Post by Tony Ravenscroft on May 16, 2023 23:12:50 GMT -6
A practical note. I have a couple of little beasts... but there are drawbacks, so please don't get carried away by my enthusiasms.
First: they are VERY nonstandard! Many of the parts necessary to repair a standard autoharp from a major brand are in relatively good supply and may still be in production, and "parts donors" are scattered all over the place. Not so for the ones that were available for a few years. And new strings may not be available at all, particularly wound strings, which have a wrapped length very specific to the instrument.
Second is consumer demand. At online auctions, 15-bar autoharps can be picked up cheaply, but prices on 21-bar models can spiral up pretty fast. Interestingly, the small "toy" instruments have also picked up some attention, and bidding can get quite fierce.
First: they are VERY nonstandard! Many of the parts necessary to repair a standard autoharp from a major brand are in relatively good supply and may still be in production, and "parts donors" are scattered all over the place. Not so for the ones that were available for a few years. And new strings may not be available at all, particularly wound strings, which have a wrapped length very specific to the instrument.
Second is consumer demand. At online auctions, 15-bar autoharps can be picked up cheaply, but prices on 21-bar models can spiral up pretty fast. Interestingly, the small "toy" instruments have also picked up some attention, and bidding can get quite fierce.
