i just read all this stuff... wow!!! what a debate !!!! actually the autoharp really is a chorded zither.... for several generations they were referred to as autoharps... Oscar Schmidt called them autoharps.... one maker calls his instruments Dulci-harps... so call them what you will... but take the chord bars off one of them and it becomes a zither... tuned however you want... diatonic.. pentatonic... septonic... Phrygian.... and maybe just some crazy off the top of the head tuning.... it's all about the music !!!! thanks for reading...