Looking for One Row D Melodeon

[Lefty52]

Hi all, 

I'm now looking for a one row D melodeon. Preferably a Hohner, any number of stops and in good working/playing condition. I'm located in the US and will pay shipping. 

 

[Lappy]

Liberty bellows has 5 for sale. I like the blue one!

[Lefty52]

2 hours ago, Lappy said:

Liberty bellows has 5 for sale. I like the blue one!

Very cute 🙂

 

[David Barnert]

5 hours ago, Lefty52 said:

I'm now looking for a one row D melodeon.

3 hours ago, Lappy said:

Liberty bellows has 5 for sale.

 

None of them are in D.

[Lappy]

EBay and Reverb both have the identical one in D for sale……..but it’s not blue.

Edited December 29, 2025 by Lappy

[Stephen Chambers]

17 hours ago, Lappy said:

Liberty bellows has 5 for sale. I like the blue one!

 

Only the first one is a Swiss model, Schwyzerörgeli, in F#! (and I actually saw a batch of them being made on one of my visits to the old Silvetta factory in Klingenthal) whilst the other four are all Italian organetti with one-and-a-bit rows - but none of them is a (German-style) one-row melodeon - Deutsche harmonika in German - and they won't sound like one either...

 

 

Edited December 29, 2025 by Stephen Chambers

[Lefty52]

Agreed!

[AndyNT]

Have you tried asking on melodeon.net?. 

[PaulDa321]

I’ve had this question about one row melodeons for years now, but I’d rather not join another forum to ask it, so maybe you all know:  does a one-row melodeon player show up at an Irish session with a wagon of melodeons in different keys?  Can they usually get by with 2 or 3?  I love the sound of the one row, but the simplicity of a small concertina is a huge benefit. 

[wunks]

If you're around Burlington, you certainly have exposure to the French Canadian one row repertoire.  A small concertina is not simple.  My duet at 6 1/4 " across the flats is chromatic across 3+ octaves.

[PaulDa321]

9 minutes ago, wunks said:

If you're around Burlington, you certainly have exposure to the French Canadian one row repertoire.  A small concertina is not simple.  My duet at 6 1/4 " across the flats is chromatic across 3+ octaves.

I know concertina is not simple in the sense of how it’s made and how to play it—just that you have a fully chromatic instrument that’s about the size of an American football as opposed to a bunch of larger one-row melodeons that you might have to bring to a session in an attempt to play multiple keys.  At least that’s what I’m supposing you would need if playing one row melodeon in ITM was your thing. 

[wunks]

So D.  What else would be good for Irish?

Edited January 1 by wunks
correction

[Stephen Chambers]

7 hours ago, wunks said:

So D/?.  What would be best for Irish?

 

Yes, a D melodeon would be the normal one for Irish traditional music (though G ones used to be popular too) but they weren't readily available in the old days - when the vast majority of (cheaper) models were made only in C.

 

The best place to ask is probably the One Row Melodeon group on Facebook.

[Tiposx]

The itm I play is in G and D, and the relative minor keys and modes.

I used to take two Hohner 1040 melodeons to sessions. It can be a bit of a pain to swap boxes quickly in a crowded pub, and you tend to miss some of the A part when the tunes change to a new key.

It is a large part of the reason why I switched playing the concertina. Also, those particular melodeons with their 2 fixed voices were too loud for my home practicing.

 

[wunks]

I just noticed that McNeela has introduced a one row in D.  It doesn't look like other keys are available.

[David Colpitts]

At the risk of minor drift: Just two cents here from an "old rookie" with an Anglo concertina in G and D.  I was when I bought it (maybe ten years ago) playing a series of button accordions and a C/G anglo.  But the only tunes I could scare from those instruments were straight up and down the home rows (like a melodeon) so I thought the G/D would give me both, for Irish, Quebecois, and lots of old Americana.  And that's how it works, for me.  I lucked into a Morse Ceil, and on one 2-pound box can play many tunes. I even manage one in the key of A, which whas a real surprise to me. OTOH, there are a couple of one-row D players who do quite nicely at the ITM session I frequent. I suspect the difference is that rather than playing "most of the tunes" they manage to play "most of EACH tune," by just skipping the missing notes.  No one's the wiser, I think. Clever folk get much more out of these instruments than I ever could.  I still have two or three button accordions, but they never leave the house.

[Stephen Chambers]

33 minutes ago, wunks said:

I just noticed that McNeela has introduced a one row in D.  It doesn't look like other keys are available.

 

He's done them for a long time, whilst D is the only key that Irish players want them in these days.

 

They look very similar to these ones: https://hobgoblin.com/gx42050-sherwood-cajun-style-melodeon-in-c