Lowest preciscion/cheapest tuner for setting guitar/bass intonation

[Tadpui]

What make and model do you guys suggest for a tuner that's in the price range of an everyday Joe, can be used for a stay-at-home player of electric guitar, steel and nylon string acoustic guitar, and bass guitar, yet has enough precision to set intonation well enough to satisfy said everyday Joe?

Is the Peterson StroboStomp virtual strobe precise enough for setting intonation? It's bigger brothers look nice but they're out of my price range. Let's say that the StroboStomp is the price ceiling for what I'm looking for. Any suggestions at that price level or cheaper? I'm not a pro, so absolute upper-end scientific, physics lab, rocket scientist precision isn't required. As long as I can set my intonation on it well enough to satisfy an amateur home recordist and living room performer, I'll be happy.

I've set my intonation all these years with this crappy "Lighting Fast" cheapo tuner that wouldn't be able to tune its way out of a phone both. It's OK for getting my A string tuned to 440 Hz and then I take it from there:

- I get my A string to 440
- Tune the 3rd string 2nd fret to open 5th string
- Tune the 1st string 5th fret to open 5th string
- Tune 6th string 5th fret to open 5th string
- Tune 4th string open to 5th string 5th fret
- Tune 2nd string 5th fret to 6th string open
- Cross-check the 2nd string (a.k.a. the Bitch string) 3rd fret to 4th string open
- After all of this, the 3rd string still tends to sound sharp when its the 3rd interval of a barre chord, and the 2nd string still sounds sharp when it's the 3rd interval of an "extended power chord" for lack of a better term (root on 5th string, 5th on 4th string, octave on 3rd string, 3rd on 2nd string, 5th on 1st string).

So it'd be nice to be able to get, say, my Les Paul tuned and then "sweetened" like I outlined above and then store the sweetened tuning. Then my Martin acoustic has a different sweetened tuning that it'd be nice to store and recall later. Even putting a capo on a guitar requires a different sweetened tuning, so memory store and recall would be a great feature along with enough precision to set intonation.

I like the idea of simple tuners like the Boss and Fender stomp boxes, but they're not exactly prime examples of scientific precision. I like the looks and the down-to-basics style of the Korg needle tuners. The Peterson StroboStomp looks a little goofy but it seems to be pretty fully-featured. Are there any other must-try tuners out there for a reasonable price? Remember that I don't run a guitar tech booth at Guitar Center or anything so top-of-the-line isn't a necessity.

 

[dervish riff]

I've been using a Korg DT-3 Chromatic for the last few years, it's been fine--much better than the real cheap-os. I've never liked the BOSS tuners, they never seemed very stable.

 

[Victory Pete]

What make and model do you guys suggest for a tuner that's in the price range of an everyday Joe, can be used for a stay-at-home player of electric guitar, steel and nylon string acoustic guitar, and bass guitar, yet has enough precision to set intonation well enough to satisfy said everyday Joe?

Is the Peterson StroboStomp virtual strobe precise enough for setting intonation? It's bigger brothers look nice but they're out of my price range. Let's say that the StroboStomp is the price ceiling for what I'm looking for. Any suggestions at that price level or cheaper? I'm not a pro, so absolute upper-end scientific, physics lab, rocket scientist precision isn't required. As long as I can set my intonation on it well enough to satisfy an amateur home recordist and living room performer, I'll be happy.

I've set my intonation all these years with this crappy "Lighting Fast" cheapo tuner that wouldn't be able to tune its way out of a phone both. It's OK for getting my A string tuned to 440 Hz and then I take it from there:

- I get my A string to 440
- Tune the 3rd string 2nd fret to open 5th string
- Tune the 1st string 5th fret to open 5th string
- Tune 6th string 5th fret to open 5th string
- Tune 4th string open to 5th string 5th fret
- Tune 2nd string 5th fret to 6th string open
- Cross-check the 2nd string (a.k.a. the Bitch string) 3rd fret to 4th string open
- After all of this, the 3rd string still tends to sound sharp when its the 3rd interval of a barre chord, and the 2nd string still sounds sharp when it's the 3rd interval of an "extended power chord" for lack of a better term (root on 5th string, 5th on 4th string, octave on 3rd string, 3rd on 2nd string, 5th on 1st string).

So it'd be nice to be able to get, say, my Les Paul tuned and then "sweetened" like I outlined above and then store the sweetened tuning. Then my Martin acoustic has a different sweetened tuning that it'd be nice to store and recall later. Even putting a capo on a guitar requires a different sweetened tuning, so memory store and recall would be a great feature along with enough precision to set intonation.

I like the idea of simple tuners like the Boss and Fender stomp boxes, but they're not exactly prime examples of scientific precision. I like the looks and the down-to-basics style of the Korg needle tuners. The Peterson StroboStomp looks a little goofy but it seems to be pretty fully-featured. Are there any other must-try tuners out there for a reasonable price? Remember that I don't run a guitar tech booth at Guitar Center or anything so top-of-the-line isn't a necessity.

If the Peterson StroboStomp is as accurate as their other models I would go with that. I have a Peterson VSAM and it puts to shame all of the other tuners I have. I have 2 Sabines that are off + or - 6 cents. My Vox ToneLab SE is better at + or - 3 cents, same with a Korg rackmount. I use my Peterson all the time for intonation. It takes a little getting used to because it doesnt have lights to indicate when you are in. It has a display that either rolls up or down. when the display is stationary you are in.
VP

 

[muttley600]

I've set my intonation all these years with this crappy "Lighting Fast" cheapo tuner that wouldn't be able to tune its way out of a phone both. It's OK for getting my A string tuned to 440 Hz and then I take it from there:

Thats all you need essentially.

Your problem isn't with the tuner as such but with your expectations of what can and can't be done in terms of tuning your guitar.

Take a read through the links I used to have in my sig but recently removed cos I got sick of seeing them there. (put em back up for a bit)

Especially the first two. If you have the will to continue the third link is an excellent learning resource. Once you have a handle on the whole tuning and equal temperament thing ask away with any further questions. Once you have a grasp of the whole thing you won't need to store tunings you'll be able to temper your tunings by ear and know why you are doing it.

Links here

=> => Equal Temperament & Guitar Tuning.<= <=
=> => How to tune your guitar - Correctly...<= <=
=> => An excellent in depth look at musical temperaments.<= <=

 

[ocnor]

What make and model do you guys suggest for a tuner that's in the price range of an everyday Joe, can be used for a stay-at-home player of electric guitar, steel and nylon string acoustic guitar, and bass guitar, yet has enough precision to set intonation well enough to satisfy said everyday Joe?

This works pretty good and it's free. http://www.nch.com.au/tuner/index.html