tuner advice

[jurkbox73]

hi there can anyone please tell me what type of tuner to get for an accordion ?,what it is when I play F fundamental, and F major chord something doesn't sound right I am not a musician but I have a good ear it sounds out of tune to me. thanks. {}

 

[debra]

Finding out what is out of tune is not all that hard. You can use any number of tuning apps for a phone or pc to do that, as long as you can have a single reed play. The hard part is correcting it which is a trade you need to learn and it is a delicate (and "destructive") task.

 

[JeffJetton]

Any chromatic tuner should work for tuning a single reed. But a few caveats for what you're trying to do:

• Make sure that you really are playing a F fundamental and F chord button, and that you're not accidentally crossing rows, or pressing a minor chord or counterbass by accident. These finger fumbles are easy to do, especially if you're just starting out.
• Tuning an accordion is a delicate undertaking, requiring quite a bit of practice and skill. Not at all like tuning a piano or guitar. More like releveling a house foundation. The use of a professional is recommended.
• Most electronic tuners need to have a single note played... they then lock into that single pitch. With a chord button, you're playing multiple notes, so most tuners won't work if you just do that. Even with the fundamental/bass button there are often multiple reeds playing at different octaves. (There are fancier computer programs that might help discern individual chord tones--I don't have any experience in that realm.) So what you're going to need to do is remove the bass reed blocks and figure out a way to play the individual reeds outside the accordion. Most people who tune accordions build their own tuning bellows for this.
• It might not be a tuning issue. Could be a poorly-adjusted reed or bad leather or some of the other things that cause a perfectly-in-tune reed to sound wonky anyway.
• If you can play an F bass and F chord on your accordion, then you are a musician. Hate to break it to you. Welcome to the club!

You might try playing some other chords that use some of the same notes as your F chord to see which note in the chord is off. Be sure that you're pulling the bellows in the same direction as you are when the wonky F chord happens:

• If your A minor chord sounds okay, then it's probably the F note in your chord that's off. Your Bb major chord and D minor chord should also sound out-of-tune too, since they also use that same F note.
• If your C major and Bb major chords sound okay, but your D major/minor and A major/minor chords sound off, then it's probably the A note in your F chord that's off.
• If your D minor sounds good, but your C major sounds off, then it's probably the C note of the F chord that's off. Your A minor will also sound bad too in that case.

 

[jurkbox73]

I didn't know that there was so much to it I only wanted to learn how to play the accordion I know for a fact it's expensive over here in the uk whats it like in the states for repairs it might be less expensive to hire one just a thought Jeff, :hb

 

[Soulsaver]

You should be able to confirm (if necessary) your out of tune-ness with a comparison to the right hand? As far as a tuner is concerned.. have a read here http://www.accordionists.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3540&start=10

 

[colinm]

You can check the tune of single reeds by disconnecting the couplers and operating them manually on some accordions


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[kimric]

I have found that the type of microphone used makes a difference when tuning really low notes, sometimes the tuner has a hard time locking on the bass notes.

 

[debra]

I have found that the type of microphone used makes a difference when tuning really low notes, sometimes the tuner has a hard time locking on the bass notes.

Very true. When the microphone does not have good bass response the higher-frequency harmonics overpower the base note and that will throw off the tuning software.
Of course what you can do is set the tuner to the note one octave higher to actually pick up the first harmonic, but thats sufficient to check whether the note is tuned perfectly at best, not to find the true deviation.

 

[kimric]

It was hard to get a clear image in the strobe of the lowest bass notes on the Peterson tuner with the onboard mics it has. I tried a lot of different ones and found I got the best results with a contact mic on the tuning table