ShopGoodwill: Mandolin Harp

[Texas]

My grandmother played banjo and a "lap" harp—as she called it—but not sure if this is what she played. Mandolin Harp

I may try to give this thing a home so....

[Marcelyn]

I love quirky old zythers like that. From what I understand, a mandolin harp was designed for those who got frustrated with picking. When pressed, the buttons lower a plectrum to the strings, then the player rapidly moves the pannel back and forth to reproduce the tremolo sound.
If you didn't get a good look at what your grandmother called a lap harp, my first guess would be that she played an autoharp also called a lap harp . It has buttons like the mandolin harp, but these are to dampen notes not in the desired chord. Another possibility is that she played the simple melody instrument known as the lap harp or plucked psaltry. It's a trapazoid shape and has the strings arranged diatonically from lowest to highest as the harp grows narrower. There's also the little harp that looks like a miniature concert harp which I tend to associate with Celtic music.

[Gregory Tidwell]

Is a part missing from that one at Shopgoodwill? I ahve seen plenty of those in antique stores and on line, but I have never seen any "buttons" on one, nor do I see any on that particular one. Wondering if I am missing something. Thanks!

[Texas]

I love quirky old zythers like that. From what I understand, a mandolin harp was designed for those who got frustrated with picking. When pressed, the buttons lower a plectrum to the strings, then the player rapidly moves the pannel back and forth to reproduce the tremolo sound.
If you didn't get a good look at what your grandmother called a lap harp, my first guess would be that she played an autoharp also called a lap harp . It has buttons like the mandolin harp, but these are to dampen notes not in the desired chord. Another possibility is that she played the simple melody instrument known as the lap harp or plucked psaltry. It's a trapazoid shape and has the strings arranged diatonically from lowest to highest as the harp grows narrower. There's also the little harp that looks like a miniature concert harp which I tend to associate with Celtic music.

My grandparents were from the Cookville/Livingston, TN area—close to the KY border. And, Autoharp, sounds familiar.

I remember going up there to visit when I was a kid in late 50's early 60's and there were some strange people and instruments. People on Saturday seems to walk out of the woods and mountains with saws, shovels or anything else that made a musical sound and played all day and night. Of course when the Moonshine was passed around it got really good.

My mother would swear she would NEVER go back each time we went up there because the people were so whatever they were...

[Texas]

Greg, what seems to be missing? I am interested in buying it, but seems like simply finding strings may be a problem. If it has other issues that will compound the problems.

I hope other will take a look to see if they see any glaring problems. This may be exactly what my old arthritic hands need to make noise.

Thanks.

[Gregory Tidwell]

I said in my post. I don't see any buttons on that thing. Marcelyn said:

I love quirky old zythers like that. From what I understand, a mandolin harp was designed for those who got frustrated with picking. When pressed, the buttons lower a plectrum to the strings, then the player rapidly moves the pannel back and forth to reproduce the tremolo sound.

What buttons?

[Marcelyn]

Oh, about the buttons--I didn't actually look at the Good Will picture, but just went from the name. I'm no expert, but what I think of as a mandolin harp is pictured here...
http://www.minermusic.com/dolceola/fretless_zithers.htm
The zither on Good Will reminds me more of one of those guitar zithers. The terms are all pretty confusing since neither of these are anything like a mandolin or guitar.
I also don't know whether the little picking contraption on a mandolin harp made it any easier to play. It seems like you'd still need the same wrist motion. I do remember reading somewhere that the autoharp was the only gizmo zither that really caught on and made playing easier.
And you're right about the string problem. Finding new ones to fit is a challenge. Sometimes they don't sound all that bad though once you clean them up. They're not great players most of the time, but for the price, they are really intereesting bits of history to collect.

