Cavagnolo Tuning

[Ersad12]

Hello
Please help with this tuning. I understand that one M must tune to A = 440 (unless I'm wrong and this tuning should be A = 441) but if A = 440 then M + should be A = 441.5 or 442 or 442.5? The French call these tunings Americain Leger and Americain Accentue but I can't identify which tuning is in this accordion.


2:54

Thanks

 

[debra]

The A=440 as base is what the ISO standard requires. But as with many internationally agreed upon standards, this is often ignored. Many accordions are tuned with 442 as their base frequency, or even higher.
On top of that a second M reed is tuned a bit higher, which is is expressed in cents. (1 cent is 1% of the difference in frequency between a tone and the next half-tone.) If A=440 then tuning the other M reed to 441 means it is about 4 cents sharp, 442 is then 2 cents sharp, etc. The french tuning has very low tremolo, maybe 4 or 5 cents. You can find a table with the name for each value if you search well enough. German tuning is often 14 cents, Italian 16 cents... Amsterdam or Irish tuning is something around 25 cents (very wet, headache almost guaranteed).
But... You cannot simply set a tuning device to 440 for the M and then for instance 442 for the M+ reed because the deviation between M and M+ should not be constant while going up the scales. If you did that then the tuning would sound more and more wet as you go up. With 2Hz tremolo at A=440 (2 "beats" per second") that becomes 4 beats one octave up and 8 beats 2 octaves up which is much too wet.
Tremolo tuning is more an art than a science...

 

[Ersad12]

I understand. are you able to write me what is the specific value in HZ for each sound for M + so that I have this tuning similar or close to cavagnolo attached in the video? I'm just learning to tune and I can't calculate these values yet. I understand that I may not have the perfect sound as Galliano has in his accordion but I want to bring it as close as possible.

 

[Glug]

Here's a discussion on musette tuning: https://www.accordionists.info/threads/learning-to-tune.6469/

Probably the only (free) practical way to copy a tuning is to get measurements at 2 or 3 notes, or find some recording where a single note is held long enough to measure. Then try and fit a curve to the measurements and see if it sounds right. It's worth checking is there's a soundfont or similar that contains a Cavagnolo sample that can be analysed.

Even after that there will be differences because of reed differences, accordion construction, etc. There's also the possibility that the artist had the accordion tuned specially.

 

[Jim2010]

As an example of what Paul has written, Richard Galliano's accordina is tuned 443.

Signature Richard Galliano | Accordinas

C'est Richard Galliano qui le premier joue l'accordina en tant que véritable instrument de musique. Personne jusqu'alors ne s'était intéressé à cet harmonica à boutons. On est en 1985, il enregistre l'album Spleen. Une merveille! Nombreux sont les musiciens qui, séduits, suivront son exemple.Il...

www.accordinas.com

Whether or not he tunes his accordions that way I cannot say.

 

[debra]

I understand. are you able to write me what is the specific value in HZ for each sound for M + so that I have this tuning similar or close to cavagnolo attached in the video? I'm just learning to tune and I can't calculate these values yet. I understand that I may not have the perfect sound as Galliano has in his accordion but I want to bring it as close as possible.

That's hard, and somewhat subjective. What you need todo is to get a tuning app that will show you the deviation in cent, not in Hertz. You tune the M+ for the standard A until it is to your liking. Let's assume that this is 6 cents (just an arbitrary number here, but it may be close). Then, as you go up the keyboard the M+ should be less and less sharp, probably around 4 cents (2/3 of 6) by the time you reach the next A, and going further down in cents as you go up, probably around 2.5 cents by the next A, etc.