Welcome to old and new friends who are interested in discussing Cajun and other diatonic accordions, along with some occasional lagniappe....



CAJUN ACCORDION DISCUSSION GROUP

 

General Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: Hohner 112 tuning

Now that all the experts have responded... here's some facts

A common HA112 having 2 middle reeds will have the usual HOHNER wet tuning that approximates about 17 cents in the middle of the keyboard.

These are also tuned 12TET or a Western style temepered tuning.

The ONLY wat to get this box to sound "Cajun" is to have it retuned to a JUST tuning ie what the Cajuns like to call "Cajun" tuning... this dates back a couple thousand years and was first used in harmonicas and accordeons starting around 1829 in Autria/Bohemia/Saxony/Germany etc

So now the other decision is whether or not to tune to box DRY or some degree of wetness.. such as 5 cents plus on one reed or 10 cents or even Hohner's
goopy wet 17 plus...

If you want THE Cajun sound... have the box tuned
to JUST or "CAJUN" tuning then dead dry or unison
tuning

A box tuned 5 cents low and the other reed 5 cents high ( those this was not mentioned we will assume from A 440) and still tuned 12TET will sound like the old traditional Quebec tuning...,
I strongly recommend AGAINST doing this...
even in JUST or "Cajun" tuning.. it will flat sound like Shxx for anything other than old Quebec style.. which BTW is 90% of the time in D
So in my opinion a dumb move...

Keep in mind "musette" tuning from France Italy or Scotland was usually some kind of tuning that had 3 ( or more middle)reeds... one at 440 one lower and one higher.. and of course tempered and not JUST or "Cajun" tuning.
This is that wet sound that wont work with other instruments very well and total caca for singing


So for the simple short answer

1. JUST ( or Cajun) tuning
2. Dry or unison tuning in conjunction with the above

Another thought from someone who owns and has owned lots of boxes at least half of them Hohners and half of those one rows and a current owner of an HA112
they sound absolutely fantastic dry or just a couple cents above dry on one set of reeds...

Hohner HA 112 and 113 and 114 models have been JUST or "CAJUN" tuned: over the years many boxes were made by CAJUN builders with HOHNER reeds action and or slider and they sounded great

Simply having the box tuned and dried out a bit will be a vast improvement

I will assume the box is in C ?

good luck

and remember
everything you read on the interent is posted by experts and the information is to be believed in it's totality; Especially on discussion groups who are as broad minded and wordly as this one. ( and free fom bias)

BTW I am converting an HA112 in A to a non stopper
laydown block style in a tempered tuning and just a scrid of wetness... of course padding the keyboard

Good luck

Re: Hohner 112 tuning

Short answer with one reed maybe
shorter answer no

Re: Hohner 112 tuning

Jeff Hildreth
Short answer with one reed maybe
shorter answer no

Thanks, you saved me a lot of trouble. Now to repair uncle's weatherbeaten 114C, a free-bee, (at least it was made in Germany c.197?) but am afraid what it might cost to restore to playability. Has moisture/mildew and bad smell. Bass reed (D push?) rasps when played. Ain't too many accordion repairers around my parts!

Re: Hohner 112 tuning

Maybe swap some parts if possible? Better to have one duck flying high, than two drowned in the pond ...

- As for Cajun tuning; i don't mind playing Quebecois and Celtic stuff on a Cajun tuned melodeon, but i know for sure that most purists prefer an equal tuned instrument for that.

- Your bass/chord reed on push is normally a C-major chord, on pull a G-Major. PS i always wonder if the thirds in those chords should be Cajun tuned as well; as i found that sometimes a new Cajun accordion has the bass chords tuned normally.

- Nout

Re: Hohner 112 tuning

It is not so much being a "purist" but preferring
to not stick out like a sore thumb when playing with other instruments.

12TET and close to dry works with nearly everything

If I had one box for everything including Cajun and Irish and English and French and Quebec.. it would be tempered tuning and close to if not dead dry.

Re: Hohner 112 tuning

Hi Everyone,

Thanks again for your great comments. Just an update, I bought the 112, a very sweet instrument and cleaned out the bellows of the 114, which has improved its playability greatly, plus largely removed that nasty smell! I also got a quote to replace the damaged bass reed on the 114 for $130 (parts and labour), which sounds reasonable. That means that for less than $400 I'll end up with two fine sounding Hohner one-rows. Now that's what I'm talkin' about...


Regards,

Tony



Jamey Hall's most excellent Cajun Accordion Music Theory

Brett's all new Cajun Accordion Music Theory for all keys!

LFR1.gif - 1092 Bytes The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week

augusta.gif - 6841 Bytes

Listen to Some GREAT Music While You Surf the Net!!
The BEST Radio Station on the Planet!