Oscar Schmidt ASA String Set

I decided to re-string an old Autoharp, which needed a bit of TLC. I decided on these strings, which I knew that Thomann stocked, and my harp has come back to life. I should have done it sooner ! The tone is rich and full bodied.Great product at a great price, available from a great company. Thoroughly recommended to bring your Autoharp back to its best. Double check though whether you need a A or B style loop or ball ends for your harp.

Given that these are Oscar Schmidt label strings, though now made by Vinci, and supposedly tailor-made for A model OS autoharps, I would have hoped for far more attention to detail and quality.
I'm not inexperienced with string fitting, but three of the upper 8ve strings broke before they came up to pitch. One just broke, and I was lucky to have the correct wire to wind a new string. More surprisingly, the other two unwound at the ball end because in manufacture they were insufficiently wound and had no 'tail' left to prevent unwinding. I had to rewind the ball ends myself, leave a 'tail' & refit them.
On the other hand, there were two duplicate strings in the set (17F & 21A), heaven knows why, just sloppy packing?
To play, these strings are very heavy - the original OS sound and weight, so no surprises. If you finger-strum gently to accompany moody celtic music, try much lighter Fladmarks from the USA and you'll not look back. For a hard-driven, rhythmic sound with finger & thumb picks, and a huge dynamic range, you need these.
But be prepared to fix a few of them yourself!