![]() In 1975, the next major advancement in guitar tuner technology came with arrival of the Korg W10. This opened up a whole new world of possibilities, which allowed for a ton of new guitar tuner designs that were cheaper and more practical for daily-use.Īnd ever since that time, these are the 8 designs that became most popular: 1. Starting in the late 70’s/early 80’s, digital technology made it possible to measure pitch with a microprocessor and display the readings on an LED/LCD screen. Luckily for us, today there are plenty… The 8 Categories of Guitar Tuners But for a long time, there were no other options. Of course, strobe tuners such as these aren’t ideal for guitar players, because they’re large, expensive, and require regular maintenance. Using a technology now known as “strobe tuning” this machine offered incredibly accurate pitch measurement…īy comparing the notes to an internal reference frequency using a series of light flickers and a rotating disk.Īnd while the original Stroboconns are now mainly collector’s items…the same basic technology is still used in the most accurate strobe tuners of today. Mine are Wittner and K&M (168/1) branded Forks with 12 cm long round prongs and a (hard to do damage with) ball end - made in Germany quality at a very reasonable price - I’m pleased with them.Back in 1936, the Conn company released the first commercially successful instrument tuner known as the Stroboconn. Just a little skill is required to use them effectively and using them helps to train the ears, etc. It’s a separate topic but Tuning Forks are an inexpensive, exceedingly durable and reliable back-up (no batteries required). Other than that I carry A440 Tuning Forks in my Gig Bags and occasionally dig one out to refresh the skill of using a Tuning Fork. ![]() I’m not sure what the ‘best’ tuner on the market is or even how it would be judged, but what I use above is near enough the ‘best’ for me. The Eno’s tick all of my boxes and I see no real need to look for anything else, but no doubt there are similarly good products available from other manufacturers. I use ENO ET33 Chromatic Tuners which seem to work well, they’re comparatively cheap (prices vary widely between suppliers but can be as low as 7 USD posted direct from China), they’ve a clear display, they’re reasonably compact, they’re reasonably durable and they’ve a battery life of about a year. I think they have a newer Pro Tuner that might be better. Which made it difficult to use in a group setting to check string tuning between songs. But it was a PIA waiting for the graphics on the dial face to boot up when you turned it on. But I keep one as a backup in my UkeKrazy case that I carry my tenor du jour in when going to the uke club or gigs. (Peghead?) I don't particularly like the D'Addario mini because they are hard to see in sunlight. I also use a D'Addario sound hole tuner on two of my ukes that don't hold a tuner very well on the headstock. He has a pedal box one as well for his electric ukes and guitars. I have a friend that swears by his Korg clip on tuner. It has a plug in capability for electric instruments. I also use the big, desktop or stand mounted Peterson Strobo Plus HD tuner. A tenor version is available for Google users. (At least in a tenor case.) I als has a "Sweetener" for ukes function that supposedly compensates for a concert neck. It folds down, much smaller than a Snark, so it fits in many of the storage compartments in a uke case. It takes a little longer to use than a Snark. The most accurate clip on tuner I own is the Peterson Strobo Clip HD. And the most of the uke club members use them, so I don't swim against the school in the stream. I use them because they are fast and only somewhat fiddly. But then, the tuner is pretty cheap, so I usually have 3 or 4 floating around. A drop of Super Glue or epoxy keeps the tie in place. Several people here recommended putting a plastic tie around the Snark's tabs that hold the ball of the arm to the head.
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