Autoharp revival

Having read a recent reference to some supposed "autoharp revival", I made a note and set it aside. I catch up on it now and offer it forthwith:

This is not a revival of "a popular parlor instrument". It is a rebirth in a new design, held and played in a different way. If it were based upon the old instruments and how they were played, many of us would not have been attracted to and taken up the autoharp. The old way, lap style, is still quite legitimate but is just a legacy, not the source of any new found popularity that I can tell.

Furthermore, based on the instruments the more prominent performers play, the sound attraction is coming mostly from the diatonic. Sorry, but I think that is a fact.

Noteworthy in that is the fact that no commercial vendor sells a "diatonic". They are all customized instruments or built by luthiers.

It could be said then that the autoharp does not owe its popularity to the chromatic configuration, yet we continue to propose that one drawn to the autoharp because of a diatonic should begin with a chromatic. That leaves the question "but why can't I sound like so-and-so? I'm disappointed". It is not an easy question to answer.

The instruments that most autoharp players are using are significantly more advanced in construction and seriousness of purpose than the old black boxes that many associate with the word "autoharp".

Effectively the autoharp was reinvented, and the old blackies, as they are called, have been out of production for 40 years. They keep turning up in flea markets and auctions but they are not valuable enough or still sturdy enough to warrant refurbishing and any notion of being put back in service. Some exceptions don't belie the point that more modern autoharps are much better instruments.

Some may say that they prefer the sound of the old 'harps. Personally, I suspect that has more to do with wanting to sound like the recordings of old dead people rather than any real judgment about what sounds the best. One must be authentic (rolls eyes). Old time music is better than it sounds. :>)