 Your First Autoharp (Booklet) |
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| Your First Autoharp (Booklet)Despite the fact that many people know more about autoharps than I do, few resources address the real-world problems you face when choosing your first autoharp, trying to make it playable, performing simple maintenance, etc.
Lest I sound like I'm solving "problems" that don't exist, you should know that most beginners have most of the same questions, and I've been writing out the same answers to the same questions for almost ten years. Plus, when I got my first autoharp, I had most of the same questions myself. Doesn't Your Web Site Have Most of This Content? Quite frankly, we "give away" many of those answers right here on the HarpersGuild.com web page. But you sort of have to know what you're looking for to find them. In early 2025, I decided that autoharp newbies would be best served by a booklet that addresses most of the questions that most newbies have all in one place. We Want to Save You Money - In addition, many newbies spend money they don't need to because of well-meaning advice. For example, lots of folks who've been told they need new strings or chord bars right away have spent $100-350 to upgrade an autoharp that will never be worth more than $150, even with the upgrades. We help folks with playable autoharps to learn what they can on them now. Then they can decide if it makes more sense to put that "string and parts" money toward a better autoharp that doesn't need the same amount of work. Or one that has features they've determined that they will need (like playing in song keys the commercial autoharps don't support). And those are questions you may not be able to answer until you've learned at least the basics on the autoharp you already own. How to Distribute? Making this a hard-copy book that had to be mailed out would add up to $20 to the price, depending on paper quality, etc. As a downloadable PDF file, anyone can download it, punch holes in it, and put it into a binder of their choice for much less. If you use acid-free, 24-pound paper and a printer that can print on both sides of the page, so much the better. Extra points if you have a Lisa Frank trapper keeper! We Don't Tell You Everything You Will Ever Need to Know - The Our booklet is more focused, and we expect you to "outgrow" it in the first several months of ownership. But there's a much higher concentration of information you need at first than you'll find elsewhere. In conjunction with related articles on our web page, you'll learn about next steps, "gotchas," and choices you won't find explained this concisely (or maybe at all) in most other resources. Contents - A sample list of the topics we address are listed below.
In addition, we provide links to our web articles when they provide more detailed relevant information. Why not just include everything? Because the booklet would be so bloated, it would no longer have the focus we've tried so hard to provide. ConclusionOnce again, much of the information in the booklet is already on our web site (and a few others). But when you first start out, you don't know what you don't know, and this should help you get a "jump start" without getting lost in content that doesn't really apply to you now, and may never apply.
Also, if you think about it, buying a copy is a pretty good way to show your support for what we do. Clicking on the picture to the right will take you to the FolkArama Etsy listing, which has a lot of sample pages and other information to help you decide if the booklet will be useful to you or not. Also, if you do make a purchase, please tell us so through our contact form. When you do, please consider click the box to sign up for our MommaDontLow quarterly e-mail newsletter. We'll give you instructions for sending a screen shot of your receipt so we have you on file, so we can send you free updates if a new edition is available.
And please stay in touch! - Paul Race
All material, illustrations, and content of this web site is copyrighted ? 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,
For questions, comments, suggestions, trouble reports, etc. about this page or this site, please contact us.
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Autoharp Owner's Manual
