Differentiating tunings

[Rogercr27]

Hi

A bit of an amateurish question here, hope you don’t mind: How can I tell what tuning an accordion has? (tremlolo, double octave, straight, wet etc.) and how can I differentiations between these? I get asked this question quite a lot when I sell accordions and sometimes I’m not too sure unless is obvious (e.g. some musettes have a ••• register). Is the any tuning software/app I can use?

Thanks

 

[JIM D.]

To give you a start read here --

Accordion reed ranks and switches - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

and

Accordion/Reed Banks and Switches - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

en.wikibooks.org

 

[Alan Sharkis]

I haven’t checked recently, but Fisitalia used to have audio samples of various tunings on their website.

 

[Glug]

The Bill Farmer tuner will show multiple notes if you want to see how wet the musette is.

GitHub - billthefarmer/tuner: Android accordion tuner

Android accordion tuner. Contribute to billthefarmer/tuner development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Gonk]

Regarding musette:

You can determine the wetness of the tuning very accurately by taking the reedblocks out and playing the reeds one at a time on a test bellows, measuring the pitch, and comparing the values. Middle A (~440 Hz) is a good standard to use. The stretch will vary across the scale - lower notes will stretch a bit less, higher notes a bit more. Liberty bellows has a list of common terminology, and approximate wetness values at A440, to be taken with a bit of salt. https://www.libertybellows.com/faq.htm#general

You can get a decent result with software as well. Most software uses Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis. This has the effect of dividing the frequency spectrum into slices, and determining where along that spectrum the peaks lie. Cheap tuners and most free software will only show you a single peak (the clearest frequency). What you need is to measure at least two peaks and see how far apart they lie. If you're using an Android device, "Tuner" by Bill Farmer, is excellent. It will show multiple peaks. It is available through the F-Droid app, which is an open source software library / Google alternative. [Edit: Glug, high five!]

There are a number of factors that make this method slightly inaccurate, even with expensive software. Musette reeds affect one another during play, causing fluxuations in the dominant frequency as they go in and out of phase. A strobe tuner is the next step up from FFT analysis. It will allow you to visualize the soundwaves in real time. Analog strobe tuners cost an arm and a leg, and name-brand software costs a great deal as well. A free alternative I highly recommend is the Android app "TunerTime," a non-traditional virtual stroboscope. It will not extract the difference in cents between two reeds for you, but it will allow you to visualize the effect of the musette.

 

[Glug]

FYI: Bill Farmer definitely also works on Windows, and apparently also on MAC.
I use in on Android and Windows.

But when I get a new (used) accordion I always measure the tuning 'as bought' for a reference. And I measure the musette by putting masking tape under the reed blocks so I can measure one at a time.

 

[Rogercr27]

Thanks for the help regarding the musette, I will have a look at this software.

 

[Gonk]

Glug, that is really good to know, re: desktop versions. I'm trying to build the linux one now. And the masking tape method is also good if you don't have a test bellows handy. One thing I'd add is to put the tape on a T-shirt or similar first, to reduce its tack and also the risk of pulling off splinters of wood or leaving residue.