Autoharps have, I forget, something like 38 strings, maybe more. I have never heard of anyone restringing an autoharp. I think new strings are like a billion dollars or something ridiculous - it's just a bunch of wire anyway.
So what I mean is the strings are usually old. I talked about this before somewhere; but old strings might ring the correct pitch/note when you first pluck or hit them. but as they "ring", the note "decays".
You can see this on an etuna - tune the string to exact pitch by plucking it about every 2 seconds - this offsets the decay factor, since the string is always "freshly plucked". that will yield a fairly steady reading on the tuna gauge needle meter screen whatever.
After you have it accurately tuned, pluck it once - and watch the needle onscreen lite up on the exact note, and then watch it "decay".
If you tone in the decay phase, you will be tuning all day. If you tune it before it decays - it will get tuned. Similarly, when it is being played, the autoharp is being constantly strummed or plucked - so the decay factor is not there - it get strummed before the decay becomes noticeable - usually.
It's the same thing with dead guitar strings, or mandolin strings.
New strings will resist decay for maybe a day or two - after that, it's a gradual deterioration - and if you don't know this, then your etuna will always leave you out of the ballpark, or out in deep left center field.
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