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The autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither.〔 terminology on the "Chorded zither" (referred Autoharp without trademark infringement with Oscar Schmidt International), "Guitar-Zither" (patented by Fred Menzenhauer in 1894), and "Chord zither" (referred Guitar-Zither, appeared in ''The Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments'', and ''The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments''). 〕〔 terminology and taxonomy of the "Fretless Zither" family instruments. 〕 ==History== There is debate over the origin of the autoharp. A German immigrant in Philadelphia by the name of Charles F. Zimmermann was awarded in 1882 for a design for a musical instrument that included mechanisms for muting certain strings during play. He named his invention the ''autoharp''.〔(The True History of the Autoharp )〕 Unlike later autoharps, the shape of the instrument was symmetrical, and the felt-bearing bars moved horizontally against the strings instead of vertically. It is not known if Zimmermann ever commercially produced any instruments of this early design. Karl August Gütter of Markneukirchen, Germany, built a model that he called a ''Volkszither'', which most resembles the autoharp played today. Gütter obtained a British patent for his instrument circa 1883–1884. Zimmermann, after returning from a visit to Germany, began production of the Gütter design in 1885 but with his own design patent number and catchy name. Gütter's instrument design became very popular, and Zimmermann has often been mistaken as the inventor. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「autoharp」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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