I had never heard of sharpening he D or G. Intriguing. There's some pretty deep discussion on the Melnet forum regarding this stuff, and it can be mind numbing. I don't understand much about music theory and such, but I have come to realize tuning, especially as it relates to one row accordions, is all about compromise, getting the sound you want for what you play. In getting compromises, I've seen some pretty complicated recipes for tuning.

In the end, if it sounds good to your ears, you did it right. I also do my final tuning by ear, but my ear is still learning.

Well said Bryan... It's the A and G that can be be sharpened for perfection of the D chord and C chord. It's only by a couple cents, though.

If you play a standard 440 G note, with a C note (and especially with the flattened E), you'll hear beats (wavering) in the chord... Same holds true for playing a standard A at 440 in conjunction with the D note.

Interesting, I'll give it a try.

Regarding the 4th (F), at first I didn't sharpen it, but I began using the partial chord more, so I know sharpen it only 10 cents, and that seems to sound pretty good in the partial chord, without getting too far away from the root. That's my practice until I change my mind again.

Jim, my son Michael is a music major. One day I was explaining what little I knew about the tuning of these reeds and what we call "tempering" of the 3rd and 7th notes flat, and the 4th note sharp , by 15 cents.
he immediately went into a lengthly explanation of EXACTLY why this is done, something about how the numerical value of each note as it falls in the hertz chart gets further away form the true root..... and the actual EXACT number of correction is 14-1/2 cents, but 15 is close enough..... blaw, blaw , blaw........ I told him to shut up and leave me alone because you're hurting my head.
What I can tell you is what I was told by the old timers who taught me. We temper these note so that they will "blend" . Not necessarily a chord, but two notes played together. I can't attest to other types of music, but as you well know, we ( Cajun accordion players ) use these "blends" a lot in our music. Some builders do not temper the 4th note because fiddle players and steel player complain that when they play this note against the accordion, they can hear the "wave". If this not is not tempered, and you play the 4/5 pull "blend", it will not sound good to your ear. As for "tempering" other notes in the scale ( for Cajun music ) I have never heard of anyone doing that. Not saying it shouldn't be done, just saying you're the first I've heard of doing it. I say, if you like it, then it's all good. Just for the record, the only note that is 440.00 hz is A to the 4th octave. The note G to the fourth is actually 392.00 hz. If you Google "music note hertz chart", you can see the entire chart values. BTW 1 hz = 4 cents on a strobe tuner.

Jude, I may be getting in way over my head, but I think the 4 cents per hz is only at A440, so the same hz up and down the scales would have different cent differences. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Bryan, You're probably right. As my son tried to explain to me , the EXACT ratio gets further apart as you go down the scale. If you want to get that deep in it, I can have him explain it to you . All I need to know is, 15 cents flat tempering on the 3rd and 7th ( 14-1/2 cents if you talk to Michael )

No thanks, looking the charts was mind numbing enough. I've learned that Cajun tuning is very simple, other genres make it incredibly complicated, with lots of room for debate.

Jim does have me intrigued on sharpening the 5ths by a couple cents. I did find at least one tuning chart that had that.

Cheers Jude, and thank'y for the info! I have a few accordions, with button 4 and 8 (pull) sharpened, your Bon Temps included. I enjoy having a few tuned like this, simply for a little variety...

It just occured to me (talking in C accordion terms), that my sharpening of the A slightly, makes the standard F's chord even more sh*tty sounding than it already is normal. But having a perfect D chord makes it worth it, to my ears.

Jude does Michael dig Cajun style?

No Jim, my son is a middle school band director in Houston. I built a 9 button accordion for him when he was 10 years old and taught him to play two songs. He just didn't have the passion for Cajun music like me, but he does have a passion for music.

So there's no confusion, I'll be talking about two Korg tuners I have... one is analogue, from the 70's - the other is a modern digital Korg.

As I've always used my ears to tune my accordion, to the tone... I never had any understanding of meters. That's part of the reason I didn't trust both of my Korgs. With the vintage, I assumed that the meter should be on the nose (440), with every note. I don't use the meter to get a perfect tone, with accordion reeds, just my ears. I thought there was something wrong with the old Korg. At best, I only use the meter to tell the difference in flatness and sharpness (after I get one reed perfect). It's great for this.

I've come from a background of the only tuner I ever used with a meter, was a guitar tuner (not based on measuring Hz). And I only use the tone. But, the meter always landed in the center (if it was close; never exact). That meter is what I used to use for guitars, back in the 90's. I found out real quick, hearing the tone told a story meter couldn't.

Luckily, the pitch of the tone of my modern Korg guitar tuner is absolute accuracy. As I said, I can't say the same for the meter of this guitar tuner.

Jude, you help me understand what I believed was a problem with my vintage Korg. The meter should NOT be smack on the 440 nose with every note. I learned something valuable (but I still won't trust it's meter for dead on accuracy [:))

There is, however, something wrong with the 70's Korg (tuning trainer). The tone is not dead on, even when I set the meter to A 440.

That's what I'll give a modern Korg guitar tuner. The tone is smack dab on pitch. At least the one I have. I've compared to many websites with recordings of tuning forks (for concert pitch), and there's absolutely no dissonance.

Pythagorean tuning is the basis of "cajun" tuning

See link.

For the record.. Savoy does not use the common "Cajun" tuning ... he neither flats nor sharps to the degree that others do, and I believe not all the normally retuned from 12TET as the reeds are supplied from the reed makers.

I have checked some of his boxes and spoken with him about this.

I believe the real reason is time saving and appeals to more than "Cajun" ears.

Some folks also call Cajun tuning "just" tuning.. bet there are mkore than one "just" tuning. Hohner Marine Bands and Blues Harps are "just" tuned.. as are Spcial 20's but I think modified a bit..Golden Melodies are 12TET.

If the Pythagoreum method had been presented to Sidney Brown, I'm guessing that he might have excused himself from the conversation. Given all the variables that affect tuning, a few cents this way or that may play in the lab, but not on the stage.

Iry Lejeune didn't fret too much about tuning, he just played the music, and delighted his audiences. Talent and style trump precision en la poussière.

The early Cajun builders including Brown copied German box tuning.

It is not necessary to know anything about something if you copy.

The more I learn about tuning, in it's broad sense, not just cents, the more confused I get.