# Favourite tuner?



## GuitarPix (Jan 11, 2007)

Just wondered what people are using for tuning acoustics, especially in noisy places. I've got a basic tuner with the little clamp on a cord to pick up the vibrations of the guitar. I also have a fender stomp box type tuner I use when on stage (which is also good for cutting the sound during guitar changes.) 

The Intellitouch clamp on looks pretty interesting.

Has anyone used the Planet Waves pick like strobe tuner?


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Planet Waves pedal tuner on my pedal board, Intellitouch on unamplified instruments, Planet Waves desktop type strobe/sweep tuner/metronome for the studio, Boss TU-70 for student use. Also have an older Yamaha tuner that refuses to die, and the PW pick shaped strobe thing which just takes too long though it's very accurate. 

I prefer the pedal and desk top Planet Waves.

If money wasn't an issue I'd have a Peterson in a heartbeat, but alas, I have to eat.

Peace, Mooh.


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## Guest (Dec 4, 2007)

Boss TU 2.... any day, any stage... 

I've tried Intellitouch and in a loud 'bar' they don't work worth squirt. Sabine makes a 'stick-on' tuner that is way better, in my experience.


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

the intellitouch work really well, unless there is loud instruments on stage with you, as they'll vibrate the guitar you're trying to tune. i use a boss pedal tuner, does the trick. i kind of want a peterson, so i can intonate my guitars, but i doubt i'd use it on stage.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Strobostomp is what I use at gigs. It's so exact you don't need to fiddle afterwards which is more than I can say for my other tuners.


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## Guest (Dec 4, 2007)

"intellitouch work really well, unless there is loud instruments on stage with you"
See, I found they were defeated by crowd noise.... 

But on the other hand, I know folks who swear by them... Who knows... Maybe they just didn't work well on MY guitars.....


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

I agree with ClintonHammond, the Intellitouch is affected by nearby noises. Safe to use for those nursing home gigs (in my experience) but defeated by anything louder. 

Plugging into a pedal tuner always serves me better.

Peace, Mooh.


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

Peterson VS2. Its great for acoustic with the little "body mic" (and super accurate), and works even in really noisy environments.


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## Gilliangirl (Feb 26, 2006)

Whatever you do, don't buy the Intelli IMT-500. The thing rarely picks up enough vibration to register both the low E and A string. I've tried the silly thing on both my guitars. And I tried changing the battery. Maybe I just got a dud but I wish I could get my money back for the silly thing. My friend Craig's Intellitouch works pretty good but I find those vibration-sensor tuners just get you in the ballpark and you still need to finetune with either another device or your ear. I have a really old Korg that my ex-boyfriend gave me that's very sensitive, works great. Unfortunately it's not chromatic. Haven't tried the strobe thingy. Korg seems to make a pretty reliable product, I've found.


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

I had an Intellitouch for about a week, thought it would be just the ticket for acoustic. Couldn't get it to pick up worth a damn with any guitar. Long and Mcquade was good enough to give me a refund.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Instead of the Intellitouch, try the Centerpitch-
although they don't mention with the guitar on their site--it does work for guitar. Well it does work for the violin family--so why not guitar.

I know someone who plays cello and has one of these--I've used in on my 12 string. It works great, and it's half the price of the Intellitouch.
I plan on getting one of my own.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...i don't go anywhere without my intellitouch.

i have lots of tuner pedals, and pedals with built-in tuners, and an acoustic on the way with a built-in tuner.

but the intellitouch is my "insurance".

-dh


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## Mike MacLeod (Nov 27, 2006)

*Favorite Tuner?*

(QUOTE=Gilliangirl;79684]Whatever you do, don't buy the Intelli IMT-500. )

Interesting; Gilliangirl. I've used the Intelli-500 many times with no problem. I might suggest you have a bad one and you should exchange it. I'll do that, if you wish.

One trick I might offer, is that most of the less expensive tuners need to be spanked from time to time. I find that they will wake up and pay attention if you tune a couple of strings from a 12 fret harmonic. 

The tuner I have the most success with is the Korg GT-12 which runs about $100.00. Not a Petersen, but I do like an analog meter. They seem to be more accurate.


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## Luke98 (Mar 4, 2007)

I have a built in tuner on my ibanez. Does the job, noise doesnt affect it at all.


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## gurianguy (Nov 20, 2007)

I'vegot an Intellitouch, and as Gilliangirl says, it works fine on my Gurian and Yamaha acoustics. It is my second one, and it works much better than the first one I had (and still have). I have a Korg DT-10 which works great on my electrics, but my newest toy is a Korg GT-120, which can work chromatically, or you can plug in an electric. You can tune via the meters, or set it to tune to the tones it generates. It also has settings for Open E, Open D, and Open G tunings, which is great for slide work. I think it will also tune for bass, but I don't have one, so I never really read all the instructions. It works great, but I had to special order it.


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## elindso (Aug 29, 2006)

zontar said:


> Instead of the Intellitouch, try the Centerpitch-
> although they don't mention with the guitar on their site--it does work for guitar. Well it does work for the violin family--so why not guitar.
> 
> I know someone who plays cello and has one of these--I've used in on my 12 string. It works great, and it's half the price of the Intellitouch.
> I plan on getting one of my own.


