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From: A.M~um.gu.edu.au (Anthony May)
Date: Fri, 29 Nov 1996 10:55:35 +1000 (EST)
Subject: Coincidences

On Nov 23, Pat Missin wrote:

>I don't know whether it is available where you live, but over here, there is
>a bargain price chromatic made by a Chinese company called Lark. It has most
>of the above faults, but is a great deal cheaper. I bought one a couple of
>years ago for =A315.00 (less that $25.00!) and I still give with it now and
>again. It has a very bright sound, a great mouthpiece/slide design and a
>non-warp plastic comb - it would make an excellent inexpensive choice for
>one's first chromatic. IMHO, natch.

The day before Pat's message the friendly mouth organ salesman at my local
music shop had said on the phone, 'Hey, I've got these cheap Lark
chromatics just arrived, do you want to have a look at one?' Coincidence,
huh? I picked one up this morning and so I haven't had a lot of time with
it but it seems just as Pat described. The slide action seems much shorter
than my CX-12 and it only has ten holes. It starts at middle C and goes up
to G in the third octave. As normal, it repeats the C moving from hole 4
to 5 but not from 8 to 9. So from holes 1 to 8 it progresses as a normal
chromatic and holes 8 to 10 are like 7 to 9 on a Cmaj diatonic. It sounds
fine on my short time of fooling around with it and I'm looking forward to
trying all the tuning and repair things on it that I'm just too cowardly to
try on the CX-12. At A$15 (US$12), I don't mind chancing a mistake.

2nd. Coincidence:
I had been meaning to ask the list for about two weeks about a diatonic
that I had found at the back of a draw that I bought over twenty years ago
for sure. It is a Hohner Echo Super Vamper. I'd never heard of them on
the list and in checking the Hohner catalogue could only find the Echo
tremolo harp. This is (or was) a single reed Richter tuned diatonic. Then,
in his discussion of wooden bodied harmonicas today, John Walden mentioned

>the old Echo Super Vampers, which have a wonderful sound, if set up right.
I think this one is way past being set up at all but it doesn't taste as
gruesome a Marine Band that I found in the same draw. Still, can anyone
tell me anything about the Echo Super Vamper?

If anyone has actually managed to post this information to the list before
I have sent this query then I'll be willing to consider that these are not
coincidences at all. I may just be several days behind myself (at time of
posting, of course, I realise that I'll be in the archive before I'm
actually here).

Cheers,
Tony May a.m~um.gu.edu.au