Jody/Robbie,  In MMD 971220 Peter Coggins asked about how to configure
36 zither strings into a 30-string Autoharp.  I have replied privately
to Peter.  I don't know whether autoharps really qualify as mechanical
music, so I'll leave it up to you as to whether you want to edit this
for the Digest or not.

Merry Christmas, and thanks for your great work on the MMD.

John Wolff.
Melbourne, Australia

 [ As you and Peter illustrate, fans of Mechanical Music often enjoy
 [ related unusual instruments.  An occasional article like this is
 [ quite welcome.  (I own a zither myself!  The bass tuning resembles
 [ the pattern of the accordion bass.  )  -- Robbie

 - - - - -

Re: Meinhold's Accordzither Autoharp

In MMD 971220 Peter Coggins asked about how to configure 36 zither
strings into a 30-string Autoharp.  I have a little Autoharp book
published in England around 1960, which describes the "Rosen" autoharp
made in Leipzig.  It says the American and "other lesser known makes"
may be different.

The one illustrated in the book has 12 chord bars and 32 strings, which
is neither 30 nor 36!  So it looks like there are many varieties, and
you might have to resort to figuring it out from a bit of music theory.

Anyway, the book lists the chords for Rosen autoharps with 3, 6, 9, and
12 chord bars as:

 3-bar:      C maj   C  E  G  C
             D7      D  F# A  C
             G maj   G  B  D  G

 6-bar adds: E min   E  G  B  E
             A min   A  C  E  A
             B min   B  D  F# B

 9-bar adds: G7      G  B  D  F
             A7      A  C# E  G
             D maj   D  F# A  D

12-bar adds: F maj   F  A  C  F
             D min   D  F  A  D
             F# min  F# A  C# F#

Hope this sheds some light on the model that you have.  If not, you
might have to work backwards from which strings are un-muted by each of
the chord bars, and see if you can figure what they are supposed to be.

Zithers are different.  The fretted or Austrian zither has fretted
bass strings like a guitar, and separate melody strings.  This is the
instrument that Anton Karas made famous in the film "The Third Man".
The "chord zither" has six (or sometimes only four) 4-string chords in
the bass, and two full chromatic octaves of melody strings.

The Tri-ola and my chord zither are both strung the same, with six
major chords - C, G, F, D, A, E - although the Tri-ola strings are an
inch or so longer between the bridges.  I will be needing a set of the
24 bass strings when I get started on the Tri-ola, so I'm on the
lookout for likely sources.

John Wolff.
Melbourne, Australia.