Accordion tuner

The accordion's three As in Hz

The reference switch above sets which column the needle reads against.

How to check an accordion with this tuner

Press the clarinet register, the switch with a single dot in the middle of its circle: one 8′ middle reed. No clarinet switch? Any register with a single dot sounds one reed: the bassoon (dot at the bottom, a 16′ reed an octave down) or the piccolo (dot at the top, an octave up). Their As sound an octave away from the chips here, so read them on the chromatic tuner, which names whatever sounds. On an accordion with two middle reeds and no switches the tremolo is always on and no needle can settle: there, only a repairer with the reed blocks out can read one reed. Tap start and hold A3, the A below middle C, with a gentle, even bellows; then A4 and A5 as the tuner asks. Then tap A3 again and read each A the other way: once on the push, once on the pull. On a piano accordion every note has two reeds per voice, one for each direction, and the two drift apart. An accordion isn't tuned before you play, the way a guitar is: it holds for years, and a band tunes to it.

If all three As read about the same few cents sharp, nothing is out of tune: the accordion was built to a higher A. About 8 cents sharp at 440 means it sits at 442, about 12 at 443, about 20 at 445; press 442 and read again. One A far from the other two, or push and pull apart, is a reed out of tune. Keep the bellows pressure the same for every reading: pushed hard, a free reed sags flat, the low ones most.

Can accordions be out of tune?

Yes, slowly. A reed is a steel tongue riveted over a slot. Dirt on its tip weighs it down and makes it flat; rust and years of playing change the steel. The wax that holds the reed plates dries and cracks and the valves curl, so a note often goes weak or airy before it goes sour. Heat moves a steel reed far less than it moves the air column of a flute or a clarinet; a hot car does its damage to the wax. Signs that it needs work: one note of the musette pulses much faster or slower than its neighbours, the push and the pull of a key sound different, or chords sound sour against a piano.

Musette, tremolo, and why the needle jumps

With two or three middle reeds on (the violin and musette registers), the extra reeds are tuned away from the first on purpose: one sharp, or one sharp and one flat. Two reeds a little apart beat, and you hear one note that pulses. Fed two reeds at once, a tuner can't settle, so read one register at a time. Players name the pulse, from dry (almost none) to wet (fast and wide, the French musette). In beats a second, at A4:

The same cents beat twice as fast an octave up, so a maker sets the tremolo in beats, note by note, with the reed blocks out. This page reads one reed; it doesn't set tremolo.

Can you tune an accordion yourself?

You can, slowly, and better not first on a good instrument. Open the bellows frame, lift out the reed blocks and sound one reed at a time, on a tuning bellows or with its neighbours blocked. Removing metal near the tip raises a reed; near the rivet it lowers it. A few strokes, then read it again: filed steel doesn't come back, and a reed taken too far gets replaced. Clean before you file; a speck of dirt can be the whole problem. The tools: a reed lifter or a strip of thin spring steel slid under the tongue, needle or diamond files or a scratcher, and a tuner. The tuner on this page reads a single sustained reed; setting the musette needs one that reads beats, which is what workshop programs such as Dirk's Accordion Tuner are used for.

How much does it cost to tune an accordion?

It is counted in reeds. A 41-key piano accordion with four voices has 41 × 4 × 2 = 328 treble reeds, before the bass side. A few sour notes are a small job; a full tuning with the wax and valves done is a big one. McNeela Music's guide puts a partial tuning at $60 to $150 and a full one higher (read October 2026). Ask for a quote for the job, and whether it includes setting the tremolo. Many players have it checked every few years; one played gently at home goes much longer.

The best tuner for an accordion

To check an accordion, any chromatic tuner that shows cents and lets you set A = 440 or 442 does the job: this page, in the phone's browser, no app. To tune reeds, a repairer wants more: a reading to a tenth of a cent, and one that shows the beat between two reeds for the musette. That is what workshop software such as Dirk's Accordion Tuner, or a strobe tuner, is for.

Accordion tuner near me

An accordion is tuned by an accordion repairer, usually not a piano tuner: the work is on the reeds, at a bench. Accordion dealers, clubs and teachers know who does it; many repairers take instruments by post, in the case, padded and insured. Before you go, read the three As here on push and pull and write down the cents and the reference; it tells the repairer what you hear.

The bass side and button accordions

A bass button sounds several reeds an octave apart at once. The tuner reads the strongest, so a clean reading can hide one octave that is off. On a diatonic button accordion each button plays one note on the push and another on the pull. For any note that isn't an A, the chromatic tuner names whatever you play.

The notes you tuned go into Brumm as a short melody over a beat.