I first started amplifying my autoharp in 1999.  The autoharp pickup that was installed was the standard Oscar Schmidt. It had limitations. Mostly notably, it was setup with a 1/8″ input. How annoying is that when the entire music world runs on 1/4″ pickups. It was converted to a 1/4″ after a couple years of  use by Walter Hutchinson of Musical Exchange in Austin. I've never looked back.

Well… until this past year. I left Austin 6 years ago. I've never found another local autoharp repair guy. So I've been stuck alone. Just last fall, one of my autoharp pickups died. I looked online and found Schatten was now selling the Schatten AD-01 Autoharp Pickup. I thought it was time to try something new.

I confess, I'm a wee bit nervous. My entire autoharp recording career is by the sound of my autoharp… well, that's I how I feel anyway… I'm not sure what to expect. But I now have a Schatten autoharp pickup. I'm gonna test it out in the coming week. I'll let you know, hear and see what I find.

Gulp! Wish me luck.