#Best autoharp value plus#

Don't let the light weight and low price of this autoharp fool you. Lock bars and a magnetic pickup can be added for an extra charge. The Heartland Autoharp features 15 chord bars with polished Osage Orange buttons, fine tuners, and a durable satin finish so you don't have to worry about taking it to the outdoor jam. It has a bright, sweet sound and a loud voice. For more information, call (260) 249-5561 or email Ken today! T he HEARTLAnD Autoharp A more affordable autoharp from Whippoorwill Acoustics! Designed to Jo Ann SmithвЂ™s specifications, this all solid wood autoharp has a Cherry top (Jo AnnвЂ™s favorite tone wood) and a Spruce back. IвЂ™ll post my assessment of the sound after it is completed. Ovangkol is a very dense, hard wood, so it may indeed have a sound similar to that of Rosewood. The back is Adirondack Spruce, the spruce used in premium guitars. A21076 has an Ovangkol top and Brazilian Tigerwood trim. Check our YouTube Channel to hear some other Whippoorwill autoharps. Ovangkol is supposed to sound like Rosewood, but internet statements about the sound of Ovangkol are inconsistent. We will soon be completing an Ovangkol autoharp, just in time for Christmas. The Whippoorwill Autoharp We currently do not have any Whippoorwill autoharps in stock. While Heartlands do not undergo acoustical testing, the Heartland bracing geometry was developed from acoustical tests on the Whippoorwill autoharps, giving the Heartland a similar voice. The Heartland is a more affordable autoharp with a Cherry top, 15 chord bars, and a musical instrument grade polyurethane finish. All Whippoorwill autoharps undergo testing in our acoustics lab in order to optimize bracing and sound hole placement during construction. The Whippoorwill is our flagship model and features premium top woods, up to 21 chord bars, a French polish finish and other top-end cosmetic features. We offer two different autoharp models: the Whippoorwill and the Heartland. If you donвЂ™t see exactly what you want there, see the section below about ordering your own custom-built autoharp. A magnetic pickup can be added to any autoharp in stock for an extra charge. Customizing the chords and chord bar layout to your specific desires is included in the purchase price. Every Whippoorwill Acoustics autoharp comes with fine tuners, tuning wrenches, a really nice gig bag, a string schedule, and instructions for taking care of your autoharp. Why would you want to hide the beautiful hardwood by putting it on the back of the autoharp? Spruce is beautiful in its own way, but it is much more subtle than that of the hardwoods. Musicians have found that Autoharps with a spruce back tend to have more even sound quality across the different octaves than those with a spruce top. The backs of ourВ autoharpsВ are generally spruce, a softwood, while the tops are usually hardwood. Unlike guitars, autoharps have a front/back symmetry that permits the plates to be swapped. Like many acoustic instruments, autoharps have a softwood plate and a hardwood plate. Whippoorwill Acoustics autoharps sound great in all keys, so there is no need to do anything during construction to вЂњtuneвЂќ the body to a certain note or key. However, I would be happy to build you an autoharp with either voicing. My personal preference is for the balanced voicing, so that is what I usually build. The second voicing gives a better balance of bass to treble notes, and minimizes the dead string noise (the clack that you get when accidentally plucking a string that is damped by the felt). The first voicing gives a very bright voice to the autoharp and produces excellent note separation. In my acoustical experiments, I have discovered that it is possible to voice the autoharp in two different ways by carefully positioning the braces and sound hole.

Limiting the number of notes allows many of the notes in each scale to be doubled, giving a diatonic autoharp a louder and fuller sound than a chromatic autoharp.

#Best autoharp value plus#

Diatonic autoharps only play in a limited number of related keys, usually three or less, and have strings tuned to the seven, eight, or nine notes found in the major scales of those keys (think only the white keys of the piano, or white keys plus one or two black keys). Chromatic autoharp strings are tuned to the 12-note chromatic scale (think of all the black and white keys on the piano), often have 21 chord bars and typically can play in as many as seven keys.

Hope to see you there in 2022! Autoharps come in two varieties, depending on the scale to which the strings are tuned: chromatic and diatonic. Congratulations to Steve Luper, who selected the Curly Hickory Whippoorwill autoharp as his prize in 2021. Autoharps Whippoorwill Acoustics is proud to have sponsored the International Autoharp Championship at the Walnut Valley Festival.