The accordion has to be tuned. Tuning bellows is also very important. The sort of accordion tuning required and the frequency with which it must be performed varies according to the type of accordion. Nevertheless, it is in your best interest to take your accordion to a trained expert so that it may be tuned correctly.
If you are confused about whether your accordion requires tuning, you can always check it by playing two notes and trying to hear if there’s a difference in tone.
This article will walk you through the process of accordion tuning. You will get to know the different kinds of accordion tuning as well. Additionally, the information here will help you determine how often you should be tuning your accordions and how to tell if it requires a tuning job or proper accordion tuning.
Reed tuning and tuning bellows explained
To tune most accordions or “squeezeboxes,” you have to tinker around with the reeds inside the entire accordion. Don’t think of it as a violin or a guitar where you just have to twist the knobs until the string produces the right tone.
We can’t do this as frequently with reeds since when tuning them, you have to remove metal from the reeds’ tongues. The entire accordion tuning procedure is much more time-consuming than tuning a stringed instrument. The entire accordion itself is where the tongues get their final adjustment for tuning. When tuned, they are given a little higher tone before they are installed in the accordion.
However, the reed blocks, the valves, and the architecture of the squeezebox all have an impact on the pitch of the produced by each reed tongue. Reeds must be returned once they have been attached to the reed blocks successfully. How the valves are operated also affects the reeds’ pitch. Additionally, it has to be managed accordingly.
The process of accordion tuning must be broken down into multiple stages. Additionally, the accordion’s pitch may shift after being played for some time. Maintaining a steady temperature in the room is important.
The entire accordion must have spent at least a day acclimating to the room’s temperature. Any manipulation that takes place on the accordion for a longer period causes temperature changes. As a result, each reed’s complete, precise tuning needs to be carried out over multiple days.
Not only are reed tongues capable of being tuned higher, but they can also be tuned lower. The pitch of a note may be altered by removing metals from the tongue’s edge, whereas removing metals from the tongue’s root lowers the pitch.
In order to tune, one requires a variety of equipment, including hooks, files, scratchers, Losblattchen, and so on. In addition, purchasing electronic accordion tuning equipment for oneself is something that comes highly recommended. This doesn’t have to be a pricey device. Low-cost computer software will easily do the job. But you shouldn’t solely rely on the electronic tuner to get a good tune.
It is recommended that the tune should be checked using the different tones. If one is skilled enough, accordion tuning by using one’s own ear is significantly more accurate and may be done much more quickly.
It is necessary to install and then tune first to hear good sounds from the pull action-tuned reeds. To get to the interior reed tongues, you will need a hook to hoist it up high enough to file.
If you alter the reed’s “set,” you’ll need to bend it to get it back into its proper place. Through the manipulation process, the tongue gap, which refers to the length of the reed’s tip to the reed plate, may be altered in each instance.
This way, the reed tongue should be slightly bent backward again, if necessary, once the adjustment has been made. This back-bending changes the reed’s tune. Taking reeds from the reed blocks changes the pitch, especially on high tunes.
Tools needed when tuning an accordion
A pick
This may be built using two sets of pliers (needle nose) and the wiring from a normal hair clip. The instrument should include a handle and a little hook at the base. The radius ought to be between 3 to 4 millimeters. Also, cover the wire with electrical tape.
A blade
Use a narrow hacksaw blade. After cutting a length measuring 100 millimeters, the second step is using a Dremel equipped with a circular filing tool or a file to smooth off one of the blade’s edges by removing the serrations and creating a rounded corner. Lastly, try to give the round tool a subtle taper, so the two sides have sharp edges.
Files
For one accordion, you could need as many as six different steel files. Most hardware shops have these at a reasonable price. These files wear out faster than larger ones, but they may be better for scratching the accordion’s reed since most of them have a sharp edge that can be used.
Assorted valves
You must purchase these from your local accordion store or order them online. These are very hard to find, especially if you’re only checking general music stores.
