Rhythm Band RB1552E 21 chord electric chromaharp

 A superb quality instrument for an amateur
As a beginner to the autoharp, I decided I wanted a very good instrument to learn with but didn't want to pay a fortune. The electric chromaharp is exactly what I wanted.

The instrument is sturdy and heavy, and feels extremely solidly made. The wood grain is beautiful with an attractive warm color. It has a clear, bright tone. Its volume is softer than other autoharps I've tried, but as it has a pickup to be used with an amp, that's not an important problem. A hinged door flips open easily to give you access to the string posts on the straight end of the instrument for when you eventually need to change a string. A specially nice touch is that the instrument is pre-fitted with mounts to attach a guitar strap so it can be carried safely or played while standing.

Overall, everything about the body of the instrument, its strings, and its playability is superb.

A slight negative is that the chord bars have to be pressed quite firmly to ensure that they correctly dampen all the intended strings, distinctly more pressure than with other autoharps I've tried. This initially caused me to flub some chords. However, with practice I find I'm doing it right more consistently after a while. The other slight negative is that the chord bars on the ends are just slightly wobbly from side to side... however, only enough so to be slighly annoying, not enough so to actually interfere with playing. It's because of these two minor negatives that I rate the instrument four instead of five stars.

I think this is a marvelous instrument with an extremely reasonable price, suitable for a beginner or a budget-minded professional.