Paint Coming Off Snark Tuner

Ukettante

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A while back I got a Snark tuner. It ate the battery like crazy; within 24 hours the battery would be dead, so the manufacturer sent me a replacement. A blue one. After using the replacement a couple of times, I left it in one of the guitar cases for a long time because I also have a Korg tuner. Well, last night I got the Snark out and discovered that it was inexplicably sticky all over, and there were blue smears on my fingertips where I touched the tuner. It took me some time to scrub it off under a running faucet. I'm not sure whether the paint used is toxic, but I'm gonna throw the tuner away. No more Snarks.

Anyone know what's up with the stickiness and the paint coming off my tuner?
 
Just wondering if the case was new.
 
Phil,

Not sure what you meant by whether the case was new. If you're asking about the guitar case in which the Snark had been stored, I bought it new, not secondhand.

In fact, I forgot to say, the replacement tuner was always a bit sticky. But it somehow became really sticky sitting in the guitar case, and the paint never come off the way it did last night!
 
Phil,

Not sure what you meant by whether the case was new. If you're asking about the guitar case in which the Snark had been stored, I bought it new, not secondhand.

In fact, I forgot to say, the replacement tuner was always a bit sticky. But it somehow became really sticky sitting in the guitar case, and the paint never come off the way it did last night!

maybe what Phil is getting at is that most cases have some off-gassing of glue fumes after the fur or felt lining is glued in at the factory and maybe these fumes interacted badly with the paint on the tuner?

If your case has been properly vented or is old enough to have had the fumes dissipate there would be no issue, but if you put your nose IN the fur of the case and take a deep inhale and smell a rubber, plasticky, or glue-like smell then it is NOT vented enough to get the fumes out...
 
I've been using Snark tuners for years without any problems. I believe mine are black plastic, not plastic painted black. Not sure how the blue ones are made, but I would assume they are blue plastic. From your description, it sounds as though the plastic, for some reason melted.
 
My guess is that Booli is on the right track. That one or more of the off gases from the glue in the case is a solvent for the blue plastic.
 
I would add that there are 50 different tuners out there, starting at $2.70 (shipped from China) and $4 for a Reverb shipped from Chicago. Music stores are pulling in $16 for a Snark tuner that has no indication that it is any more accurate than a cheap tuner. It turns out the SN-6 is an old model: there is a new SN-6X for sale on Amazon for $13.

After two bad situations from Snark, if it were me, I would try other inexpensive tuners.
 
I've been using Snark tuners for years without any problems. I believe mine are black plastic, not plastic painted black. Not sure how the blue ones are made, but I would assume they are blue plastic. From your description, it sounds as though the plastic, for some reason melted.

I've also used a black plastic Snark for years on all my Ukes and banjos with no troubles at all. I also have a $20 Kala that is a pain to use. I don't like (or use) it at all. The one on my iPad is a little too sensitive, but it works.

I like Snarks. I wish they had one to keep my instruments from making mistakes.
 
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I have two red plastic Snark chromatic tuners and I like them for ease of use and clarity of their display. One weakness I found was the socket of the ball and socket joints that attached the clip to the tuner was easily broken so I stopped taking them out with me. I subsequently discovered the Planet Waves NS mini tuners which are more compact and less visually obtrusive so I can leave them on the headstock so I standardised on them.

I've tried a variety of tuners over time but the Plane Waves and the Snarks have proved the best overall.

I've just had a look on Amazon and I noticed that Snark have shortened the stem between the clip and the tuner so maybe that will make them a bit more robust.
 
I have two red plastic Snark chromatic tuners and I like them for ease of use and clarity of their display. One weakness I found was the socket of the ball and socket joints that attached the clip to the tuner was easily broken so I stopped taking them out with me. I subsequently discovered the Planet Waves NS mini tuners which are more compact and less visually obtrusive so I can leave them on the headstock so I standardised on them.

Wow - are you me?! This is exactly why I gave up on Snarks and moved on to the mini tuners, I got tired of those joints breaking after 2 or 3 :)

I had red Snarks, and they're definitely painted or otherwise coated. While I never had the coating get all over my hands or anything like that, I do still have one around and the red coating is chipped in a few places. And it does feel sort of sticky/tacky to the touch today, in the midst of a heatwave.

