Clip-on guitar tuners

Subject: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 06:42 AM

What do YOU use?

I have a Peterson Strobo-Clip and I also have a Snark
The Peterson is very accurate, and I'll get my G to pitch with that but then I mostly just use that as a reference point for the other five strings, relying solely on my ears.

What's YOUR method for getting your 'axe' tuned up?

Cheers

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 07:00 AM

Or, if you use another method that doesn't involve a clip-on, just jump in with that :)

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 09:23 AM

Don't like the Snark tuners, I have a Petersen on my phone which is v good, but I recently bought a D'Addario headstock clip on that is small and discrete, fairly accurate, and can stay on the guitar all the time. The read out part is actually on the underside of the machine head, thus not visible to all and sundry.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 09:36 AM

Yep, I've seen those, John, and nearly pulled the trigger but bought a Snark instead - not for my D-18 but for my banjo... you know, so they have a tuner each and won't fight lol.

Cheers

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: gillymor
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 10:21 AM

I also use those Planet Wave Micro tuners. They work fine. I have a bunch of them and keep them on the instruments I play regularly. They have a low profile but the screens are easy to read and I can clip them to the underside of my Fender electrics with their 6 on a side headstocks. I used to use Snarks but I like to keep tuners clipped on the instrument and I had a tendency to break them where they attach to the clamp. I see Snark is now offering a low profile model that is rechargeable.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 10:36 AM

Gillymor-

Yes, I had a Snark break there too. It was an issue that the manufacturer fixed by adding a collar, and I got one of those a couple of years ago that hasn't broken yet.

Cheers

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: gillymor
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 10:47 AM

I liked the Snarks, Fred, but I suppose my instrument handling could use some refinement. With the micro tuners I can clip them on and forget about 'em until the batteries need changing in 3-4 years.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 10:50 AM

In the last 60 years, the battery in my tuning fork has never gone flat!

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 10:54 AM

Gillymor-

That's fine buddy, do what works for you :)

All the best

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: gillymor
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 10:57 AM

I still have my A tuning fork, Ray which I, very rarely, use in a pinch.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 11:04 AM

Ray-

A friend of mine has six tuning forks, one for each string. Talk about overkill! :)

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 11:47 AM

Here's another method I use:

Get the 3rd string up to pitch and tune the D string to eliminate any beats between it and the G; same with the A to the D and low E to A. Then I'll use the low E harmonic at the 7th fret and tune the 2nd string to match. For the high E use the low E harmonic at the 5th fret.

Basic stuff but it may be useful to some.

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 11:52 AM

Try using a tuning fork and tuning by ear when you’re playing a gig, or in a noisy session or jam in a pub…

I don’t want anything hanging around on my guitars’ necks or headstocks which isn’t in active use, so off come tuners and capos when I’m not actively tuning or playing capoed. Nothing looks more goofy than capos or tuners clipped to headstocks seemingly permanently IMHO, and I hate to see that. I also place my tuner at the front of the headstock where it’s easily visible to me, and doesn’t get blocked from my sight by my hand on the tuners. When I’m tuned, off it comes.

I have a whole host of clip-on tuners - my Peterson StroboClip HD is the most accurate of them all when tuning in the house where it’s quiet, but too ‘fiddly’ and easily affected by external noise to be any good at gigs, sessions etc.

For gigs, sessions, FCs in pubs etc., my TC Electronics PolyClip and Unitune are by far and away the best in terms of accuracy, visibility, and not being affected by extraneous noises, and those are my go-tos when I’m playing out.

I also have numerous D’Addario and Korg clip-ons, but I find them inferior to the Peterson and TC Electronics tuners, so they live a very quiet life in my desk drawer and rarely see the light of day.

I gave up with Snarks years ago - flimsy and inaccurate.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: gillymor
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 12:13 PM

Here is that Snark Air.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 12:14 PM

Some of us played noisy sessions before electronic tuners were commonplace (I hesitate to say “unavailable” as they’ve been around for decades but beyond the reach of most/many musicians).