Electronic tuner
Even the most skilled accordion tuners still use an electric tuner to ensure that the instrument has proper tuning. Some of these electric tuning devices come with microphone systems.
Tuning the reeds
When tuning the instrument, one starts with the “Gleichtone” found inside the accordion in the second row. The pull tongues should be tackled first since getting to them is the most challenging. Because the tongues of low reeds are so huge and robust, a significant amount of material can be removed from them using a file throughout a particular period.
Because the higher reeds are so much smaller, a proportionally lower amount of material has to be removed to achieve the same frequency change. Be very careful when dealing with high reeds. In many cases, a little scratch-made with the file is all that is required to bring about a significant alteration in the tone’s pitch, particularly in the high tones.
A thin metal plate is placed between both the reed tongue and plates to stabilize it during filing. The Germans refer to this as the “Losblattchen.” It’s built from a tapered bass reed tongue. When filing the reeds, use just the underside of the filing tool on the tongue.
As you file the tongue, its swinging mass decreases, and the tone rises. As you file above the reeds’ roots, the tongue thins, the elasticity weakens, and the particular note lowers. After each file, the pitch is checked using electronic tuners and rhythms by ear.
When you are filing the roots of the reeds’ tongue, you need to exercise extreme care. If you file a notch, the reed is more likely to crack or damage. This is why you should never file it using the edge.
Scratching rather than filing makes the reed’s tongue less rigid without breaking the reed plate’s groove. This is handy for lowering pull chords’ pitch. To avoid re-filing the tip or risk making the reed too thin, be careful not to scrub away too much material.
When playing high tunes, the tip of the tongue must be extremely thin, and you may need to scrape with the tool away from the rivet. Doing so prevents the tongue tip from bending in an awkward position.
It is essential to maintain an equal thickness in the cross-section of the tongue while playing high notes; otherwise, the tongue may vibrate into the margins of the mouth when playing. If it is feasible, you may file the surface of the tip once with your right hand and then once with your left hand. This will ensure that the surface is smooth and that the thickness is consistent.
If you wish to adjust a reed’s tongue across greater intervals, such as a full tone deeper or even just a halftone, enough materials would likely be scraped, and filing the reeds is risky and fairly time-consuming. If you remove too much material during inspections, your reed can’t be returned.
You can use one other method for that, but only do so when it is necessary. That method involves applying the material to the edge of the reed tongue using a soldering iron, in either light solder or by adding a metal weight. It is recommended to use spot welding to join the brass component to the reed tongue.
This practice is still common in today’s manufacturing facilities. You will hear that the quality of the note will deteriorate if the tongue becomes too weak. Balance mass and spring force. The only change that should occur is a deeper note.
The tongue’s tuning should remain the same after the procedure. It is necessary to adjust the tone of the reed by scraping away any excess brass or solder in order to get the desired tuning. The solder must stay on the reed’s upper surface.
A sheet of paper is used to cover the upper reeds in the detachable helicon reed system to tune extremely low tones on the bass end. After blocking it, reassemble the accordion by applying sticky tape to every side of the instrument.
To tune the reed in question, play the tone and try to hear for the beat to discover whether the chosen reed is not in tune with the upper reed that corresponds to it on the treble end. An electric tuner should be able to spot whether it is sharp, flat, or simply out of tune. You can remove the reed by pulling it out with a hook, but on extremely low reeds, you can simply remove the reeds and alter the tune without any difficulty.
You may tune it, put it back in, play, and check for rhythm. You can play many tones at once if you create tunes using a number of different reeds each time. However, be cautious since there are situations when we can’t recall the precise offset. Start one-by-one.
Deep helicon reeds cause tuning issues. If the reeds do not produce the same change in pitch when exposed to various air densities, then the tongues will need to be swapped out. It is necessary to use both reeds in order to complete the finishing tuning of helicon reeds.
