Those are the same folks that I bought mine from, nice people. The Morelli is a pretty piece of work for the price of a cheap box. Bruce

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Replying to:

Well, I have been saving busking money and my birthday fast approaches so I thought my chance for a switch to a melodeon was here (I play an Irish 2 row). I know you all dislike the Ariette, but these two always pop-up in eBay and intrigue me. One guy seems very reputible (the first) and the machine looks nice, but the second is cheaper and supposedly handmade (and always gets healthy bidding activity although looks amazingly dull...thoughts? (and no I cannot afford a real handmade one, but thanks for the suggestion)

There may be more than one person on ebay selling Morelli's.

Just watch out for the one with the picture of all of the employees in front of the music store.

This guys ebay reputation speaks for itself if you look at his feedback. There are even several blogs out there that trash him badly.

Let the buyer beware if anything goes wrong.
This is the guy that used to (maybe still does) run the "Musical education institution" that is nothing more than a front for selling really cheap (low quality) instruments.

So just be careful, that's all.

DP

Beware of the guy in the first link, as Dana informed. Just the guy. The accordion might be another matter. I had a Morelli 3-row that was not bad for the price, but gave off a chemical smell from the bellows, so I sold it. Not sure how their one-row is.

This guy will not answer questions before a sale. You have to buy, and pay shipping if you're not satisified.

So much for his Christian symbols on his site.

I bought a Morelli on ebay from the "Great Tunes" people in Idaho. I thought it compared favorably to my Hohner 114. It is heavier, comes with a functional case and shoulder strap. Tone was good (in fact I think the bass sounded better than the Hohner). The thumb strap and bass strap on the Morelli were also heavier than on the Hohner. Didn't play it long enough to be able to comment on its durability, but I think you might have a good time with it. The weird thing is that the stops were backwards. You pull them out to close them. They worked fine though. The Morelli certainly looks great.
One word of caution, the rods for the stops seem to be wood and might break easily, but since you would play with all of them "pushed In", it is probably not a problem.

I had forgotten that the guy at Great Tunes was really bad about answering questions. Also, watch their restocking fee. If you return it they will not only not refund shipping, but may deduct a restocking fee. But since you are paying less than $$ with shipping, it isn't a bad deal. I think the Morelli is probably worth the money. You might, however, be better off buying a used Hohner HA114 for the same money, then save your cash for a better box later on.