As it happens, I do often “cheat” with one of them but, a couple of sessions ago, my go-to tuner was in an instrument case I’d left at home and, at the following session, I remembered it but the battery was flat. I simply tuned by ear to fit in with everyone else - no problem.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 12:21 PM

Gillymor-

Thinking of getting one?

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 12:30 PM

Just had a look: mine (a leaving present from my last place of work) is a D'Addario clip-on. It clips onto the headstock of my guitar, and on the rim of the banjo, near the neck, but I take it off once it's done its job, lest it distract me or audience members.

I usually leave the battery out when it's not in use, as I've found they go flat fairly quickly (two or three months) if I don't. I *think* something in the tuner is running when the it's nominally off.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: gillymor
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 12:38 PM

I'll probably wait for these Planet Waves to die, Fred, but that probably won't happen any time soon. Who knows, one might wind up in my Christmas stocking just for curiosity's sake.
I remember, long ago, before I had any kind of tuner other than a fork, using the men's room of a bar to tune up in and that would get me through a set with a few tweaks here and there.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 12:54 PM

Gillymor-

I'd recommend a Peterson mate. There's the Strobo- Clip HD, mentioned by Backwoodsman above, and a metal Strobo-Clip that comes in a tin. The HD has a brighter display. Both are fantastic and as accurate as it gets. You simply can't go wrong with either but they're pricey.

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: gillymor
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 01:10 PM

Fred, I had one when I was still gigging and it got ripped off shortly after I purchased it along with a Shubb capo, all due to my own negligence. It cost almost as much as I was getting paid for that gig so I swore off expensive tuners after that and went back to using a Sabine Metronome/Tuner which I normally kept at home. Btw the theft occurred in the meeting hall of a Catholic church just down the street from here.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 01:25 PM

Gillymor-

I don't know quite what to say mate.

Some people...!




Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: gillymor
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 01:28 PM

No biggie, Fred. I hadn't even thought about it in a long time.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 01:38 PM

”Some of us played noisy sessions before electronic tuners were commonplace (I hesitate to say “unavailable” as they’ve been around for decades but beyond the reach of most/many musicians).”

My original comment wasn’t that it’s impossible, simply that it’s much easier to use an electronic tuner in those situations.

I began learning to play in 1961 and, by late-1962, I was playing in public in a semi-pro band, so yes, I remember those days very well indeed. I also remember a substantial number of players whose by-ear tuning skills were dubious (that’s being charitable, BTW) and a significant number of guitars being played which were noticeably out-of-tune to me, but apparently not to those playing them.

I’m fortunate in having a good ‘ear’, and I often tune by ear at home, but I believe the electronic tuner has been amongst the greatest, if not the greatest, boon in modern history to musicians who play with others, and I try not to be snobbish about using a tuner..

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Aethelric
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 02:50 PM

I now use a Dadario tuner that fits in the soundhole. I have lost a number of headstock tuners over the years.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 03:25 PM

Where did 8 say that you’d claimed it was impossible? Or for that matter that I don’t find it convenient to use a tuner? The point I was making was that, if you can’t cope without one and have no contingency plan, you’r effectively stuffed.

Back in the day, a communal Conn ST-11 was a common feature of a band’s backline but I don’t think they were introduced until the 70s.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 04:55 PM

Well I’m by nature a very ‘organised’ kinda guy, so there’s a tuner and spare batteries in every guitar case as well as my gear-bag, and I don’t remember ever ‘forgetting’ to take a tuner out with me but, on the off-chance I turned up at a gig, session, or club-night without one, they are so ubiquitous nowadays I’d probably just borrow one from one of the other guys.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 05:34 PM

I got my first guitar in the summer of 1960. By 1965 I was a busker on the streets of Nottingham. Packed that in around 1975/6 and moved to London where I stayed less than a year. Moved back to Lincolnshire and been gigging from then until present, mostly south of Nottingham and out west.

Good life? Arr boy, loved it :)

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 05:53 PM

That went to the wrong thread. Ignore lol.

