Digital Tuners Retread

[howard lee]

Those of you who use clip-in digital chromatic tuners for guitar,

which is your absolute most favorite, accurate, dependable, reach-for tuner?

I have had a couple of D'Addario Planet Waves tuners, but after a few years they go wonky

and fail. Some of the other ones I have purchased (Fishman, Electro-whatever, tune sharp).

Then I have to fine-tune by ear. What's the point of having a digital tuner that doesn't

indicate the right tuning? Maybe a tuning fork and ears should suffice, but that never

has worked for me, either.

Currently, I have a Peterson Stobo-Clip HD tuner, but the stroboscopic effect vacillates, and
although it's dead-nuts accurate, but difficult to get the little bars to stop moving one way or the other.

Which is your favorite tuner?

[david]

The Fishman FT2 work fine for me. www.stringsandbeyond.com/fiftdichgutu.html

[Dub]

My absolute favorite, most accurate tuner is a tuning fork. Nothing will get you in tune better.

Next favorite are variations by Peterson. I use the Peterson strobe app on my iPhone and the original StroboClip is in my mandolin case.

The next best clip-on tuners are those little square ones we started out with some years back.

Rob got me interested in one that I bought and really like. I can’t remember the name but it’s an oblong shape with an innovative display that seems quite accurate.

If, like Peterson, your tuner has a noise suppression feature, using that will help a lot.

[howard lee]

Jul 1, 2024 13:25:15 GMT -5 david said:

The Fishman FT2 work fine for me. www.stringsandbeyond.com/fiftdichgutu.html

I have one of these and it is off on the B string, I think. Unless I am tone deaf, which is a distinct possibility. Maybe everything needs fresh batteries after a week or two, despite what the power-level indicators read?

[david]

Jul 1, 2024 13:28:33 GMT -5 howard lee said:

Jul 1, 2024 13:25:15 GMT -5 david said:

The Fishman FT2 work fine for me. www.stringsandbeyond.com/fiftdichgutu.html

I have one of these and it is off on the B string, I think. Unless I am tone deaf, which is a distinct possibility. Maybe everything needs fresh batteries after a week or two, despite what the power-level indicators read?

I have 4 of them and have probably just become accustomed to the B string being out of tune!

But truly, regardless of the tuner, I intentionally tune my B string a few cents flat. So on the Fishman FT2 I try to get it glowing mostly green, with some flashes into the yellow.

I suspect that most dedicated guitar tuners do not use perfect pitch but instead use a tempered pitch. I have seen some give you a choice but do not recollect the brand/model.

[david]

If you use an Android phone there is a very good one called "Cleartune."

[Rob Hanesworth]

Jul 1, 2024 13:27:57 GMT -5 Dub said:

My absolute favorite, most accurate tuner is a tuning fork. Nothing will get you in tune better.

Next favorite are variations by Peterson. I use the Peterson strobe app on my iPhone and the original StroboClip is in my mandolin case.

The next best clip-on tuners are those little square ones we started out with some years back.

Rob got me interested in one that I bought and really like. I can’t remember the name but it’s an oblong shape with an innovative display that seems quite accurate.

If, like Peterson, your tuner has a noise suppression feature, using that will help a lot.

This is what I showed Mark at the last IJam.

TC Unitune

It's also available in black.

There's also a slightly more expensive polytune version with features that I didn't think I would ever use.

TC Polytune

[Marty]

In the shop at my bench I use a Snark for quick tuning.

To check fret scales and intonation I have a Korg that reads in cents to 1/100 of a semitone.

[Hobson]

I've been happy enough with Snarks that I keep buying them. They seem to be very accurate and they're easy to clip onto the headstock. But I have had the swivel joint break on a couple of them after a few years of use.

[Shannon]

D'Addarios seem to work fine for me.

I'd love to have one of the Petersons, though. I'll have to put it on my birthday list.

[howard lee]

I just restrung the Huss and Dalton TD-M. I tried tuning with the Fishman FT-2, the D'Addario NS Micro Universal, and the Peterson Strobo-Clip HD.

Most accurate (with a little patience and a very light touch on the tuner buttons): The Peterson.

This one here at home is the previous generation, not the new HDC, which is now rechargeable. Mine takes a CR-2032 button battery.

[drlj]

I have a TC Unitune that I like.
I use the Peterson Stroboclip HD quite a bit, and I also have a Boss Tu-01. No problem getting the bars to stop with the Peterson.
I have/had a few D’Addario tuners that were free.
I used to like the Intellitouch tuners but the ones I had all died and so did the company.
I use a tuning fork every now & then, too.

[TKennedy]

Snark and a Korg like Marty.

[epaul]

Any one will do. Buy the fit and screen you like. I like the Snark.

I had the Peterson Strobo-Clip. After nine and half hours of using it to try get my 12-string in Strobo-Clip tune, I threw it against the wall. It worked better after that. Not so neurotic. Then I lost it. In the wastebasket.

(I think I sold it someone on the forum. I still feel guilty about that.)

[james]

Without any reservations or hesitation, the TC Unitune.

My brother had the TC Polytune but lost it and then was impressed with the Unitune that I lent him and bought one of those instead.

Very sturdy little gizmo with a fast and accurate response, clear display, strobe option (that nobody seems to bother with) and excellent battery life.

Absolutely love it.

[millring]

I worry that people can tell the difference between tuning with a pretty good digital tuner (I suspect most of them do about the same job) and tuning with a fork and by ear. Then I remember that I play for my own enjoyment, I want it fast and convenient, and I can't tell that a digital tuner is doing a bad job. But if I ever play for you guys, I'll watch your faces for telltale grimaces.

[howard lee]

Jul 1, 2024 17:44:16 GMT -5 millring said:

I worry that people can tell the difference between tuning with a pretty good digital tuner (I suspect most of them do about the same job) and tuning with a fork and by ear. Then I remember that I play for my own enjoyment, I want it fast and convenient, and I can't tell that a digital tuner is doing a bad job. But if I ever play for you guys, I'll watch your faces for telltale grimaces.

John: whatever works is fine.

[drlj]

When I was a kid, my friends and I were probably never in tune. We tuned to pitch pipes, the records we were listening to, and each other and probably not very accurately.
Electronic tuners are fast and convenient but they have probably ruined our ability to tune by ear or use a fork.
We trust them more than our ears and tuners can be off so they are not necessarily 100% accurate.
So how do we solve this problem?
We get rich and hire guitar techs to do it!
Or we can not worry about it and just play.

[drlj]

[Dub]

The problem with electronic tuners is that they are pretty darn close. If you take great pains and carefully tune each string so it’s exactly on pitch, your guitar will be out of tune if you hold a chord and strum across the strings. It will be obviously out of tune on at least one string.

If you perfectly tune only one string, then tune the other strings using that as a reference, you can get your guitar in as good tuning as is possible, better than tuning each string to the tuner.

Your ear is more reliable than your tuner. The physics of a standard guitar ensure that it can never be exactly correct.

And you bave to make sure all the octaves are as they should be. Chords often contain the same note more than once. If the octaves don’t sound perfect, everyone will notice.