[Marcelyn]

Hey, I thought of a place you could hear the mandolin harp along with any other instrument your grandmother could have possibly played. Several years ago, Greg Miner put out a two volume Christmas CD in which his goal was to feature every one of his 100 different string instruments. Mandolins get a prominant place, but he also included the most obscure American zythers. He has sound files on his site and great discriptions of the instruments. NFI, but I think any string player should have this in their collection. Here's a few links for you...
This link is to a track listing along with the instruments used (the mandolin harp is on Holy and Ivy in vol 2)
http://www.minermusic.com/m_instr.htm

This link takes you to the description and pictures of American zithers used in Holy and Ivy
http://www.minermusic.com/cc/holly,ivy.htm
You can either click on "Listen to the Instruments" on his page or this link to hear samples of the songs. Check out his mandolin orchestra Jesu Joy of Man's Desireing too--all vintage Gibsons and all played by him
http://www.minermusic.com/samples.htm
Finally, here's a link to an interview I did with him where he describes the recording process and the challenge of getting each instrument in playing order. He's a facinating guy.
http://suite101.com/article/recordin...uments-a337991
http://suite101.com/article/gregg-mi...acking-a337994
http://suite101.com/article/just-how...uments-a337993

[MikeEdgerton]

These are on eBay weekly for almost nothing. They were sold door to door under dozens of names and brands. They aren't really rare. There are stories that several years ago an old warehouse building in NJ yielded a stack of them new in the box. The Oscar Schmidt Company of Jersey City was responsible for many of these. If you're paying much more than $20.00 for one you're getting ripped.

Read more about the genre here.

eBay listings are here. Although you'll see some high prices there I assure you they won't sell for those amounts.

[Texas]

These are on eBay weekly for almost nothing. They were sold door to door under dozens of names and brands. They aren't really rare. There are stories that several years ago an old warehouse building in NJ yielded a stack of them new in the box. The Oscar Schmidt Company of Jersey City was responsible for many of these. If you're paying much more than $20.00 for one you're getting ripped.

Read more about the genre here.

eBay listings are here. Although you'll see some high prices there I assure you they won't sell for those amounts.

Mike, Thanks. This is why a site like MandolinCafe is so valuable. The expertise is worth more than most of us know.
Thanks again.

[allenhopkins]

When mandolins were widely popular, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the label "mandolin" got stuck on instruments that had no connection with what we think of as a mandolin. This is especially true of zither-family instruments, which were being invented by the cartload about that time. I guess the makers felt that an instrument labeled "mandolin" had sales appeal.

A friend of mine bought a "Mandolin Guitar Harp" which is just a zither with a little keyboard attached; the keyboard drove a series of spring-steel "hammers" that struck the melody strings while the left hand strummed some chord strings in the key of C. Not a mandolin, a guitar, or a harp, just another variety of fretless zither.

[Bertram Henze]

A friend of mine bought a "Mandolin Guitar Harp" which is just a zither with a little keyboard attached; the keyboard drove a series of spring-steel "hammers" that struck the melody strings while the left hand strummed some chord strings in the key of C. Not a mandolin, a guitar, or a harp, just another variety of fretless zither.

Has me thinking... isn't the piano just another variety of a fretless zither as well, then?

[MikeEdgerton]

If you go to that page I linked there is actually a Piano Harp as well. They simply changed the names and went out looking for new customers.

[JeffD]

These are on eBay weekly for almost nothing. They were sold door to door under dozens of names and brands. They aren't really rare. There are stories that several years ago an old warehouse building in NJ yielded a stack of them new in the box. The Oscar Schmidt Company of Jersey City was responsible for many of these. If you're paying much more than $20.00 for one you're getting ripped.
.

Yea they have little to do with mandolins, really. There were other "instruments" pushed door to door similarly. I am fond of the ukelin and the tremaloa. The only one of those that took off and became a popular instrument deserving of serious attention was the autoharp.

[MikeEdgerton]

The autoharp was the only real survivor. There is a great Ukelin page as well. www.ukelin.com

[allenhopkins]

Has me thinking... isn't the piano just another variety of a fretless zither as well, then?

Yes it is. The working definition of a "zither" is a stringed instrument where the strings are stretched over a sound-box, without any neck. Piano, Autoharp, Appalachian and hammered dulcimers, psaltery, harpsichord, and all the variations of "zither" that have been invented -- all members of the zither family.

Don't know about the harp.

[bmac]

These were still very common in the 1930s, though few people really played them. I think they were kind of a "poor man's piano". They made music, kind of. They were undoubtedly sold by the millions to still have so many around, some in good shape, but still with remarkably low prices. Interesting but pretty hard to take seriously.