When they are played simultaneously in tandem an octave apart, a little pitch shift occurs if the reeds are active. In most cases, the tunes become somewhat sharper.
What to do after you tune the reeds in the reed block?
Tongue gaps must be adjusted once reeds have been tuned in the reed block. The tongue gap refers to the amount of space that exists between the tongue’s tip and the reed plate. Scratching or filing the reeds makes this false. The width of the tongue should roughly correspond to the size of the space in the tongue. This is a good rule of thumb to follow.
Lower reeds found in the reed block require bigger tongue spaces than upper reeds do because the tongues on lower reeds are more robust. When using the scratcher, the distance is adjusted by gently bending the tongue in the direction matching the desired adjustment. If you want to increase the size of the space between the tongue, you may also try pressing the “Losblattchen” gently beneath the tongue.
You may also alter the tongue gap to get the correct tuning from the reeds. This adjustment requires greater precision. When the tongue gap is smaller, it is easier for it to respond to a tiny pressure from the bellows. However, this may also result in the notes choking. It won’t make a sound if you blow the reed abruptly with great pressure. Wide tongue gaps protect against this risk, and high bellows pressure is maintained throughout speech thanks to the tongue.
Difference between Spot Tuning and Full Tuning
There are two ways to tune an accordion. These are called spot tuning and full tuning. For you to determine what kind of tuning your accordion needs, let’s go ahead and talk about the difference between these two methods.
Spot Tuning Accordions
When you only partially tune your accordion, this is called spot tuning. This means not all of the reeds are tuned. Instead, you will have to look for the specific reed that sounds off or produces bad-sounding notes and tune that.
In most cases, the musician will rely on their sense of hearing to identify which of the reeds are not in tune. Nevertheless, a more methodical method is also a viable option. For instance, the musician may only adjust the tune of a reed if it is significantly out of tune. An example is when it is out by over 4ct or reaches some other predetermined threshold. Because of this, some reeds would be in perfect tune, while others would either be less or more in tune. This depends on the threshold for tuning.
Full Tuning Accordions
When fully tuning your accordion, you have to check every single one of your reed blocks. Usually, the tuner restricts the tremolo reeds from vibrating. Then it tunes the middle reeds until it reaches concert pitch. After all of these reeds have been tuned to the correct pitch, tremolo reeds are adjusted relative to the other accordion reeds.
In most cases, when it comes to spot tuning, they are tuned independently at first, and then in a second stage, they are fine-tuned along with the middle reeds using the ear. All of the reeds in the reed block will then be in tune.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Spot tuning and Full Tuning
The major benefits of spot tuning are that it is significantly quicker and less expensive than full tuning. When the accordion has a high number of reeds, such as on a big 5-voice piano accordion, spot tuning is very much the norm. The difference in cost between full tuning and spot tuning may be several days’ worth of labor. This is equivalent to a price difference of several hundreds of dollars. Lastly, a good tuner could get you close to a full tuning with a meticulous spot tuning.
One of the drawbacks of spot tuning is that it will never result in your accordion being perfectly in tune. If the factory that made the accordion employed spot tuning, then the instrument was really never completely in tune. But don’t worry. If spot tuning is done well, you won’t be hearing much disparity in tuning. On the other hand, you should anticipate that your accordion will lose its tune more quickly than an accordion that is perfectly tuned.
Difference between Wet tuning and Dry Tuning Bellows
The reeds of an accordion are dry tuned when tuned in synchrony, generating a pitch similar to the other reeds.
The accordion is considered wet tuned when the accordion’s reeds are tuned differently. This means one or more reeds are tuned somewhat sharper or higher, while the other are tuned to produce a concert pitch. The use of this tuning method achieves the tremolo effect.
Tremolo is a tuning effect that is created when two “similar” notes have a little differing pitch. This is when one note is pitched higher than others. It causes an audible acoustic vibration to occur.
Tremolo tuning is also another term for this method of tuning. It tends to create a full-bodied, hefty, and booming tune.
