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Old 08-28-2019, 12:11 PM
Sonics Sonics is offline
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Default Are All Guitar Tuners The Same?

My most in-tune tuner is an unbranded clip-on tuner I bought years ago for pennies. However YMMV.

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Old 08-28-2019, 12:15 PM
Tnfiddler Tnfiddler is offline
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I'm all about the TC Helicon Unitune from Sweetwater. It's my favorite I've owned.
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Old 08-28-2019, 12:53 PM
llew llew is offline
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Originally Posted by Tnfiddler View Post
I'm all about the TC Helicon Unitune from Sweetwater. It's my favorite I've owned.
Yep...I have a couple of those too.
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Last edited by llew; 08-28-2019 at 01:34 PM.
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Old 08-29-2019, 08:03 AM
Marley Marley is offline
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I have ran tuner experiments with my built in amp tuner, Boss pedal tuner, about 4 other random tuners and several $8 Snark tuners. My research has shown me that they are all nearly identical. I tune a guitar using any of the above tuners, get it in tune then use the others and they all show the same thing. None of them give me a different reading. I predominately use my Snarks. In fact I bought three for $24 from amazon. I love their user friendliness but one thing I never do it leave it attached to my headstocks as I can't stand that look. To my eyes there is nothing more hideous on a guitar than the tuner attached to the headstock. When playing live, I clip mine to a handle on my amp. I use between songs when needed. Clip on, tune, clip off. I'm amazed these days and the big time pro guys, such as a Steve Miller, who leave their hideous clip on tuners attached all show.
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Old 08-29-2019, 08:30 AM
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DenverSteve DenverSteve is offline
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Having read many, many threads dealing with this I have found - those who spend a lot on tuners feel their tuner is superior. Those who like Snark and other less-expensive tuners find no difference. The rest of us just use what we have and get along fine. For years I used the Intellitouch PT-10 because they were priced well and worked perfectly for me. Then I found the D'Addario micro sound-hole tuners and now always have one on every guitar. They too work perfectly and are imperceptible.
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Old 08-29-2019, 08:41 AM
jaymarsch jaymarsch is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DenverSteve View Post
Having read many, many threads dealing with this I have found - those who spend a lot on tuners feel their tuner is superior. Those who like Snark and other less-expensive tuners find no difference. The rest of us just use what we have and get along fine. For years I used the Intellitouch PT-10 because they were priced well and worked perfectly for me. Then I found the D'Addario micro sound-hole tuners and now always have one on every guitar. They too work perfectly and are imperceptible.
So true. Another one of those guitar-related things that comes down to personal preferences depending on what people's needs and budgets are and what their own ears are telling them. I love using the TC Polytunes (got them before the Unitune was available) but have Snarks around the house here and there as well.

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Old 08-29-2019, 08:44 AM
AndrewG AndrewG is offline
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I use a cheap d'Addario clip-on thing. It works and concurs with my A=440 fork.
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Old 08-29-2019, 09:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DenverSteve View Post
Having read many, many threads dealing with this I have found - those who spend a lot on tuners feel their tuner is superior. Those who like Snark and other less-expensive tuners find no difference. The rest of us just use what we have and get along fine. For years I used the Intellitouch PT-10 because they were priced well and worked perfectly for me. Then I found the D'Addario micro sound-hole tuners and now always have one on every guitar. They too work perfectly and are imperceptible.
One thing I know for sure - the worst electronic tuner ever made is eons better than my untrained ear when I started playing before there were electronic tuners. I think there may have been huge plug in strobe tuners back then, but nothing I had access to.

To the extent I have preferences, they're more about function than absolute accuracy. For electric, I love the Polytune 3, mostly because you can set it to always show the note being played, not only when you mute it to tune up. I like that. Also, it's accurate enough for day to day use in needle mode, but it's got an ultra accurate strobe mode that I generally use when I'm setting up a guitar and trying to nail down intonation. So it's functionally great. I also like the poly-tune feature as a quick check of tuning, although it seems most people find that feature useless.

And for acoustic, I have a poly-tune clip on but mostly use the little DAddario mini-tuners because they're so easy to mount inside the soundhole of my acoustic and because they stay on a while before auto-off and even so the batteries tend to last about 3 or 4 forevers. If I'm trying someone else's guitar or shopping, I take the Polytune, but don't tend to use it much at home...