Makes me wonder if that coating can melt at a certain temperature??
 
I have been using a snark for a couple of years and no issues whatsoever. A couple of weeks ago my wife & I went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a visit with her family, and I borrowed my sister-in-law's ukulele while there to play & practice. She also has a Snark that my wife bought her, and darned if that thing wasn't crumbling like an old cookie. My s-i-l hadn't played her uke or used the tuner for at least a year, but it had disintegrated and my fingers were covered with a black tar-like substance from the plastic. I guess it was the extreme heat & humidity that's found year-round in Southeast Asia, but i was really surprised. The connector to the ball joint was disintegrated too and the two pieces fell apart when I picked it up. I was really shocked by that -- go figure. Had to use a tuner-app on my phone, so it was all good. Funnily enough her relatively cheap laminate ukulele that the Snark was stowed with, was in exactly the same shape as last time I visited and it played great.
 
Okey-doke. Since somebody mentioned Planet Waves, I'm gonna look into that. Thanks, everyone.
 
My snarks are still black. No paint missing. I did lose the little rubber gripper thingy off one of them and put one of those adhesive pads you would put under a vase to protect your wood furniture. Still works great.
 
A while back I got a Snark tuner. It ate the battery like crazy; within 24 hours the battery would be dead, so the manufacturer sent me a replacement. A blue one. After using the replacement a couple of times, I left it in one of the guitar cases for a long time because I also have a Korg tuner. Well, last night I got the Snark out and discovered that it was inexplicably sticky all over, and there were blue smears on my fingertips where I touched the tuner. It took me some time to scrub it off under a running faucet. I'm not sure whether the paint used is toxic, but I'm gonna throw the tuner away. No more Snarks.

Anyone know what's up with the stickiness and the paint coming off my tuner?
Hi there,
If you're one of the unfortunate owners of a "sticky" Snark tuner, there's good news for you!
I've managed to find an effective and easy way to remove the nasty goo and restore the original feel and smoothness of the tuner's body.
I had already tried out unsuccessfully the many different methods suggested around, like a) using alcohol (either ethyl- or isopropyl-) that proves uneffective in dissolving that particular compound or b) dish-washing soap, that doesn't wash off anything or c) mildly abrasive methods like baking soda or toothpaste that end up jumbling with the goo or, finally, d) more aggressive solvents risking to damage the thing for good.
I was about to give up when, after some thought, I envisioned a possible solution in finding some chemical showing affinity with the sticky substance and thus being able to chemically blend with it. The answer came to me under the form of... glycerol (C3H8O3)
So, unless your Snark flew into the trashbin meanwhile, it's time to get to work!

1) Rummage your wife's makeup cabinet (well, better ask her permission first...) in search for any hand cream. Look up into the composition list for the highest glycerol or glycerin content (it should be the first ingredient, or just second to "aqua") and go for the thicker one.
2) Have a piece of cloth or rag handy. It has to be made of very compact, lint-free fabric, like the cotton of an old t-shirt.
3) Apply a very, very thin coat of cream to the sticky surface, spread it gently and let it rest for a minute.
4) Using the cloth under one of your fingertips, begin from one corner of the surface and little by little start to "push away" the sticky compound. You'll have to exert some good pressure, until feeling the drag of the cotton surface rubbing against the goo.
5) Proceed ensuring that at each sweep some dirt remains on cloth, leaving a clean and smooth surface underneath. Work on small zones, moving to a new, clean part of the cloth each time.
6) Repeat the cream-sweep procedure if necessary, insisting on any stubborn corner.
7) Finish with a dry-cloth nice rub until everything's polished and smooth...

Et voilà!

This way I was able to get a brand new Snark, except for the few silkscreen writings that got unavoidably lost in the process.
Let me know if it worked also from you!

Roberto
 
I've had the same thing happen with red Snarks (the red & black ones have a different coating from the black and the black & white ones), as well as other electronics with that 'fancy', rubberized coating.

After a number of years, the coating breaks down, starts getting sticky and eventually comes off when you touch it.
Yet another reason to never keep the tuners on your headstocks.

The last couple of years, I've switched to Unitune tuners anyway; no rubberized finish, a clearer display, and they are *much* more sensitive and more accurate.
 
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