Anchors Away: Oscar Schmidt design flaw, fix it or lose it. 

Thank you so much for sharing this, Hal! I have read about doing this before, but as a visual learner, I didn't feel prepared to do it without seeing it done. This is invaluable!

Thank you so much for this info. I'm going to have a luthier friend of mine help me. I have a 1979 Oscar Schmidt B model that I bought for $65 off ebay!! The sound is amazing!! You are so right, they sound so much better than the newer harps. In fact, when I was a beginner and taking lessons, my teacher offered to trade me her new harp for my old harp and I turned her down and I'm so glad I did! Thanks again for the information.

Thanks for this important info. I just picked a "Model B" harp couple of weeks ago, that was dropped by it's past owner, and had damage on both it's face and back sections. I easily corrected the face issues, with no problem, but there is a long crack in the back section, where it hit an object. To repair this, I'll need to remove, or loosen up the strings to get inside, and apply a few cleats. I checked the bridge and no signs of problems with the issue to showed, and stated, has occurred yet. It is an Oscar Schmidt harp, and while I have the harp's strings loosened off to repair it's back crack, I will take no chances and make the modification shown in this video, so this isue doesn't occur on my harp in the future. I have 3 other harps, but they all are designed differently at the bridge area, so I see no issues regarding what you have shown here with them, but I will still keep a careful watch just the same, for issues that might occur. I picked this damaged Model B harp up for $50 at a second hand store, and it sounds great when strummed, after it's face repair. I'll both repair the long crack, from the bump it got, and repair the issue you stated in your video at the same time. This harp, and all my other harps, will outlast my lifetime, as with all my stringed instruments, that get a lot of TLC.. Thanks for the video.

Thanks, Hal. I have a B model in what seems to be pretty good shape; in fact, I now have TWO B models, having bought a second one from a thrift store this morning: it's top is dished a 1/4 inch at the lowest spot, so I'm guessing it's toast....but it has a lot of good parts on it (even strings in better shape than mine) so I now have a practise shot at this repair before I do it to the precious... Appreciate your how-to, as there is no way I could afford to get it down to D'Aigle, and a good autoharp is a terrible thing to waste.

Thanks Hal! I'm really glad to see that you have this whole process on video. It does look scary! I'll muster up my courage but only after watching multiple times. There's a lot of note-taking to do to get this right, and I'd rather watch a video while taking notes than getting it wrong.

Thank you Hal Weeks. Very informative. Since I just bought a used autoharp I will be looking for this problem once I get the delivery tomorrow or Thursday. Hopefully it shows no signs of this damage. I just need it to get me through a year so I can upgrade. Cheers.

Ugh! Seeing the Dremel sink into the wood gave me some serious anxiety. Theoretically, I understand what is what. It just looks scary.

Thank you! Your video was helpful! We were able to reinforce an OS15B model using your video and drill bits rather than routing with a Dremel and it came out great. It had very little warping but since it was a thrift shop find, it was a good trial piece and now it plays very nice. I have another OS15B that is not warped at all and we’ll keep and eye on it and reinforce when we get a new set of strings for it. These two harps seem to be about the same age (1970s?) but one has wooden feet and the other has black plastic. Back around 1971, I bought a brand new OS15B and the finish was much darker than these. Does the lighter finish date these as newer? Again, thank you for a great tutorial.

From a mechanical physics perspective, the string anchor appears to act as a lever. Therefore, the force could be decided by the distance from the fulcrum's location and the ratio from each side. My first impression is that the part of the string anchor that lies on the top should have been longer, depending on the type of wood chosen. I expect those are chosen by resonance and not by strength.

Wow! if you can fix an OS you are truely a genuis

I’ve been very attracted to learning how to play Autoheart. I am a musician already. What brand or type of autoharp Do you suggest?

Conveniently, I was trying to figure out what the heck to call that thing.

Very helpful & vital information! Thanks Hal!

Perfekt! Welchen Tonabnehmer verwenden Sie? BG MR

I might add Hall, my oldest harp was made back in the early 1930's, and is in super playing condition.

Hi Hal, thank you for the great fixing tutorial. In the description it says that this issue is most common with B model autoharps, however in the video you show an example of issue on a C model. So C model has the same failure rate as the B model then? Asking as I just ordered my first autoharp which is a OS21C so not sure if I can expect this issue to come up as well.. I wonder if Oscar Schmidt has acknowledged this issue and did a fix on the newer batch of these instruments.

I have a Model B harp and I should definitely get that checked out! Does installing fine tuners fix this issue?

Consider making an autoharp out of one piece of carbon fiber where the bridge is part of the body. Problem solved. Like the ENYA Nova go carbon fiber guitar.

Did you consider going through the rear and using plugs to cover the screws?

Where did you get your autoharp at? I want one like that

Thanks for sharing this video, Hal! Do you know if Chromaharps are vulnerable to this same issue?

I have a 1975 Os Appalachian Autoharp and the only problem Ive seen if felt falling off and my stupidity on restringing

Does it matter which Dremmel you buy? I don't own one.

I used a Forrester bit instead of a Dremel. Otherwise following your lead.

Thanks for this Hal. By any chance do you know of anyone in Winnipeg, MB, Canada who does this kind of repair/fix? Just inherited a OS Model 15BH which appears to be suffering from this issue. Not sure I'm cut out for this kind of repair. Thanks in advance.

Am I correct that the screws are *not* actually biting into the anchor bar, but the underside of each screw head is pushing down on the edge of the anchor bar to prevent its pulling away from the body of the autoharp beneath it? Also, I saw you’re using 1/8” drill bit and drilling 1/2” deep, at what looks to be a 45 degree angle...but what size are the screws, exactly? Are they sheet metal screws (like the box appears to say)? Also, would a small chisel do to make the screwdriver access opening, or would that be a no-no? Thanks!

What about pouring half an inch of epoxy into the groove instead?