Do modern accordion makers still frequently tune to something other than A=440?

[kimric]

I suspect these things represent forgotten trends in music , and the individual tastes of the master tuners at different firms. I heard somewhere that orchestra tuning crept sharp since it was percieved as "brighter" and this may have been following the trend since the industry wanted the instrument to be orchestra worthy.

 

[Ventura]

stretch tuning as i learned of it was from Piano tuners, and was very commonly
utilized by the guys with experience, as it is a 'by the ear" kind of thing..

while they set the temperament first as always, then the higher octaves
get stretched just a tad sharper as you go up.. it makes the Piano
sound alive and brilliant as compared to a perfectly mathematical tuning

i first tried this on an LMH acmette 41/120 and it made it Rock.. the
treble cut better in a mix and made it fun to play.. i gave it to my Brother
because he really liked the sound

i can't say if this is practical for others or for general purposes,
but it does work

 

[Dingo40]

My Bugari Armando model 262 CHC 41/120 PA has a little plaque saying the three middle reeds are tuned 438, 440, and 442.

 

[debra]

stretch tuning as i learned of it was from Piano tuners, and was very commonly
utilized by the guys with experience, as it is a 'by the ear" kind of thing..

...

Stretch tuning is generally avoided on accordions because we have LMH. You want a single note in LMH to sound completely dry and you want octaves to sound completely dry. But stretch tuning means that octaves are no longer dry (because the higher octave sounds a bit too high). Also, if you play two octaves (which on CBA you can do quite easily) it would not sound good at all. Stretch tuning is good for melodies, not for octaves.
Stretch tuning is always done on pianos and as far as I know wind instruments (like oboe and clarinet) all have stretch tuning: when they play high notes these notes really sound too high.
Stretch tuning is done because it is the way our hearing works. When I play the accordion the high notes sound too low to my ears. But then when I measure they are actually tuned correctly. In classical orchestral music when a "run" goes from quite low to pretty high you will notice that somewhere along these runs it is moved between instruments. A clarinet may start low and long before it reaches the top of its note range the run is taken over by the oboe. I'm pretty sure composers did this to avoid the stretch tuning from becoming too noticeable and interfering with other instruments.

 

[debra]

My Bugari Armando model 262 CHC 41/120 PA has a little plaque saying the three middle reeds are tuned 438, 440, and 442.

They indeed do make such note (inside the accordion), but in reality the middle reeds are not tuned 438, 440, 442 except for A4. The reed bank tuned high will go flat (as you go up the octaves) compared to 442 tuning and the reed bank tuned low will go sharp (as you go up the octaves) compared to 438 tuning. The result is that in MMM even the high A (which is A6) sounds pleasing, whereas playing three A6's together, tuned for 438, 440 and 442 would sound awful. The frequencies would be 1752, 1760, 1768, giving a tremolo with 16 beats per second. Ouch! When a player with a 440 accordion and one with a 442 accordion play together it doesn't sound really bad in the lowest half of the keyboard, but when you get to the highest octave it sounds terrible. To avoid this arrangements must be adapted to make the two accordions stay at least one octave apart. When the 440 accordion plays in the lower half and the 442 in the upper half it doesn't sound too bad. In fact it sounds more like accordions with stretch tuning.

 

[Dingo40]

One learns something new each day: we live in a world of illusion
Thanks Paul!

 

[Ventura]

i figured you would know the Math !

well my brother only plays melodies and maybe a few 2 finger power chords

XD