leeneia, that's the autoharp I use for songleading, and when we play together there can be any number of instruments depending on which band members are free. But as the songleader, I end up being the de facto leader of our gang, and they tuned to me for years before we got in the habit of retuning it weekly, sometimes off true tuning by as much as a quarter step. It was easy for them but hard for me-- because I would have to work with each of them one by one till we were all set.

Now, my husband tunes it weekly because of some problems I am having with my arm. I can either tune or play but not both in one evening, and until recently he just didn't have the time or a good enough tuner to do it easily.

We don't have a hammered dulcimer of a celtic harp, so I have the largest nuimber of strings and the others have not minded at all.

This is a temporary approach so that I can try singing in B and E, which I have suspected for a long time I should be doing. If it turns out that's right, I'll rewrite all our arrangements and use the diatonic harp that will be ready by then. I just don't want to do all that felting and restringing till I am sure.

But I still keep the better harp tuned true to play with fiddle and to back up anyone else who is leading, vocally or instrumentally, when I'm not-- when we play with others, or if I am leading the monthly beginner's jam. If I didn't have two harps, I would not do this.

~Susan