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Tuners - does it matter?

I'm sort of interested in taking a survey, but also wondering if other people think the accuracy of your tuner is audible. As for me, I became tied to electronic tuners years ago when I realized that they were faster and more accurate than I care to be. I had spent years perfecting my ability to tune with just one reference pitch. But then came the electronic tuners and I gave up that craft.

About two years ago, I was watching Delta Moon at Blind Willies and the lead singer kept tuning his guitar with a Korg Pitchblack. I decided I had to have a floor tuner and looked at the Boss, Digitech, Korg, Peterson etc. But then I saw this little tuner for about the same price as the Korg that was a true strobe tuner with .02 cent accuracy. (I think the boss TU2 had an abysmal 3 cent accuracy at the time.) I went ahead and bought it and was surprised at the difference it made in the sound of my guitars. They never seemed so in tune.

My son and I spent about an hour blind testing and we both concluded that the difference was audible and significant. I wasn't willing to spring for the Peterson virtual strobe pedal price, but at this price point, I couldn't refuse. I've never looked back either - I tune almost exclusively with strobe now. (Turbo Tuner is my pedal.)

Just recently, Peterson put out an iPhone virtual strobe tuner for $9.99. Wow! It's accurate (.1 cent), steady and easy to see. So now, I am rarely without a strobe tuner (I still haven't spent as much as the Peterson would have cost). Granted, I do make the rare adjustment to a string or two depending on the key.

So two questions:

1) Do you tend to depend on electronic tuners? If so, which one (s)?

2) If you are a strobe user, do you feel that it makes an audible difference?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rick Cogbill on December 27, 2010 at 6:36pm

I use the Boss TU2 and use the strobe setting mostly. I'm happy with it, but have never A/B tested any others. I do know it's better than my ear for the most part.

Permalink Reply by Stevo on December 28, 2010 at 6:58am

When did you buy it?

Permalink Reply by Rick Cogbill on December 28, 2010 at 4:38pm

Hmm...can't quite remember, but it's at least 3 or 4 years old. Does it make a difference?

Permalink Reply by Stevo on December 29, 2010 at 12:07am

Well, just curious when the TU3 came it. They appear to have improved the accuracy some.

Permalink Reply by Toni on December 27, 2010 at 6:41pm

I've been using electronic tuners since the early 90s, and yes, they do make a difference. Some are definitely MUCH better than others: the tuner in my old Korg AX30 processor was always accurate, whereas the one in a Korg AX10A (acoustic modeler) was less than helpful. The tuner in my Roland GR33 also seems accurate.

On my pedal board I use a Pitchblack. That also has a strobe tuning mode, although I find the 'standard' mode perfectly acceptable.

Not wishing to sound grumpy, but reasonable electronic tuners have been cheaply available for a long time. It seems odd that a serious guitarist would not use one as standard these days unless they possessed perfect pitch - even then, it makes silent tuning on stage possible, even when the drummer is warming up.

Permalink Reply by Wayne Pau on December 28, 2010 at 8:50pm

Ok. It's not just me. I don't like the tuner on the AX10A at all.

I wasn't that happy with the AX10A. Even when I paid only like $50 for it. The models are all so subtle. It may be my acoustics, but I think I really only use chorus and delay/reverb sometimes.

My older Korg tuner on the other hand is pretty accurate. At least better than AX10.

Permalink Reply by Stevo on December 28, 2010 at 6:59am

I really like that Polytune - isn't that the one with the ability to tune all six strings at once?

Permalink Reply by Stevo on December 28, 2010 at 4:53pm

I think the price point is excellent considering what you're getting.

Permalink Reply by Mike Musser on December 28, 2010 at 5:04am

I also use the Boss TU-2. I find it to be very accurate and have been happy with it. One other point that hasn't yet been mentioned yet is that it doesn't really matter how good your tuner is if your guitar isn't properly set up in terms of intonation. There's nothing worse to me than playing standard chords perfectly in tune and then moving up beyond the 12th fret to find that you're ever so slightly sharp or flat. To me, that's SO noticeable and it drives me crazy. Just my 2 cents...

Permalink Reply by Stevo on December 28, 2010 at 7:01am

That's a good point - intonation can be bad on some guitars. One of my guitarists doubles on mandolin and it's action is so high that he can't use a capo without completely re-tuning. In fact, I wonder if mandolins are all like that?

Permalink Reply by Toni on December 28, 2010 at 8:53am

TBH I've only ever owned one guitar that was intonated correctly when new (and I suspect that was because it was set up for the show I bought it at). I always expect to have to work on a new instrument and most used instruments, and I'm not usually disappointed. On a side note, this is another reason I dislike acoustic guitars - the intonation is normally out a bit and sometimes there's not a thing that can be done without major luthiery.

Permalink Reply by Rick Cogbill on December 28, 2010 at 4:46pm

I've been trying to find a decent luthier for my Yamaha LLX26C ever since I bought it a year ago, but have been disappointed so many times by guys who only make things worse that I've begun to despair. Using a capo is a major crap shoot, as I never know how much retuning I'll have to do.