The invention is attributed to Karl August Gütter from Markneukirchen in the Vogtland Musikwinkel ("Music corner"), who patented it in England in 1883.

Carl Friedrich Zimmermann, the developer of the Carlsfelder Concertina, who emigrated to the USA in 1864, worked on a comparable instrument.

However, knowing Gütter's Volkszither through a visit to Germany, he registered Gütter's model 1882 in the USA as an Autoharp for US patent 257,808 and successfully sold it to tens of thousands.

The operating principle of the Autoharp corresponds entirely to Zimmermann's long-standing efforts to enable musical amateurs to make music on easy-to-play instruments, which his choice of name Autoharp should certainly also indicate.

All strings are played at the pitch as they are wound. To shorten a string like the guitar, a fretboard with frets under the strings is missing. A Konzert-Zither has one.

The Autoharp, is usually played like a harp by stroking or plucking the strings as a harmony accompaniment, preferably for vocals. (Example on youtube)

The chord keys are equipped with felt dampers on the underside. These mute all strings that do not belong to the chord when a key is pressed.

If the strings are swept when the chord key is pressed, only the strings of the desired chord will sound.

In order to make it possible to make music without knowledge of music, Zimmermann added numbers to all harp strings, as he once did with his Konzertinas. In this way, those who are not familiar with notes can also play the Autoharp with the help of the Griffschrift (number notation).

This may have been a decisive reason for the high sales figures and the rapid and wide distribution of the instrument.

A remaining keysign for E minor.

The number of chords present varies. Six chords are a simpler execution.

This other Autoharp has the highest number of chords with 21.

The similarity to the keyboard of the standard bass is striking. However, it is not only a visual similarity, but a systematic one.

As with the standard bass, a vertical row consists of keys of a chord type spaced in fifths (circle of fifths). One row each for minor, seventh and major chords (except for the 2 keys left top).

In the USA, the Autoharp became popular between 1920 and the 70s, especially through the Carter Family.

It was the first nationwide known country singing group. The Autoharp was an integral part of their performances and was used very masterfully, which contributed to its status as a typical and original instrument of folk music.

Not only Argentina's national instrument, the Bandonion, can be traced back to inventors and manufacturers in Saxony, but also the culture-forming Autoharp of the USA has its origins in the "Music corner" of the Vogtland in Saxony.

With the work of Carl Friedrich Zimmermann even in one person.

Manufacturer's plate:

Made in Saxony
T. Meinhold's
Autoharp.
Accord-Zither-Harfe
Patent.
Gebrauchsmuster Nr. 4872

Manufacturer's plate in the Sound Hole:

Autoharp
Made in Germany - Patent
Vollkommenstes
Instrument der Gegenwart
[Most perfect instrument of the present]

The presented instrument stands the times as a wall decoration in a restaurant in Bohemian Switzerland near Schönlinde (Krásná Lípa, Czech Republic).