Cheap tuner?

cellardweller

New member
Is there a relatively inexpensive tuner that is worth a shit?

I don't currently have a pot to piss in, but this damned "Matrix" tuner of mine has me yanking my hair out... even the short ones! It is draining my will to live and inspiring me towards homicide... or worse!

When I go to tune the low 'b' string on my 7 string, the tuner will bounce from sharp/in tune/flat without my so much as moving! :eek: :mad: :confused:

Forget about trying to intone that damned string...

It's driving me to drink.
(I always wanted to say that... truth is I was already drinking...)
 
Speaking of intonation, I heard/read somewhere that you should use neck position pickup with tone knob turned down (bass)...
Doesn't make much sense to me, but what do I know?
 
Get an Intellitouch clip on tuner for $30. It senses the string vibration. A Sabine SX1000 (or some such randomly-generated alphanumeric designation) works fine for electrics.

Use the bridge pickup. The tuners all like higher harmonics. I tune my bass w a Sabine and it likes 12th fret harmonics.
 
You will pay $35-$50 for the Boss guitar and bass tuner (grey box with orange dial) but it is the de facto standard. They last me for years and are dead nuts accurate.
 
I trust Korg tuners, they have come down a lot in price over the last couple of years (competition I guess) and range from around $15 to $120 US.
 
save up and get a better tuner. why would you spend so much dough on a guitar and then get a crummy tuner?

you (human beings) spend 80 bucks on a distortion box, but not on a tuner.

i've tried the cheap tuners and they don't "tune". they just sit in your hand...the hand you just released 15 bucks from.

get a Boss TU-12 or TU-12H. I've had mine for roughly 23 years and I bought it used when I got it. They're not cheap, but do the research and then decide.

As far as the clip-on tuners....why would you want to artificially weight the neck and/or headstock of a guitar? Tuning is a very sensitive business.


LL
 
Tuners like the neck pickup with the tone turned all the way down. This strips all of the higher order harmonics (which tuners do not like) out of the signal. What you're left with more closely resembles a pure sine wave, which is what a tuner would be best at interpreting.
 
Hey, cd. Try tuning the low B by playing the 12th fret or 5th fret harmonic. It's easier for the tuner to latch onto. I've used a Radio Shack analog tuner for years, and it's been satisfactory. My next tuner will probably be the Strobosoft.

The idea of rolling off the highs is to get as much of a pure tone sine wave as possible. Makes it easier for the tuner.
 
lpdeluxe said:
Use the bridge pickup. The tuners all like higher harmonics. I tune my bass w a Sabine and it likes 12th fret harmonics.
Tadpui said:
Tuners like the neck pickup with the tone turned all the way down. This strips all of the higher order harmonics (which tuners do not like) out of the signal. What you're left with more closely resembles a pure sine wave, which is what a tuner would be best at interpreting.
This is my favorite part about being a guitar player....I guess I'll just have to try them both and see what I like best - I hadn't ever thought of changing tone pots or pickup setting - I just used settings I play the most with. But this sounds like a good idea - both of them!

By the way, I'm not trying to be a smart-alec, I'm just genuinely amused by this sort of thing. If I had a nickle for ever time I have done this with my family/friends/wife/band/etc./etc......
 
louloomis said:
As far as the clip-on tuners....why would you want to artificially weight the neck and/or headstock of a guitar? Tuning is a very sensitive business.
All good points.

I've been looking at those strobe tuners, but that's about as far as that will go for now. Whatever I do buy, I will have to sell something for. Pretty tight budget these days :(
 
The PC tuner is "only" $50. If it's half as capable as Peterson says, it'll be worth that.
 
Well if you want cheap, you can't beat a keyboard if you already own one. Otherwise there's a dial tone, which is an F & A.
 
When I had my acoustic overhauled, the luthier warned that the G string was causing, if I remember the term, "overtones." The result was wacky readings on the tuner. He said to combat that and get a clean reading, to put a palm on the soundboard when tuning the G. He was right, it worked.

When I start getting "bouncing" readings on other strings besides the G, it is a sign to me that it may be time to change strings. Usually, with new strings, the readings are true right off.

I used to use a Sabine ($50, a long time ago), then I "lost" it, and picked up a Boss TU16 ($75, maybe). The Sabine had a green light for good, and a red light on either side for low or high. The Boss, on the other hand, has a dial and a needle, which bounces around a lot. The Boss appears to be more "sophisticated" because of the meter, but in practice, I am less clear about when things are in tune. Still, if it is difficult for the strings to settle down and tell me where they are, I begin to suspect that it is time to put new strings on.
 
Just buy a an "E" tuning fork and tune the rest by ear.

Most of what Jimi Hendrix recorded was slightly out of tune here and there, but that didn't stop him from making great songs.
 
I keep this one in my guitar case.
It works well with drop C tuning that I use on my hamer (CGCFAD) and it should work with your baritone, which I assuming has a low B. I might have to go try to make sure if you are interested, but I am pretty sure it goes to B.

Boss TU-80
 
Sabine STX 1100. It's been my only tuner for years and I couldn't be happier. Sometimes it has trouble with the low E on bass, but is a cracker on guitar, trumpet, etc.
 
unfortunately, some of the nice analog tuners seem to be a little sensitive to shock (the boss (tu-12, i think, though perhaps it's an older design?) my dad uses does not seem to register as accurately as it used to, and he attributes it to being bumped around. he doesn't even take it to gigs). i'm using an inexpensive digital chromatic korg that uses a little LCD rendition of a meter and seems to work pretty decently. i use a lot of alternate tunings, so it occasionally saves me time when my ears aren't as sharp as usual. typically, though, i just tune it all by ear, because unless there's a reason for me to be off, i usually don't have any trouble tuning by what i remember E to sound like.
 
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