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 06:04 PM

My contingency is “Tuner lite” on my iPhone. Not ideal for on-stage but a pet hate is performers coming on stage THEN tuning up.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 03:09 AM

Guest-

I'm with you there. You SHOULD be all set before you go on stage (or as ready as you CAN be) just as a courtesy to your audience.

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 03:34 AM

I agree about being tuned before taking the stage but there is often a need to ‘tweak’ a string or two between songs that have ‘dropped off’ and, of course, those of us who use several tunings during a set will need to be able to do that ‘on the fly’. Nothing wrong with that - the secret is to keep the audience interested while you’re tuning. Most folkies become pretty adept at between-songs/during re-tuning patter.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 03:46 AM

Backwoodsman-

Well absolutely, a short story, a funny incident, drawing the audience in, no harm at all.

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 04:14 AM

Is it just me, or is the sight of a tuning device hanging off the peg head a sign of someone who is not that musically adept? Sounds harsh, but in the past you learnt to tune from a source note and tuned all strings relative to that, such as from a piano keyboard, a portable pitch pipe or in my case a g harmonica. Rather than relying on a machine, you developed more of a musical ear, and simultaneously learnt to play the harmonica and also unravel the mysteries of scales, and learn where the different notes are on the fingerboard, etc.

Tuners only tell you if the open string is tuned up to the correct pitch, but you usually need to fine tune using fretted notes at say the fifth and tenth frets to check it corresponds with next and next but one string, since intonation often goes out as you move up the fingerboard (even on high end instruments) - most of the time you will be sounding notes part way up the neck, and it’s more important that those are up to pitch rather than the occasionally used open strings to my mind. These days though, I tend to do both, using a tuner for initial tuning then relative tuning for a best fit intonation.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Aethelric
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 04:31 AM

This is a bit of a compilation, but I have seen most of it happen at open mics.
-----------
Not be a minute. I’ll just tune up.
(Tunes Guitar)

Can I have the music stand please. It’s a bit low for me, can you raise it please?

Now what will I sing? I Oh I know. It’s in my book here. Now let me find it. Sorry about this I had it a few minutes ago.
Right, here we go (Strums a chord) Hang on that’s in a different tuning, not be a minute.
(Spends two minutes tuning his guitar)

Right, here we go. No idea who wrote this, I got it off an old LP. I must remember to give it back Ha Ha.
(Finally begins with a 60 second guitar instrumental introduction before he starts singing)

Oops – I can’t sing in that key! Anyone got a capo I can borrow? Right here we go again.
Damn I can’t read my own writing. I’ll need my specs. I’ll just get them out of my jacket – not be a tick.  Oh hi Sid, how are you doing? Haven’t seen you for a while.
Here we go.
(Begins again – full guitar intro again – and finally does the song – quite well. Huge applause from his friends at the back – all of whom chatted to each other throughout his song.)

Thank you so much. I’ve had a request, but I’m still singing. Ha Ha.
Now, what next. I know – its in my folder here somewhere. Got it.
Oh I need a harmonica for this one. It’s in my guitar case, not be a tick.
Right here we go (Strums a chord). Ha ha, not in this tuning I’ll not be a minute.
(Retunes his guitar then finally begins with a 60 second guitar introduction then plays a note on the harmonica)

Oops I’ve put my harmonica in the rack upside down. Ha Ha. I’ll just fix that.
This is called Crossroad blues by the way. No idea who wrote it. Anybody know?
(Begins again – full intro once more and finally does the song. Huge applause from his friends again – none of whom really heard it)

Thank you, thank you. Pardon? I thought we got three songs? I’ve only done two. Oh OK then.
(Whips the lead out of his guitar making a noise like a shotgun come out of the speakers.

Sits down with his mates and talks loudly and continually for the rest of the evening).

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 04:35 AM

Jerry, I think most of us who use electronic tuners tune to the tuner, then ‘tweak’ by ear to get the tuning ‘right’ for the instrument you’re playing and the keys you’re playing in. I certainly do - I play mostly capoed, and I always need to flatten the low E and the B just a smidge to sound ‘right’ for the chordage I tend to use.

