To answer the question asked upthread a bit, Lark in the Morning is a northern California store. I believe that their main store is up north (Santa Rosa?), but they have a very nice store in San Francisco not far from the Hyde St. Pier where the monthly (next Saturday) chanty sing is held. I often go early to the sing in order to spend some time in the store, looking at and trying some of the exotic instruments. They are very accomodating to the tire-kickers, and unless it looks like you're likely to do the instruments damage, they will let you pick them up and experiment (except for those items in the glass cases -- there's some fine looking concertinas there that they won't let me get my grubby hands on!).