Soundhole Tuner for X20 (and probably any other Emerald)

[KevinH]

Reviving an old thread here in case anyone is interested in installing a sound hole tuner in their Emerald - or other guitar I suppose.

I used the D'Addario NS Miicro Sound Hole Tuner in all my guitars but then stopped after I noticed the clip had left a light spot on one of them where the part under the clip hadn't been exposed to light. It only did that on one of my guitars (Breedlove), but I had another issue on most of them where the tuner wouldn't lock well onto the low E and A strings. So I eventually gave up and took them off. So I had several sitting around and thought I'd put one in the sound hole of my Emerald X-20 to see how it works. I started with the idea of attaching with magnets. And since that's where the old thread left off...here is how it went for me.

Here is the tuner I used:

tuner.jpg

I should also mention that the tuner wouldn't stay put if I tried installing it as intended, by clipping onto the edge of the sound hole. It would just slip off. Anyway, a flat-ish surface is needed on top, so I removed the metal clip and sawed the plastic clip off along the orange dashed line, then sanded it smooth.

I was going to glue the parts together but thought I'd start with double sided tape. Here is the Scotch tape I used:

tape.jpg

Its fairly thick and squishy so I wasn't sure if it would work. But since its easily removable, it was a place to start. I put a patch of the tape on top of the flattened tuner. Then to that tape I stuck a 14mmx3mm Neodymium magnet. Got a pack from Amazon for $16. This is what they look like:

batts.jpg

Then its just a matter of putting a piece of tape on a second magnet (being sure to get the poles right so they'll stick together).

On the X-20, the wall of the cutout runs close to the low E string side of the neck. It's convenient to place the tuner so it butts up against that wall, for some stability when you push the power button. To position the tuner I put the two magnets together, with the tape exposed on to top of the top magnet. Then placed the tuner in the sound hole and moved it so the back tip of the battery hit the wall, then pushed it up against the soundboard to fix it into position.

Then it looks like this:

installed.jpg

Turns out that it works really well. The squishy tape doesn't mess up the function of the tuner. It locks nicely onto all strings and agrees well with the tuner I normally use on my phone.

These magnets are quite strong so the tuner is attached pretty well. But it's still easy to remove the tuner for a battery change by sliding the tuner to the side. The only issue, which is minor, is that the tuner can rotate easily around the axis of the battery. To prevent that from happening while turning the tuner on or off I use my index finger to push the button while putting my middle finger on the other side to keep it from rotating.

The tuner isn't visible from the front. In fact you need to rotate about 45-deg toward the sound hole before you can start to see it. And being in the hole, the display shows up nicely.

I haven't tried the velcro method so I don't know if its any better or worse than the magnets, but the magnet attachment seems to work fine. Its nice having a sound hole tuner back

[guitarwebguy]

Using KevinH’s approach mine is attached with Velcro and works great!

[martingitdave]

I just attached directly with double tape when I had the Sable. Figured I’d get a finger in there to change the battery. Thought the vibrations might be a touch stronger that way.

Miss the Sable. Nice guitar.