Dry tuning makes a bright, clear, and generally softer tone, but it can also produce very sharp sounds and notes.
Wet or tremolo tuning, on the other hand, is becoming less popular in contemporary Irish music. Most contemporary Irish accordion players tune their instruments to a swing style. Swing tuning is a combination of wet and dry tuning. It combines the strengths of both approaches and works great for Irish traditional music.
Musette Tuning
Two middle reeds are required to use the musette tuning method. If both reeds are tuned to the very same pitch, this should sound like just a single reed is being played. However, the tune it will produce is a little thicker when musette tuning is applied.
Musette-style accordions may be difficult to play since they require tuning the two reeds separately. These two somewhat “out-of-tune” middle reeds will battle one another to produce a rich sound when performed together in that instrument. The more out of tune they are, the quicker and more powerful the production of the rich tuning is.
Many musette accordions feature three middle reeds to provide a fuller tuning. It is common practice to tune the second reed a little lower than the first reed and the first reed a little higher than the third reed. However, there are times when this is not the case. For instance, the second and first reeds may be adjusted higher than the third reed, resulting in a lower pitch.
Double Octave or Straight Tuned
Straight tuning or double octave tuning is an alternative to musette tuning. Musette tuning may also be a double octave. An octavina reed replaced the “flat” middle reed of accordions tuned using the musette method for this particular tuning method.
Standard four-reed instruments include a clarinet reed (8′), a piccolo reed (4′), and a bassoon reed (16′). If an accordion only has three arrays of reeds, they are usually 16′, 8′, and 8′. Sometimes instruments come in with the unusual configuration of 16′, 8′, and 4′, but this is not a common configuration today since there’s no 2nd 8′ reed to make the tremolo note.
The Different Voices of an Accordion
Accordions may have several voices. The term “voice” describes the number of reeds attached to the treble or right side of the accordion.
Accordions use a single or more reed to generate a note when one key on the right end is pushed. The number of voices per note is the number of reeds playing simultaneously.
In this case, a two-voice accordion will sound like two reeds for every single key hit. When you push a key on an accordion that has three voices, all three of the instrument’s reeds will make a sound.
One Voice
Most accordions with one voice are small and light. They make a bright and clear tone, like a small whistle.
Two Voice
The most prevalent kind of accordion is a two-voice accordion. Typically, the tuning of two reeds for each chord is done such that they are extremely close to being at a similar pitch, though not quite.
Reeds are often tuned such that one is at concert pitch while another is somewhat sharper than that. A minor change in pitch causes the distinctive tremolo effect associated with a traditional accordion’s sound.
Three Voice
On an accordion with three voices, the arrangement is often called LMM, which stands for low/middle. The sound produced by the L or low reed, set an octave deeper than the M reed, gives each note a fuller, more robust quality.
Four Voice
Generally speaking, an LMMH arrangement is used for a four-voice accordion. Unlike the M voice, the H reeds are pitched a chord higher and provide a bright, sharp sound. When all voices are used, these accordions make a full and strong sound.
Tips on how to properly take care of your accordion
There are a lot of factors to consider if you want to keep your accordion in tune for a longer time. Keep these tips in mind so you won’t have to keep getting it tuned while also prolonging the accordion’s lifespan:
Be careful
Take extreme caution whenever you pick up or set down your instrument. Always keep both your hands on it while maintaining a firm grip. Even from a relatively low height, dropping an accordion may result in irreparable damage.
When traveling with the instrument, it is recommended that the bellows straps on the bottom and top be locked so that they do not fall out. When you are transporting your accordion, be very cautious not to press any of the bass buttons since this might cause harm to the bass mechanics.
Keep it in a case
Whenever possible, keep your instrument in its case. This helps to keep it free from anything that might harm the instrument, such as dampness and other substances. Try to keep it away from excessive humidity, cold, or heat. Too much dampness may warp the instrument’s reeds.
