preceeding the present we have moved from our self-built home and workshop of 40+ years to the home and town that I grew up in. We often quip that we have “downsized” to a bigger house.
We recently visited The American Folk Music School/The National Dulcimer Museum in Trenton, Ohio. There, the owner/director Vickey Lovitt Sasser has curated a wonderful collection of Appalachian Mountain dulcimers and other stringed folk instruments. Spanning generations, over one hundred and thirty instruments tell the stories of dulcimers and their makers with examples from the early 19th century to contemporary builders.
In my travels, I seek out museums that display stringed instruments and am often disappointed at meager offerings that are always behind glass. Here, we spent an enjoyable afternoon with the knowledgeable Ms Sasser examining the numbered instruments and reading about them in corresponding notebooks. Other patrons were sharing stories and some even brought their own acquisitions for Ms Sasser to identify.
Each month the museum spotlights a dulcimer and this month it is one of mine! It seems like only forty-seven years, three months, and sixteen days since I created this all walnut hourglass dulcimer. How time flies! I am honored that one of my early dulcimers shares the museum with those of famous luthiers of the past and present.
My latest commission comes from an autoharp musician/aficionado from New York State requesting a much deeper instrument with more resonance and a richer tone. Early planning was for a three inch depth but we finally settled on a depth of 2-1/2 inches to make an instrument you could really wrap your arms around. The working title became “ED”, standing for extra dimension.
I began with my standard, one piece, pinblock frame which was extended in length to accommodate eighteen chords, an angled anchor bridge, and Daigle fine tuners. I added a 3/4 inch thick spruce spacer around the underside of the frame before attaching the soundboard, laminated back, and curly maple side veneer.
Players with a shorter reach than this musician might find it difficult to play this deeper autoharp comfortably. To make the instrument narrower, I built it without the curved treble side that usually adds an inch of width. That, with lower chord bar covers, makes it easier to reach the buttons with the left hand.
The solid cedar soundboard features an oval soundhole to round out the rich tone. The benefit of this deeper body with its larger internal capacity is greater volume and longer sustain.
Having thirty-seven strings, this autoharp is set up in the single diatonic key of A. The eighteen chord bars are alternating natural maple and painted black. The musician wanted, of course, the chords in the key of A but also alternative chords that would have an ethereal feeling. For this he sought the advice of Jo Ann Smith who designs expert chord layouts and charts for cutting each individual chord. Ordinarily, a single key can be covered nicely with eight or ten chords. This instrument has fifteen chords with three additional blank bars to be cut when determined later.
The solid spruce soundboard is colored with a blue aniline dye and decorated with a self adhesive overlay that features two dolphins leaping from the sea. The painted chord bars are profiled to resemble waves and the curly maple trim is dyed to match.
The Okoume laminated back is painted using fish net as a stencil. A small soundhole/carry hole is decorated with a sort of alien jellyfish.
The happy owner, Rene St. Aubin, collected his new instrument at The Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering which takes place each year at a university in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. An exciting feature of the Gathering is the MLAG Autoharp Championship Contest. US and international autoharp musicians travel there to compete in this juried competition. This year Rene was a contender.
Here is a custom autoharp commissioned by a Michigan based musician who is also an Oscar Schmidt dealer. Her Etsy site, WellsPlace, features customized new and used autoharps, therapy harps and autoharp parts and accessories.
Her new personal instrument is a thirty-seven string two key diatonic in the keys of C and G. The fifteen maple chord bars alternate in colors from natural to stained maple.
A laser cut rosette trims the soundhole. The dragonfly is, to date, the most popular choice and has appeared on more than a dozen of my instruments.
Included are C and G lock bars that can be swapped into the array as needed. The four blank chord bars and extra felt can be cut for additional chords as needed.
The Phonoharp Company’s Marxophone was an early 20th century fretless zither that was played with a system of spring steel hammers. The instrument played two octaves in the key of C. Typically, the right hand would play paired melody strings with the individual hammers and the left hand would strum four sets of accompanying chords. A single tap of a hammer would produce a single note. By holding the hammer down, the hammer would bounce on the string pair producing a mandolin type tremolo.
Unlike the Marxophone, this instrument was to have no chords, only the hammered melody strings. While the Marxophone had two octaves tuned to a diatonic scale in the key of C, this instrument has three octaves tuned chromatically from C3 to C6. Being diatonic, the Marxophone had a single row of “keys”. This chromatic instrument has two rows set up somewhat like a piano keyboard with the bottom row for the naturals and the top row for the sharps.
Oh My!…. now the hammers….designing them was the most difficult tedious issue here involving countless hours of “trial and error” to achieve the desirable degree of “bounce” and a more consistent feel between the two rows of keys. Coils and coils of spring steel were evaluated for their flexibility and resiliance. Dozens and dozens of hammers died in the quest to success. A complete two octave prototype instrument was sent to the musician for evaluation. Sound files were sent and finally the problem of bounce was solved.
The hammer heads are slices of 5/8″ oak rod. The full length of spring steel for each hammer is 3/8″ wide by .005″ thick. Five thousands inch thick spring steel of this width is so flexible that it makes me think….. “thick foil”. To remedy some of the droop, it’s reinforced underneath by a section of .008 that is terminated just beyond the key.
The strong, one piece maple pinblock frame is backed with 6mm Okoume plywood. A carbon fiber soundboard has a (pun alert!) striking appearance as well as sound. The sides, bridges, covers, keys, and trim are curly soft maple.
The musician is invested in cryptocurrency, particularly in Bitcoin. A clavier is a keyboard instrument with strings.
The back side reveals a QR-code. To show their appreciation, event participants can scan and tip with Bitcoin.
This conversion is a pristine Oscar Schmidt model B with the chord bars removed. Because the new tuning schedule differs from the standard chromatic scale, a new schedule was calculated and a string set made for the precise diameters and tensions of each pitch.
The poplar soundboard and eight chord bars are colored burgundy with black for the remaining components. The finish is completed with several coats of satin lacquer.
A laser cut soundhole rosette is colored to resemble the Philodice butterfly that she uses as an online icon and identity.
This twenty-three string diatonic in the keys of G and D is tuned from A3 to D6.
Eight chord bars are carried upon combs with Delrin bases and #6 steel pins. This is an improvement over the slotted holders used in the past.
Fret Or Fret Not 
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