Tuner Accuracy

[BlindAlBino]

I was reading in another forum about Snark tuners not being good enough and the need for a strobe tuner to get accurate tuning on acoustic and electric guitars.

 

[CapnDenny1]

I have a couple of Peterson Strobe tuners, and the Snark was always on the money.

My issue with the Snark's is they go through batteries, and they get dim after a while. You can get them to brighten by pushing on it or smacking it, but eventually they didn't work.

The other issue is there is a range of frequencies where you can hear the tone change but the indicator doesn't change. I have a Fender tuner that is really bad because of that. The Snark isn't bad.

The Peterson Strobes are much pickier at getting the frequency dead on to get it to stop moving. Almost too much so. You spend a lot of time chasing the strobe.

For the money you could buy 4 or 5 Snark tuners and throw them away when they quit working and still be cheaper than a Peterson.

My wife refuses to use the strobe tuner, and even my guitar playing son said he doesn't like it. But of course he can just tune by ear, the JERK!

Don't take anyone's word for anything. Not mine either.

 

[CaptainMoto]

If absolute accuracy is required, use a strobe.
For the rest of us, Snark or pretty much anything, is good enough.

Snark is my back up to my Boss TU3.

If Yo-Yo Ma is lurking around here in the forum, he might have a different opinion.

 

[brent]

Yo-Yo Ma probably just uses his ear and/or a nearby piano.

I've had similar experience with the Snarks. Some have worked better than others, but overall that's what I use the majority of time, mainly due to convenience. I have no experience with a Peterson or any other brand of strobe tuner, but have also heard from others that they are too sensitive for day to day tuning and should really only be used for setting up intonation. YMMV.

 

[gpower]

Had a TU-2 for ages, and a TU-3 since it was introduced... I have a Pro Tuner app on my phone for acoustic.

 

[mountain man]

Really? Yes, being in tune is very important. I've got the Snark and it works well. I've got the Reverb head-stock tuner and it works well. The one I likes best is the TC Electronics Polytune head-stock clip-on. I also have 2 of the Polytune foot pedals too. I likes them too.

Get er tunes and then check with the ear. You will be as good as you need.

 

[gpower]

Side note... use any of them to get A to A 440 and use that to tune the rest using your ear. Don't get to where you rely on a tuner.

 

[TwoNotesSolo]

I find my biggest problem is that the tuning changes slightly when I first pluck the string and as it slowly decays, so do you want the I itial attack to be right on, or the tail?
I usually go with the tinitial attack.

 

[CaptainMoto]

One man's thoughts on tuning.
He covers a few interesting points, including tuning to the first attack or the decay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tc8eCRvr3w

 

[Shodai]

Good enough for what? Clip on tuners seem to be ok, and the Snark especially so.

Unless you need precision tuning, I see no reason why a Snark wouldn't work for you. And by precision I mean doing professional set ups.

I remember the days of using a tuning fork then tuning everything else relative to the A string. The Snark is miles ahead of that sillines.

 

[JestMe]

I love my Snarks... 1 in each case/gig bag. I also carry spare batteries. The batteries are not expensive and are handy to have for when the Snark dims.

I only turn the Snark on specifically when I am tuning and shut it off after that to help the battery last longer.

 

[Terry B]

I've had the same two Snarks for over 5 years now, to me they work great and as for the dimming that's a good indication that I should change the battery soon. Love them.

 

[tommytubetone]

Some of the headstock tuners are susceptible to background noise, so I use a TU-3 whenever I can. I use snarks also and they do a good job.

 

[PapaBear]

When I was gigging headstock tuners hadn't come along so I used the trusted TU-2, now I mostly use the Snarks, but if I were on a stage I'd have a the TU or TC Or my digitech Polychromatic, depending on the pedalboard I'm using

 

[TwoNotesSolo]

The point of a bout background noise is a good one. When I olap bass I have been known to mess with other people tuning because it seems to interfere well by causing their isntrument to vibrate.
I live the snarks but also have a tuning pedal on my board.

One pet peave of mine is people that tune without turning their volume down. The pedal mounted ones cut the signal off which is nice.

 

[Norfolk Bill]

I find my biggest problem is that the tuning changes slightly when I first pluck the string and as it slowly decays, so do you want the I itial attack to be right on, or the tail?
I usually go with the tinitial attack.

Go for tails, and pluck the string with the force you do when playing normaly,,people tend to pluck more lightly when tuning,,once you start playing and the force increases you tend to go sharp

 

[sdbrit68]

I dont worry about perfect, reality is, as soon as you start playing, there becomes some change in the tuning. I tend to bend the G string a lot, I mean a real lot........so it probably isnt 100% right away.

And if plying any solid rock and hitting the strings, same thing.............Snark gets me close enough for government work

 

[sloslunas]

Two paws up for the Snark...

Steve

 

[jackderby52]

I have had them all, Polly, Snark, Peterson, etc.. Come to find out it’s not the tuner's fault… ...

P.S. Peterson has the sweetener option.. That does help a little...

 

[MarkDyson]

I'm a fan of the TC Polytune. I have a couple of them in pedal form (mini and full sized) and the clip-on for my acoustics or when I don't play with a board. They go strobe, too. I'm generally pleased with them and haven't felt the urge to try others.