If you don’t have an accordion case, you should always keep it on a firm, level surface with its keyboard side up and parallel to the ground. Ensure that it is always stored with the correct orientation at all times.
An accordion has leather tabs that block back strain from non-sounding reeds. Valve mechanisms may be maintained if the instrument is stored in an upright position. If you store it in any other orientation, one of the sets of valves will be bent under the force of gravity, which will destroy the tone and need more frequent retuning.
Store it at an acceptable temperature
Joints made of glue or wax, which may melt when exposed to heat, are used to hold the components of your instrument together. Avoid placing the instrument next to a furnace, blower, or sunny window. Don’t leave the accordion in the trunk of your car either because the temperature there is very unpredictable. In addition, the accordion might sustain damage from tremors inside the trunk, particularly if not kept correctly.
If you have just brought the accordion inside after being outside in the chilly weather, remove it from its case and allow it to warm up for thirty minutes or more before playing it. Because of the quick shift in temperature, condensation may form on the reeds. You will need to allow sufficient time for the condensation to evaporate before continuing, or else the moisture will damage the reeds.
Don’t overplay your accordion
It’s very tempting to practice playing the accordion every single day, especially if you’re looking to speed up your learning process. However, the more you play your accordion, the sooner it will need to be returned.
As you push air through each set of reeds, they will gradually move and finally get dislodged, which will affect the sound produced by the instrument.
Store and use it in a clean area
It’s not a good idea to take your accordion to the beach or play it in the rain. Reeds exposed to the ocean air may corrode more quickly than they would otherwise.
Because the accordion works by pulling airflow into it, dust can enter the instrument if it is played in a very dusty atmosphere.
Also, if you want to store an accordion, you should cover it so that dust doesn’t get on your instrument. In addition, as was discussed before, the accordion needs to be placed on its buttons side to maintain the valves’ flaps in excellent condition.
What causes sour notes on most accordions?
The slot sustaining damage
An example of this is when the accordion reed strikes the metal inside the slot and abruptly becomes more abrasive as the instrument plays louder. This happens on the high reeds.
Loose, faulty, or wrong reed rivets
In the worst possible scenario, they are able to prevent the reed from playing at all by causing it to rotate laterally across the slot.
Cheap metal or over-turning
Both of these circumstances will result in the reed being flattened in the reed blocks as more air moves through it. Because of this, an accordion that is in tune at a particular pressure may get out of tune when the loudness or pressure is adjusted.
Scratching and filing are the two methods that are used to tune the accordion reeds. Inexperienced accordion tuners may harm or deform the reeds via scraping the plate or filing away too much steel.
Incorrect reed clearing
In most cases, the distance between the slot and the reed tip should be about equivalent to its thickness. The tip needs to be slightly elevated just above its slot. Too much clearance wastes air and causes pitching. If there is insufficient space, the reed tends to “choke” when subjected to a fast shift in pressure.
Reed valves that have been improperly bonded
The “leather” of the reed shouldn’t exceed the size of the slot in which the adhesive is placed. It will have to lie the entire size of a slot in order to prevent the reeds from wasting pressure and going sharp.
However, it must be able to flex readily to prevent excessive pressure from accumulating, which would cause it to become flat. In other words, the denser the air, the less quickly it can resonate. 20% of the valve end is glued.
Faulty reeds
Reeds that are about to shatter due to excessive wear will first lose their high pitch, then drop to a lower register, and then break completely.
Cheap or old wax
After 20 to 30 years, the special wax that is used in most accordions to keep the reeds in position within the reed blocks will become completely unusable. Even if the reeds are fastened in with small nails in certain old accordions, the old accordion may still be used with faulty wax, provided all other factors are the same.
Nonetheless, accurate tuning cannot be achieved without pouring fresh wax. This is partly due to the fact that the old accordion wax breaks up into pieces and spreads all over the place when disturbed. If somehow the reed is not properly secured, it may buzz, which results in an unpleasant sound. Alternatively, it may only leak air, which results in a faint sound; or it may become sharp.