-Ray
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Old 08-29-2019, 09:41 AM
rstaight rstaight is offline
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I use an app called Guitar Tuna. I use it for my 6 and 12 string guitars, mandolin, and ukulele. Does pretty well. I go to a few jams and I am tuned with the folks that have the clip on tuners.

It can also be used for violin/fiddle, and 4 and 5 string banjos. There are also a few more instruments.

Best of all is the cost. It's free. There are some more advanced features that you can purchase but to date I don't have the need.
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Old 08-29-2019, 09:44 AM
Brent Hahn Brent Hahn is offline
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I mainly use Snarks these days because they're cheap and handy. And if I don't have one, someone else does. But they're very ballpark, especially if I'm going to be doing anything a ways up the neck, and fancier than cowboy chords.
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Old 08-29-2019, 09:49 AM
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No matter which tuner i'v used through out the years, I still would have to tweak things around in the first 3 frets area for the D,G, and A to jive, (happy medium) and the same for the upper frets playing Gibson's, Martin's, etc., and the only acoustic guitar i'v ever had that needed a lot less tweaking was a Guild F-50 blond.
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Old 08-29-2019, 09:53 AM
dwasifar dwasifar is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marley View Post
I love their user friendliness but one thing I never do it leave it attached to my headstocks as I can't stand that look. To my eyes there is nothing more hideous on a guitar than the tuner attached to the headstock.
You might make an exception for the D'Addario Micro NS tuner. If you clip it on behind your headstock, all that's visible from the front is a tiny black tab:



If that's still objectionable, they have a version that attaches to the back of one of your tuners:



Or a version that goes in the soundhole:



With those tiny displays they're not as readable as your Snark (I have one of those too), but they work just fine.
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Old 08-29-2019, 09:57 AM
reeve21 reeve21 is offline
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Default Are All Guitar Tuners The Same?

I thought this thread was going to be about those twisty things at the top of the guitar that make the strings break when you turn them too far

I use a snark turned around so that the screen faces me and doesn't blind the audience (my dog) when the lights are low. He seems to appreciate that.

Sometimes when I can't find it I'll use a free app on my phone. They both beat my ear by a mile, but after being forced to tune by ear by my teacher once a week for a couple of years I'm getting better!

So for me, they are all pretty much the same--but I've only tried a few cheapies/freebies.
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Old 08-29-2019, 10:00 AM
vindibona1 vindibona1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tnfiddler View Post
I'm all about the TC Helicon Unitune from Sweetwater. It's my favorite I've owned.
I like the TC tuners. I've only tried the Polytune clip on but like to do one string at a time. I am super sensitive to tuning and I think it is important to be deadly accurate not only in tuning but untonating a guitar because we already start with a disadvantage. The thirds of major chords need to be flattend as much as 14 cents and minor chord thirds up to 16 cents, and possibly raise the 5th a couple cents. So as we are stuck with equal temperament on guitar we need to be accurate so as not to make the situation worse, as demonstrated in the Anderton video. https://olemiss.edu/lowbrass/studio/...djustments.pdf


I think the two companies that make excellent tuners are TC and Korg. The next tuner I buy, when I need one will probably be a UniTune. My favorite clip-on right now that I own is the Korg Pitchcrow. When I gig I daisy chaing a Korg CA40 (now replaced by the CA50) to either a Korg Pitchblack or with my Fishman EQ/DI which has a built-in tuner. The Fishman is pretty accurate but hard to read in bright sunlight as is the Pitchblack.
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Old 08-29-2019, 10:02 AM
dwasifar dwasifar is offline
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I was early to the electronic tuner game. I have an original Intellitouch PT-1 that cost a pretty penny back in the day. I still use it at home sometimes, partly because its large display is easier to read than the Snarks and D'Addarios, and partly because I paid a lot for it and feel like I should keep it in service; but increasingly it stays in its case.

Edit: I was poking around trying to find what the original MSRP for the Intellitouch tuner was (I think it was about a hundred dollars), and in the process I discovered that the manufacturer, Onboard Research, has been out of business for about two years. That's too bad. Probably the cheap Snark-type tuners did them in.

Last edited by dwasifar; 08-29-2019 at 10:16 AM.
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