Regarding the different tuners available today

Dick Chapple Sr · From: Hardin Montana, USA

I don't want to ask what is the best tuner out there, that's been done before, and there end's up being a very wide spectrum of choices of course.

I have several different tuners.
I am experiencing something though that is now making me search for tuners that actually tune to what they say they are tuning to.

I found that I can tune a guitar with one tuner, a week later use a different tuner and find that all strings are pitched too high, so I retune. I can see slippage etc and have to tune some strings back up but down???

I have tuners from elcheapo to el pricio. I have inline tuners, tuners built into amps, I tune to our piano, I tune by ear once I have one string proper.
Have others experienced this too? Is the makings of the guitar itself causing tuners to do this?

If this be the case, then exactly what tuners are truthful?
When it says you have tuned a string to E, then by gosh it is an E, not nearly an F, etc.

Thanks for any good input you may wish to share.
Dick

Brooks Montgomery · From: Idaho, USA

This thing is the bomb.

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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first.

Dick Chapple Sr · From: Hardin Montana, USA

Brooks thanks for chiming in. Can you read this from the floor or do you just bring it out and tune when needed?

Have you too owned a bag of different tuners?
Have you experienced major discrepancies like I have?

I will look into this one for sure.
Smile

Dick

Brooks Montgomery · From: Idaho, USA

I leave mine in the box and break it out as needed. Unless thereâ€™s a lot of temperature changes going on, then Iâ€™ll have it handy. I havenâ€™t had the need to leave it in the chain. I just tap into when needed. It really is an amazing piece of equipment.
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first.

Dick Chapple Sr · From: Hardin Montana, USA

Okay, I am going to look into that one now.
Thanks
Dick

Anyone else experience the very poor accuracy from some tuners?

Oh yes....do you always make contact with the guitar and tuner? Or do you hold it near the strings without contact?

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

Paddy Long · From: Christchurch, New Zealand

Dick with regard to the pictured Peterson Strobo HD - these tuners are easy to read from the floor - I plug mine into my Telonics volume pedal and just leave it on the floor most of the time, easy to see - just turn it on when you need it and tune away!
I also have one of Peterson's Rack tuners as well - all their products are superior quality and will give you outstanding results.

They include the pedal steel "Sweetened tunings" so you don't need to consult any charts (as per Jeff Newman) ... just tune to the note and it automatically applies the offsets.
The battery is also a lithium type in the Strobo HD - charges with a USB cable just like a cell phone so you don't need to change batteries.
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14'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
08'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
94' Franklin Stereo D10 9+8
Telonics, Peterson, Steelers Choice, Benado, Lexicon, Red Dirt Cases.

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

Always actuate whatever pedal steel lever or pedal affects the string or pedal you are tuning after tuning the string to see where it lies. That's where it will end up at tuning wise 99% of the time.

I have found that the Peterson Strobo Plus HD is more accurate and stable on the lower strings than the cheaper tuners. The tuner's specs say in fact that it does have an extremely low frequency cut off point. At home mine is left on and read it from about 3' away. The Peterson iPhone app for guitar and bass and has been dead on for me as well. I have the new Peterson floor model strobe tuner on pre-order and it should be as accurate as the others according to the Peterson rep I talked to at Sweetwater's GearFest.

Dick Chapple Sr · From: Hardin Montana, USA

Lee and Paddy thank you for good info. Lee I would expect that guitar to drift out of tune, but is it possible to drift up out of tune almost a half step? This is consistent with all of the strings, not just a few. The strings in question are not new. This is why I may have a tuner two that not good. Lee you made good points, I will more cognizant of what I am doing regarding when I tune etc. Thanks again. Daddy that rack tuner sounds interesting.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Dave Campbell · From: Nova Scotia, Canada

+1 for the strobo stomp. i use one on the floor when i play guitar, and it's easy to read. i use the equalized sweetener for telecaster and it sounds fantastic.

i use a separate one clipped to the leg of my steel. it's always on, but when it's off you loose it's buffering capability and it changes the sound of the steel completely. this is a problem on a gig if the battery is low, so now i carry a power bar that includes usb power outs, and i always plug in the tuner.

i've tried a number of tuners for steel and guitar. hands down, the strobo plus is the best.

Dick Chapple Sr · From: Hardin Montana, USA

Hi Donny, thanks for the input.
Not that I have so many tuners, I like to have tuners available for my too many guitars!! I have one for each of my 3 setups, a couple amps have built in tuners etc. And over many years I have added probably a couple others. I have been a good boy lately and am pairing down after owning over 30 instruments.
Nor do I mindlessly sit down and tune every time I play, sorry if I gave you that impression.
I guess I haven't expressed myself clearly. I probably don't tune as often as I should but every couple weeks I recheck my steel set up at church. There can be large temp changes over the week. My setup at home needs a tuning check every so often as it is in a small room, and a heat register is fairly close by which may be a factor. My other setup is in the basement subjected to temp changes. Humidity not so much of a problem here, we are a very dry climate.

Hopefully this is a little clearer. I believe over the course of this past couple years my ability to hear out of tune strings has improved. One day I happen to switch my tuner and my guitar at church with one at home, I wanted to put the Mullen at church and the Carter at home. One day after I had changed the guitars around I checked my Carter which does not hold a tuning as well as the Mullen. I found that while the strings were pretty much in tune with each other, they all were pitched almost a half tone too high according to a tuner different from the one I usually used. So if it is rare that tuners vary like this than there is something else going on.

This why I asked about tuner placement while tuning. I am thinking that just setting the tuner on the guitar may be giving some false or inaccurate readings. Perhaps the best is inline, or to actually clamp the tuner to a leg or clamp to a tuner or something.

So while I am not too worried about how many tuners I have, I'd really rather have some ideas of what may be causing this to happen. If not for tuner variance, then it must be how the tuner reads the guitar sounds from poor contact, or bounce back of sounds off the bedroom walls, sympathy sounds from other strings while picking one? Whatever.

Jim Kennedy · From: Brentwood California, USA

I have not noticed this type of drifting with my PSteel, but have noticed it on several guitars. I always use the same tuner, an intelitouch, for my guitars. I use a Peterson Stroboflip for the steel.Most of the time my guitars have drifted roughly a half step out of tune when taken out of the case. In cool weather they tend to go sharp, and in warm weather they tend to go flat. I always give them time to acclimate before tuning, especially in cold weather. Once tuned they are fine. In the winter my PSteel will drift more but once tuned it is fine. Changes in environment will usually effect the tuning of any stringed instrument. I also find my PSTeel tends to go more out of tune when moved to a different location. Changes in environment, packing, unpacking, setting up all effect the tuning.
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Dick Chapple Sr · From: Hardin Montana, USA

Hi Jim, I have to and I just was reminded of something so gosh awful simple from what you wrote when said sometimes going sharp. Of course these strings expand and contract, and I know that too, but somehow this old brain was thinking only about going flat because of string stretch, tuner movement, strings not wrapped correctly on tuners etc. Wasn't taking into account expansion contraction of the strings themselves from temp changes etc etc.

So obvious, thank you and everyone who has added to this string, very much appreciated. got my answers.
Smile

Dick

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