Dirt or rust in the reeds
The accordion’s reeds will be completely ruined beyond repair if it is played under the rain or near the ocean. This is because salt rust creates holes inside the accordion.
If you kept an old accordion in a cellar for an extended period of time, or if you opened it and tested the reeds by blowing on the bars, the reeds will most likely fall flat. This will cause the tune to sound terrible.
Usually, accordions like this would have a musty or moldy odor. If the damage is serious enough, the work of tuning is made far more difficult, and it may not be financially viable to restore or make repairs to these accordions.
Missing or disfigured reed valves
Valve curling or missing. Every single reed, except the highest tuned ones, has to have a directed valve affixed to the very top of a slot just on the edge of the plate that is against the reed. In most cases, this will be crafted from a specific leather. However, in the case of more modern Hohner accordions, they will be crafted from a synthetic substance.
When a reed is played, this causes the air to push it outwards, and it then snaps back into place whenever the opposing flow of air triggers the reed on either edge of a plate. This could have a “booster,” which is a little spring, put onto the fixed end that is fastened to ensure that it snaps back into place quickly.
If the valve is not lying flat, it’ll either come right back just after the reed begins to create sound, resulting in a sudden transition in volume and pitch, it will not go back at all. This results in a sharpening in the pitch that sounds out of tune and wastes air.
This might be because the used accordion was placed in a horizontal posture, which causes half of the valves to droop open owing to the force of gravity, or it could be because the accordion curled up because of the humidity and heat. Most old accordions are intended to be kept in a vertical position. This ensures that the reed’s “leathers” do not get bent or distorted.
Frequently Asked Questions about Accordion Tuning
What’s the difference between a Button Accordion and Piano Accordion?
Button Accordion
Button accordions are very popular in Russia and parts of Eastern Europe. In these countries, a button accordion is called “Bayans.”
Up to five sections of buttons that are laid out in a chromatic pattern running diagonally may be found on the treble keypad. Notes from rows 1 & 2 are repeated in rows 4 & 5, which are located closest to the treble grills, to facilitate fingering.
There are two-button layouts that are equivalent to one another. These are C and B. Choosing a system is a matter of personal taste, frequently affected by your instructor’s preference for a particular layout and system implementation.
Compared to piano accordions, button accordions are more portable and provide access to a wider variety of tonal possibilities. Because the buttons are so near to one another, it is much simpler to make significant jumps and stretches towards other notes. Therefore, compositions that require a high level of technical skill are a good fit for button accordions.
Piano Accordion
Most people in the West are familiar with and use piano accordions, which are the most common form of accordion available.
The piano accordion’s treble keyboard consists of keys similar to that of pianos that span anywhere from two to four octaves in pitch.
Since most people are already comfortable playing the keyboard, playing a piano accordion is a good place to start for those new to the instrument.
Piano accordions are versatile instruments that may be used to perform any kind of music. Lightweight and tiny piano accordions are well suited for traditional musical forms. The full-size 120-bass piano accordion gives the most versatility, particularly if you want to perform classical music repertoire.
Is it really necessary to tune my accordion?
Accordions, in general, need to be tuned. More specifically, it must be set to a particular key in order for them to produce the right sound. They will sound off and possibly even produce unpleasant notes if they are not in tune.
A harmonic interval that is five notes apart from the base of a scale is referred to as a fifth. To produce it, play two tones that are separated by a fifth from one another. If your instrument is set to the key of C, this should imitate a fifth up towards the note of G. (C-D-E-F-G). If the instrument you are playing is not in proper tune, the fifth would be broken, which will result in a discordant sound.
Adjusting the lengths of reeds found inside the accordion is required in order to properly tune this instrument. The tone of the chord may be adjusted in this manner by repositioning the little metal tabs that are attached to the reeds.
