I read on one of the recent posts that after 50 hours of play on a new accordion, it should be returned to the builder to have the tuning tweeked.
I own a MARTIN key of C box, with over 50 hours of playing time. Is this really necessary?

When you play any of the notes on your accordions, do any of them sound like they're wavering? Maybe wavering is not the correct term, but I can't think of any other way to put it.

Email me at JimPettijohn@comcast.net

I can give you my number and I could tell you over the phone if it's out of tune, no problemo

If it is wet tuned, I'll explain how we can figure it out as well

Jim

You can play quite long on an accordion before it needs tuning, depends on the accordion. Some say that they sound better when they get a little out of tune. Sometimes after tuning you may think that it's spoilt by the tuner, but then it takes some weeks before it has its glance back.( IMH Experience) of course).

Gus

little digital tuners are pretty cheap these days. Pick yourself up one and see what if any reeds are out of tune. From what I understand some of the tradtional Cajun tuning some notes are supposed to be a bit flat or sharp, but I need to defer to others who know much more about this.

Hal

Marc Savoy explains the peculiarities of Cajun tuning pretty well. Essentially, the thirds are tuned flat to make chords sound sweeter and remove the beats. So on a C tuned accordion, you will find the E and the B notes tuned 15 cents flat. This is separate issue from Dry or Wet tuning, which is how close the two middle reeds are tuned to each other. Dry is between 5 and 15 cents apart, wet is about 25 cents apart.

My LeCapitaine is about 10 years old and still sounds great. I have heard some people say 20 years is a decent time to wait before getting a box tuned. I've played 50 year old accordions and concertinas that are still for practical purposes "in tune".

Capt. E

Actually, dry tuning is.......dry. The notes are tuned EXACTLY together. Anything other than that is some degree of "wet" tuning.
Jude

I had a dream last night about my 10 cent wet F accordion. I'm so looking forward to it

Interesting, Marc Savoy in his 40 minute tuning video says 15 cents..????

i think 15 cents is too much wettiness for cajun, 10 cents might be better, maybe that's called swing tuning in stead of wet .... ? - but i really wonder what a half penny would sound like ... nout

Nout, we're not talking about wet tuning.... We're talking about CAJUN tuning. Meaning the E's and B's on a C accordion are tuned flat. Most musicians not of the Cajun genre would call it tempered tuning.

I believe it is 10 cents flat for Cajun tuning. I don't think Marc said 15 cents flat. It's 10

Probably was 10 cents. I'm running on memory of watching the video once. I did find it very interesting and it cleared up several points about Cajun tuning.

I've heard of people here talk about tuning o cents, 5 cents, 10, 15, even 25 (which is a real musette). A lot of Zydeco seems to be tuned "wetter" and do not flatten the thirds because they are playing a multi-row box. Doesn't work at all with a multi-row box, creates real problems.

Capt. E.