At home, in the quiet of my office/guitar-room, I often tune by ear (I like to keep my ear ‘fit’) - I tune the E to my electronic tuner, then I use the method suggested in the Guild of American Luthiers’ Data Sheet #45…

Dr Kev’s article and reprint of GoAL Data Sheet #45

I used Dr Kev’s piece because the GoAL require you to become a member in order to read the piece.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 04:36 AM

Jerry-

Tuners serve a purpose and some would be lost without them. But what's important here is to train the ears because a tuner can get a open string pretty damn close but there's often a little tweaking to get it spot-on and that's where the ears come in.

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 04:51 AM

@Aethelric - I think you and I have frequented the same Open-Mics! ;-)

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 04:51 AM

Yes, I agree with all that, but you more accomplished guys are in the minority these days, and most aspiring strummers out there blindly (deafly?) rely entirely on their tuners, much like the open mic character parodied above by Athelric, which warrants several separate other threads.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 05:32 AM

lol Aethelric


Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 12:21 PM

Tuning up should indeed be done off-stage. There's a problem though if on-stage is significantly warmer: when doing a zoom session during the winter, I've found it best to tune up with the clip-on, then let the guitar warm up nearer the fire for half an hour before doing a final tune-up (usually by ear).

This temperature problem seems worse with (*ghasp*) the banjo*, which, come to think, might account for some of the jokes about tuning them up. But if all else fails, I could always throw caution to the winds and the banjo on the fire.

* Other problem instruments are available.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 02:18 PM

MCtF-

Your banjo - has it got a real skin head? They can be very temperamental and slight humidity/temperature changes CAN affect them and often does. Try a Fiberskyn head, looks like calfskin but it's synthetic.

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 03:03 PM

The banjo is actually a good example- if you rely on a tuner for the open strings you will find that the second string (b) is out with other strings further up the neck, so conventional wisdom is that you tune it relatively instead. I tend to tune it at the eighth fret to the open 5th string (high g), so at least all the g notes chime in tune. By the way, banjos don’t burn very well because of all the metalwork - some have famously survived house fires (probably to the disappointment of the arsonist neighbour).

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 03:38 PM

Mine is an OME North Star. The company has closed its doors. That's a shame as they are fine banjos.

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: gillymor
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 04:44 PM

Whoa, Fred I've got a North Star open back. Didn't know they were OOB.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 04:51 PM

Lest this turn into a banjo thread, I'll try to keep this brief:

* I don't know what sort of skin my banjo's got: my late father reskinned it in the mid-1960s, and I can't ask him now. But it's lasted six decades, which may be a clue; and humidity does seem to affect it.

* It's a good example of an instrument where tightening one string causes the others to go slack a tad. Mine sometimes takes two passes to get near in-tune using the clip-on, plus twiddling afterwards by ear.*

* It probably wouldn't survive a house fire. The drum part is recessed into a solid-wood reflector which goes around the back; this makes it awfully loud, so I wouldn't hear the match being struck.

We now return you to the discussion of clip-on tuners.

* At least it's not as permanently out of tune as a nylon-strung guitar with fresh strings.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 04:59 PM

Gillymor-

Yep, can no longer get new ones mate, unless you find an unsold one that's been sitting around in a shop for a while.

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: Fred
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 05:32 PM

Gillymor-

OME has been bought by Gold Tone.

Sad to see it.

Fred

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: gillymor
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 06:26 AM

Look on the bright side, Fred, the value of our North Stars may have shot up.??

One of my pals has a Gold Tone tenor banjo and it sounds good and plays easy though it doesn't have the fit and finish of an Ome. Gold Tone is situated in Titusville, FL, across the Everglades from here and it looks like they've moved the Ome shop there from CO and will still be making high end banjos under the Ome name.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: gillymor
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 06:27 AM

?? = :'). Forgot that emojis don't work here.

Subject: RE: Clip-on guitar tuners
From: gillymor
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 06:37 AM

Filk, you may find some answers at the Banjo Hangout. There are a lot of knowledgeable, helpful banjo freaks there.