Snark tuners suck

I use a Cool tuner. Immediate response, seemingly accurate, and rechargeable. But mine is seven years old, and the model I have is no longer on their web site, so buyer beware!

1 Like

Iā€™m another one for the Boss tuners. I have a TU-02 which I find very good. I guess the only downside for you JK would be itā€™s battery and not USB chargeable.

2 Likes

I have a Snark clip-on I bought about 10 years ago. Never had any problems with it, In fact, I pulled it out of the guitar case after like, 5 YEARS, changed the battery and it worked first time. I guess theyā€™re produciton standards have dropped in the interim. . .

1 Like

I e been using a snark for years, works fine for me. Probably had it for like 5-6yrs

I own 4-5 Snark tuners - they work fine until the puppy eats them. Try changing your battery.

I went from Snark (after it brokeā€¦ it seems like theyā€™re made to break if you use it even a handful of times a week), to the latest va of a Peterson stroboclipā€¦ I actually bought it because I wanted something better built that wouldnā€™t break immediately, not because of the hype around strobe tubersā€¦ it was a game changer. There was a clear audible difference to my ears after tuning with the Peterson clip on (which I did right after tuning with a cheap clip on, according to the cheap one, it was in tune - the Peterson stroboclip did NOT agree when I put it on :rofl:. Anyways, never going back now. Some people claim itā€™s bias, that with a strobe tuner you expect to hear something better, so you doā€¦ except I was biased the other way where I was sure there would be no difference, but it was clear. Thereā€™s a huge difference in accuracy. Like exponentially. After I started using the strobe clip on, I immediately switched the single string function to strobe on my polytune 3 mini noir. Looking to get another strobe tuner pedal now so I donā€™t have to share the polytune between my acoustic and electric boards.

In short, I highly recommend purchasing a Peterson stroboclip or other strobe tuner. Itā€™s worth the investment. I think I paid $10-20 more than a snark costs now and itā€™s worth it just based on the better construction/quality alone, without even factoring in the difference in sound.

I did learn an interesting trick in the last week that proved to be trueā€¦: essentially for electric guitars, when tuning, turn the tone knobs all the way to zero, then switch all the way to the neck pickup (or bridge some people prefer) - anyways without the overtones, electrics tune faster and more accurately. It stops strobe tuners from jumping around.

I got a fender clip-on too. Very happy with it. Itā€™s not rechargable though

Are you referring to clip on tuners or pedals?

That tip applies to any tuner you would plug intoā€¦ so pedal

What is the science behind that?

I guess the idea is that there is less to mask the fundamental. :man_shrugging:
I dunno, this is a new one for me too.

tone shouldnt make a difference. perhaps some pedal/effects would but the tuner should be first in line anyhow?

1 Like

Yes, and the magnetic field of both pickups is always there so of the motion of the string is affected, itā€™s affected anyhow. Iā€™m not quite sure what difference it makes if the neck or bridge PUP is selected. Perhaps the motion over the neck pickup is larger and that translates to stronger signal?
Iā€™m genuinely interested in the scientific background.

Generally youā€™d hope the pickups are wound for similar outputsā€¦

Some people swear by the bridge, some by the neck pupā€¦ it most likely varies depending on the pupsā€¦ but it def stops tuners, esp strobe from jumping. It would give the tuner a purer single source to work off of. It def works though. As mentioned, I had never thought about it until I was on a thread on a dif forum and someone brought it up. Only one or two others knew about it, but everyone who tried stripping to one pup or the other in full position and removing the tone had the same result. Especially with more accurate tuners like strobe. It allowed the guitar to be tuned quicker and there wasnā€™t a bunch of jumping on the strobe tuner, which was always a bit annoying (just on the pedal tuner, didnā€™t really have the same issue with strobe clip on, because thereā€™s only a single source itā€™s measuring). Give it a try though. Like most things, it will depend on the guitar/etc will create some variancesā€¦ but it was a new, interesting trick to tune with a great degree of accuracy quicker, which I now use regularly.

2 Likes

Iā€™m not an acoustics expert but it does make sense on an intuitive level that trying to accurately measure pitch on a vibrating string at one point would be more stable than at two points, given the string is doing this.

This diagram could have saved me a lot of words :joy:

1 Like

Still though it doesnā€™t explain neither the pickup choice or the tone knob to zero.
Unless you tune your guitar using the harmonic at the 12th fret.

I have a Super Snark that someone gave to me and it works fine.

Iā€™ve also used snarks for quite a few years and theyā€™ve always worked fine. I keep a stash of extra batteries handy because they go out at the worst times. Only problem Iā€™ve had is they break at the shoulder if Iā€™m rough with them.