They mention guitar on the front page in a disclaimer.

"_CenterPitch is uniquely designed to measure continuous vibrations from brass, woodwind and bowed strings in order to provide immediate intonation feedback to the player. Proprietary software enables this to happen in an optimum way. CenterPitch is therefore not ideal (or recommemded) for use as a tuner for plucked stringed instruments such as guitars, banjos and mandolins. For tuning guitars, banjos and mandolins, and other plucked stringed instrruments, use the Intellitouch Tuner. Intellitouch is optimized for the vibrations of plucked strings._"

It's the first thing I saw on the site. Not tying to rain on your parade but...


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## Warren (Mar 2, 2007)

Intellitouch PT1, for both accoustic & electric. I've never had problems with tuning over noise, it picks up vibrations fine even over a noisy crowd or other musicians noodling around. It does have problems with the low E but not with the harmonic at the 12th on the low E.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

The Ibanez I bought a few months ago has a tuner built in. It works great and automatically mutes the guitar when activated.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

elindso said:


> They mention guitar on the front page in a disclaimer.
> 
> "_CenterPitch is uniquely designed to measure continuous vibrations from brass, woodwind and bowed strings in order to provide immediate intonation feedback to the player. Proprietary software enables this to happen in an optimum way. CenterPitch is therefore not ideal (or recommemded) for use as a tuner for plucked stringed instruments such as guitars, banjos and mandolins. For tuning guitars, banjos and mandolins, and other plucked stringed instrruments, use the Intellitouch Tuner. Intellitouch is optimized for the vibrations of plucked strings._"
> 
> It's the first thing I saw on the site. Not tying to rain on your parade but...


Well, I've never had a problem with it, maybe that's just me.


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## Mike MacLeod (Nov 27, 2006)

*Korg - GT-120*

It really is one of my favorite tuners. I really like the analog meter. I think it is more accurate than the LED or LCD displays.

It is a more expensive tuner, but I really think it is better.

However, having said that, I find that I have to "ear-tune" my guitar after using a tuner anyway. Whether it's a $30K Martin or $1K Blueridge, everything needs a tweak.


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## Gilliangirl (Feb 26, 2006)

I've got an old Korg GT-1. Not sure how old it is (belonged to the ex-boyfriend) but it's old. It's probably the best one I have. Not chromatic tho' so have to use another one for different tunings.

Mike, I just saw your comment about my new Intelli-500.....
"Interesting; Gilliangirl. I've used the Intelli-500 many times with no problem. I might suggest you have a bad one and you should exchange it. I'll do that, if you wish." It's about 2 months old, still has the plastic on it, but the box is in bad shape, and I don't have the receipt anymore. Maybe I did get a dud because everyone else says they like this thing. I have SOMETIMES been able to tune the A and low E string using the octaves, but the problem with that is just because it's in tune at the 12th fret doesn't mean it's in tune at the open position. So, I hate it; it was an expensive mistake.


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## Grenvilleter (Dec 22, 2007)

So far, in my experience, about 10% of the intelli's are less sensitive than the norm. I have sold a few and on occassion, I get one back that is not cutting it. They all seem to be weak at picking up the 6th string but as earlier posted, hitting it on the 12th fret seems to make them pay attention.
Also, as far as accuracy goes, the +/- .5% accuracy as specified is ok but when I use it to tune my mandolin, it is not able to put the double strings exactly where they should be. also, with the "b" string, I find I have to tune it slightly to the low side to just where the tuner cannot decide if the string is right on or slightly flat to get the best results. Most tuners that use an oscillator and "divide by N" logic circuitry suffer from the same problem as the B string frequency is a prime number and not easily achieved by dividing down some higher frequency as the other strings are.
I guess for accuracy a strobe is the way to fly where each frequency is exact.

BTW, if you paid more than $29.95 for your intelli-500, you really do have reason to cry. I would not give up on them however so easily. I use mine on stage for both guitar and mandolin and it gets me by fairly satisfactory. For the most part, I'm happy with it and aware of it's limitations and try to work within them.

For setups I use an old Korg from the early '80's. That old girl is about the size of a jewelry box and each string has to be set manually. What I especially like about it is, the internal oscillator can be calibrated with a tuning fork or frequency generator so the acuracy is available if I take the time to be certain of my calibrations. Also the fairly large analogue meter is nice to read.


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2007)

"because everyone else says they like this thing."
Not everyone....


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## Canman (Oct 21, 2007)

GuitarPix said:


> Just wondered what people are using for tuning acoustics, especially in noisy places. I've got a basic tuner with the little clamp on a cord to pick up the vibrations of the guitar. I also have a fender stomp box type tuner I use when on stage (which is also good for cutting the sound during guitar changes.)
> 
> The Intellitouch clamp on looks pretty interesting.
> 
> Has anyone used the Planet Waves pick like strobe tuner?




I dont know if you use one but An A440 tuning fork is the only way one should tune a guitar for the most part. Advantages especially to the novice when practicing.

If you are gigging and wish to save time then an electronic tuner is great!

And the Korg CA-30 is one of the most inexpensive and best.

But dont overuse them...the ears and mental focus need training and exercise, just like the fingers.


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