Arriving in Rochester, I found that the Seabreeze band organ has lost one
of the four castanet clappers that it was delivered by Johnny Verbeeck
with. Apparently a little sharpness to the hole edge where the castanets
are tied together caused them to eat away at whatever material Johnny and
later Seabreeze tried to lace them with.
I have retied the remaining three with rawhide, which is what used to be
used by Wurlitzer, and I assume that will hold. If not, I will chamfer
the hole edges a little.
But now, the missing 4th clapper needs to be replaced, for appearance's
sake, if nothing else. (You don't notice the defect much at all in
listening to the sound). But like far too many things, castanets come in
at least two different sizes. I have found only large ones here in
Rochester in the only two music shops that carry them.
Where can I write or call for castanets? If MMD can't help me here, I
will have to write to Johnny Verbeeck himself and have him send another
pair from Holland.
Matthew Caulfield
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