Mad for Mini-Melodeons Month

Squeezebox & Harmonica
1

Huh, but odd coincidence, it has become Mad for Mini-Melodeons month.

Last month I became interested in buttonboxes again, something I hadn’t done much with since I was a teenager in the late '90s, owned a Hero, a Stagi mini-English, and wanted a Cajun box.

I bought a G one-row 2-stop while doing art projects up here in Newfoundland, and then this month things got crazy:

– Traded a Tajik dutar (bought for $9 in Dushanbe) for two Schylling one-row toy accordions. I had to play all 30 in the shop to find two that played decently in tune on the right hand. Gave one toy box away to a crust-punk traveler girl to use for busking, about to sell the other for $9 to a teenage street-juggler.

–Bought a little Ludwig 7-button German box on eBay, sending to Michael at Irish Dancemaster to see if it can be re-reeded as a little Irish box in D.

–Saw this on eBay with only an hour left, put in a lowball bid of $170. Turns out I won it for $130, so pretty cool. This was something I desparately wanted as a teenager, and now I have one: Castiglione 6+2 buttonbox in C:




–Further, Michael is working on a secret project for me, I should be able to post a video-review sometime next week, if postal service to The Rock is moving swiftly enough.

I’m digging this little box thing.

2

What notes do the 6+2 buttons play?

Do the +2 extend the scale, or duplicate notes in the other direction?

Thanks for the info!

-Brett

3

Wow never really saw something like this… I am sure it would be fun though. I have a soft spot for little boxes of all kinds… Some more info on notes and such out of curiosity would be nice.

4

I won’t lay hands on the Castiglioni until mid-November when I return to the U.S., but I’ll try and post a video review then. However, it has been made obsolete by my very exciting other mini-melodeon purchase.

I’ll probably play the Cast for a week or two and then sell it at-cost to someone who wants to teach a small kid to play Cajun.

Now, for my exciting mini-melodeon news: took it down to the Tuesday session today in St John’s with Stan Pickett and Frank Maher, and they seemed pretty pleased with it, though Mr Pickett was pretty dubious at first. I played it walking home from the session, and had a guy on Water St stop me and ask to buy it.

Video review will get recorded and posted in a few days, and I’ll post it here. I think it’s pretty dang exciting, and at a bargain price.

5

Ah, so you made it to Auntie Crae’s, and it is still a going concern. Glad to hear it.