Making Your Autoharp Folk- and Bluegrass-Friendly

Oscar Schmidt autoharps trace their lineage back to German immigrants who wanted their instruments to be useful for brass band or piano-based music (think Polkas and Tin Pan Alley). Consequently, their instruments aren't as useful for guitar-based music (like Folk and Bluegrass) as they could be.

For example, they have chords like Eb and F7 that no one who plays along with fiddlers, banjo-pickers, and acoustic guitarists will ever need. And they leave out chords like E major and B minor that they are likely to need. (Yes, Sarah and Maybelle Carter played autoharps in the world's most famous string band, but they mostly played in C - the 'harps they had access to couldn't play in guitar-friendly keys like D, A, or E.)

What about "Just Buying One"? - Some folks for whom time or money is no object simply try to track down autoharps that are already set up for guitar-friendly keys. Unfortunately, as our article "Folk- and Bluegrass-Friendly Autoharps explains, such autoharps are hard to find, or hard to afford, or - in some cases - both.

What about Tweaking the One You Have (or Can Afford)? - Why not replace some of those trumpet-friendly chords like Ab, Eb, and Bb7 with guitar-friendly chords? The answer is that many people have already done just that.

If you already have an autoharp, don't despair - especially if it's a 21-key Oscar Schmidt - they're very easy to update. Chromaharps and 15-key 'harps are a little more complicated, but still doable.

The first part of this article contains suggestions for making 21-chorders more folk-friendly. Further down, we have some suggestions for reconfiguring 15-chorders, but many folks who attempt that also consider making their autoharps "diatonic." That is, they retune some of the strings they'll never use in Folk, Bluegrass, or Country to double other strings that they WILL use. This means that instead of - technically - playing in five or more keys, they can only play in 1-3, but they support those keys very well, while sounding fuller than they did before. For more information on diatonic autoharps, check out our article "What is a Diatonic Autoharp?."

For more information about the chords that come standard on new Autoharps, check out our article Autoharp Factory Tunings.

Reconfiguring OS21s for Folk and Bluegrass Playing

Some folks completely rearrange the chords to make the whole setup more useful. Some keep the basic setup and just skootch things over a little.

Tweaking or Replacing Chord Bars - Whatever approach you use, you're likely to need new chord bars or to buy new felt and reconfigure the bars you own.

As of this writing (April, 2024), Elderly music, in Michigan, offers new OS-21-compatible chord bars and chord bar buttons for E major, Bm and F#m.

You can simply chose and remove three chords you don't think you'll ever need, rearrange the chords any way you think is best, and add the new chord bars back into the mix.

This week, the combination costs about $43, with most of the cost being the new chord bars.

If you have an Oscar Schmidt Model 73C, you'll probably have to order chord bar blanks and notch the felts yourself - the string spacings are a little different. Clicking on the picture to the right will bring you to a .pdf file that shows exactly how to do that.

You Can Make Minor or Major Changes to Your Autoharp

If you already know your OS21 very well and all you need is to gain some guitar-friendly chords (like E major, Bm, and F#m) at the expense of chords you'll never play, there's a fairly simple suggestion at this link. This approach can even be used on Chromaharp 21s.

If you want to go to a more complex upgrade that many people find more useful in the long run, consider the Bryan Bowers/Americana conversion just a few lines down.

We also have some suggestions for reconfiguring 15-chorders further down.

"Gotchas When Working on Oscar Schmidt 21-Chorders" - I will repeat this elsewhere, but you need to keep in mind:

• The chord bar buttons are not attached permanently to the chord bars, so it's easy to lose track of which chord bar is which. When you remove ANY chord bar from an OS 21-chorder, write the chord name down on the side of the bar with a Sharpie. Immediately.

• Springs can stick to the chord bars as you pick them up, even if you're careful. Be very careful that the springs stay in place. (And don't do this over shag carpet.)

• The chord bars have a slot on one end and a hole on the other. Watch carefully how they go. When you are marking a new chord bar, make certain you have it facing the right way as you mark it.

Bryan Bowers/Americana Conversion

Decades ago, autoharp virtuouso Bryan Bowers came up with a different setup that is both more logical and more guitar-friendly. Countless harpers have made the same conversion since.

Responding to popular demand, Oscar Schmidt introduced a new model - the Americana, which essentially uses Bryan's setup.

The Americana leaves off Ab, Bb7, and Cm and adds E major, Bm, and F#m.

Unfortunately Americanas are not cheap, as you'll see if you click on this link to Amazon.

Don't despair, you can convert any existing OS 21-chorder for $50 or less if you do the work yourself.

Advantages of "Bowers" Configuration - Now that I've been playing autoharp a bit more, I see the advantages of this setup. If you are playing in F, C, G, D, or A, the chords related to each song key are in the same relative position. So if you are used to playing a song in D, say, and someone wants to play it it C, you can simply move your left hand two buttons over, and everything else is the same.

(By the way, most custom autoharp manufacturers, like d'Aigle Autoharps use this setup on their 21-chorders, unless you request a different one.)

To show the difference between the standard 21-button autoharp and the Bryan Bowers setup as implemented by Oscar Schmidt's Americana, we have two little charts.

