Episode 9: d'Aigle Autoharps

Thoughts and Reflections

I am just grateful that I had a chance to meet and talk to everybody in the team. It makes me happy that there's still a workshop like this producing this instrument and preservering this piece of culture. 

In my research, I wanted to see what Oscar Schmidt is up to. This company from the late 1800s is the one that started producing and popularizing the Autoharp. They made/sold many other types of instruments too. It seems that the company fluctuated over the decades, leading to his grandson's leadership in 1960s, in which he made many positive changes. It wasn't enough to save the company from bankruptcy in the 1970s. A company "Washburn Guitars" bought them out, and still produced these autoharps under the Oscar Schmidt name, though mass-produced from a factory in South Korea. It also saddens me that the Oscar Schmidt social media page and website seem dead now. It is representative of the fate of this instrument. 

After Pete leaves the company, it's successor will have big shoes to fill in order to continue the legacy.