However, given the level of difficulty involved, this is not something that a novice should try to do. Instead, you should take the instrument to a skilled accordion manufacturer so that it can be turned regularly.
Attempting to tune an accordion on your own might cause harm to the instrument, rendering it unplayable. Instead, you should exercise patience and invest money in having a professional repair your accordion.
How often do you need to tune an accordion?
In general, you should get your accordion tuned once every six months to once per year. The timeframe depends on how frequently you play or practice. When you should have your accordion tuned also depends on several other elements, like the air’s humidity level and your instrument’s age.
It is recommended that you train your ear a little so that you can detect whenever a note is out of tune. Until you’re confident, use an electric tuner.
How long does it take to have an accordion professionally tuned?
A thorough accordion tuning takes a skilled technician around one hour to complete in most cases. This may take a shorter or longer amount of time, depending on how far out of harmony your instrument is. In the event that the issue with the tuning is very small, they will conduct a spot tuning, which takes around 20 minutes; otherwise, they would perform a thorough or full tuning.
Spot tunings involve making minute modifications to the size and location of specific reeds, often after the instrument has been tuned to a particular pitch. A few of the reeds may still not be tuned properly after spot tuning, but it won’t be enough to alter how your playing sounds.
When doing a full or complete accordion tuning, the tuner will examine each reed and make necessary adjustments to bring it to pitch as part of the process. Before fixing the tremolo reeds, they will begin by tuning the middle reeds.
The tuner will adjust it to a concert pitch. After each tremolo reeds have been brought into relative tune with the instrument’s middle reeds, the tuner will do one more round of fine-tuning on all the reeds to ensure that they are at the correct pitch.
Additionally, suppose the tuner notices some mechanical problems, for example. In that case, the bellows need to be replaced, or the accordion wood needs repairs; they will let you know and try to make the necessary repairs.
How do I check if my accordion is out of tune?
In most cases, a good tuner is the most effective method for ensuring that an accordion is correctly tuned. A tuner is an electronic device that is used in the tuning of a wide range of instruments. It shows the frequency of a chord while it’s played and allows users to alter the note’s pitch until it’s correctly tuned along with the rest of the notes.
Even if you are unable to modify the pitch by yourself, you will at least be able to determine whether or not every note is already in sync with others. You can use harmonicas to check if it’s out of tune. Take your accordion to a skilled accordion maker if you notice out-of-tune notes.
Because of the difficulty in accordion tuning compared to a violin, guitar, or pianos, beginner accordion musicians ought to be aware of this while performing with other musicians.
Because you perform using the most challenging instrument to tune, other performers will need to adjust how they tune their instruments to accommodate you. Because of this, it is more essential to take your accordion to be tuned if you have the impression that it is beginning to sound out of tune.
How much will it cost to get old accordions tuned by a professional?
The cost of a tuning job may range anywhere from $100 to $300. Large cities with thriving music scenes and many instrument stores that are in direct rivalry with one another tend to have somewhat lower prices.
On the other hand, the price may go considerably higher in areas wherein accordion tuning would be a really special ability only offered by a specialist or good tuner.
If you reside in a more remote place with few people who play classical music or produce instruments, people claim that you will need to ship your accordion elsewhere to be tuned. This will result in significantly higher costs and might take a couple of days or a week to complete.
The final word on Accordion tuning
Before you start tuning your accordion at home, ensure you have the necessary skill and information. If you’re not used to tuning an accordion, you could mess up its tune up even more or, worse yet, cause irreparable damages.
It’s better to hire a professional to take a look at it. If you think it’s too expensive, do what you can to keep your accordion in tune longer.
My introduction to accordion music was by way of Zydeco and Tex-Mex music. Once I got my hands on my very own squeezebox, I was hooked. Let me tell you, playing the accordion is every bit as fun as listening to it. Thanks for joining me in my exploration of the awesome world of accordions and all its amazing versions!
