Thanks again Dan, Q and Joseph!
I will start a thread over in another area on the modifications suggested, definately going to go for them but I want to make sure I understand and get advice before I put my software engineering skills onto hardware.
Um, how do I tell the difference between the left and right shoulder bells? The look *almost* identical to my untrained eye. One has a slightly wider cover strip at the base of the bell, and is slightly more concave on one section on when you look at it in a certain light than the other bell. I can tell that the bell I had on my right shoulder has the thicker strip. Is there something I am missing?