Reconfiguring or Replacing Chord Bars - Once again, if you want to save the maximum amount of money, you can order new felt and re-felt the chord bars you are removing. Suppliers like D'Aigle autoharps, Elderly Music, and Autoharpstore.com offer felt in different lengths, although their stock comes and goes, so you may need to shop around.

Or for a few dollars more, you can order chord bar "blanks" with uncut felt installed.

Some vendors in the past have even supplied chord bars precut for E major, Bm, and F#m, but the string spacing on OS autoharps varies a little from year to year, so this wasn't always a guaranteed solution. I have used precut chord bars from Elderly on one OS21 successfully, but on another, nearly identical OS21C, they didn't work - that 'harp's strings were a quarter of an inch away from standard.

Again, if you're reconfiguring an OS73C, you'll need to order chord bar blanks and notch them yourself, because the string spacing is different. )

However you proceed, please remember the "gotchas" I listed above, especially the one about labeling each chord bar as you take it off the 'harp.

Replacing Chord Bar Buttons - Several vendors have offered replacement chord bar buttons, including buttons for chords like E major, Bm, and F#m. I have gotten them from Elderly in the past, though their stock comes and goes, so you may need to shop around. You might be able to print them on your 3D printer eventually.

Obviously, if you can't get the new buttons, you can buff off the old chord name and write the new name on. It's your 'harp, after all.

There's a little more information under the "Ordering Stuff You Need" and "Disassembling the Autoharp" sections below.

Deciding Which Chords to Remove - Many people who use Bryan Bowers' overall recommendations tweak it to their liking. For example, on my OS73C reconfiguration, I kept Cm and removed Eb. (Some old-time banjo pickers play "Shady Grove" in Cm, and I couldn't imagine sitting that one out.)

Come to think of it, maybe I should remove F7 instead. That way I could still play in Bb if it ever came up. Since I saved the old chord bars, swapping in and out is no big deal.

In fact, some professional 'harpers keep a stash of extra chord bars with them, in case a gig requires chords they don't usually keep installed.

Simplest Folk Chord Addition for 21-Chorders

If you're already quite used to playing on the standard OS 21-chord configuration, we have a suggestion that allows you to keep most of the same chord bar relationships while losing useless chords and gaining chords you need.

If you have a Chromaharp 21-chorder, this approach might be your best bet.

That said, relatively few folks opt for this approach, so we've moved it to another page here.

Reconfiguring 15-chorders

If you're fine with keeping 15 chords, you have the choice of keeping as many of the existing chord bars as you can, and just refelting the ones for the replacement chords. Or you could just refelt them all. You also have the option of converting your autoharp to diatonic, as described here.

The graphic below shows an example of a rechording project that seeks to save a maximum of the existing chord bars, while retaining the ability to play in F, C, G, D, and A. If you want to try this or use it as a starting point, click on the graphic and download the full-sized Excel spreadsheet.

Chromaharp Note - The strings on a Chromaharp are just a little closer together than they are on an Oscar Schmidt, so if you are refelting a Chromaharp, mark the location of the existing notches to help you gauge where you are putting the new ones.

The example below trades the ability to play in F for the ability to play in E. It also assumes that you don't mind cutting a few more felts. On the bright side, its chord arrangement is a little more intuitive.

Also, don't assume my plans are the best - I used them because they suited most of my needs, not because it was perfect. Look at Bob Lewis' suggestions and any others you can find.

Note: - The following sections will be fleshed out with photos and details as I get time to do the reconfiguration(s) I am contemplating. In the meantime, please refer to the links above, especially Wendy Grossman's account for more tips and details.

Ordering Stuff You Need

By the way, 15-chorders tend to use 1/4"x1/4" felts. 21-chorders use narrower felts, such as 3/16" X 7/32". Make certain you order the right felt for your 'harp.

I would hold off on replacing strings until I heard the thing cleaned up and tuned up. For most of the 1900s, autoharps were strung with what was basically piano wire. And most of it has held up great. Most of the newer harps seem to still have good strings as well.

Whether I needed springs or anything else wouldn't necessarily be obvious until I got into things.

Disassembling the Autoharp

If you make a point of not losing the springs, disassembly is pretty easy. Remove the screws that hold down the cover at each end and very carefully remove the chord bars one at a time.

Note: If you are disassembling a 21-chorder, write the name of the chord on the side of the chord bar in magic marker. The chord bar buttons are not permanently attached, and it's too easy to separate the buttons and the chord bars, no mattor how careful you try to be.

Removing the Felts

If you have any bars that will get the felt back exactly where it was, save yourself some hassle by marking the gaps before you remove the felt. Then, to replace the felt on those bars, you can simply cut the felt segments and stick them on.

Replacing the Felts

Wendy made her spreadsheet so it lined up exactly with her strings. (If that link doesn't work try this one. She also made a line every quarter of an inch on the underside of each bar (making sure those lines straddled the strings when the bar was set back in place). Then she used the spreadsheet to figure out exactly how long to make each segment of felt.

Rassembling

Conclusion

In the meantime, please contact us with any questions at all - reader questions are the main thing that drivers our research, so we're always happy to hear from you.

Best of luck!

Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you enjoy your music and figure out how to make enjoyable music for those around you as well.

And please stay in touch!

- Paul

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