What tuner do you use?

I have never had a snark, but my one and only ukulele student brought one the first day that she said belonged to her dad, who tried to learn to play the guitar at one time, and I could not figure out how to get it to tune a ukulele. It appeared to be specifically for guitars. Maybe not, but I didn't want to waste the lesson figuring it out. The next time she came with a brand new snark, and it actually seemed to be uke specific. I hardly looked at it as she had it figured out. So that was a few months ago, and last week she showed up and was using my eno. I asked her where her snark was and she told me that it broke. So while there are some people who seem to be able to keep a snark in one piece, the one that my student had didn't last long. Right now she is using an app. I have used an app on my phone before, but I tried to use it for a coffee shop open mic when I left my eno at home, and it picked up background noise and was quite erratic. I went into the restroom to tune, and then it worked fine.

Anyway, pitch pipes and tuning forks, I just don't get along with either and I have both. I do better tuning to my dog has fleas than I do trying to tune to a pitch pipe or trying to tune one string against another. Frankly, I think that I'm too lazy to make the effort for either of those methods. I just want to start playing, I don't want to make a production out of tuning my uke. My eno works well, it is quick, and I have learned to make to a point to not leave home without it.
 
I've tried tuning by ear or with a tuning fork and then checking it with my Snark, and my tuning was waaay off. But, then, I'm an old geezer.

Out of tune musical instruments are just noise. :eek:ld:
 
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I really like the red Snarks. I've found that they last well for me. I have lost the clip pad on one of them, but replaced it with a stick on chair pad from the dollar store. The dollar store is also where I get the spare batteries. They come in a three pack for $1.25. That's less than $.50 a piece. They are a lot more expensive if you get 'em from a music store.
 
I started with a snark and have two. The joint has broken on one but the other is still OK. I've tried various others and eventually settled on the D'Addario/Planet Waves Micro tuner and have one on most of my ukes. I find battery life to be pretty good. I buy my batteries in bulk from an on line battery store. I switch them off after tuning which I'm sure helps preserve battery life though most of these small electric gadgets have a timeout/auto off function to help preserve battery life.
 
I'd bet a lot of people break their Snarks because they keep fiddling with and adjusting them and/or they don't respect the limitations of the adjustable mechanisms. My wife is such a person with a lot of mechanical things. She wants the mechanical thing to bend to her will and her way rather than she having to learn the mechanism and bend/yield to its limitations. I've had my Snark 5+ years and I've probably only adjusted it 2-3 times. Once it was adjusted to where I like it, I just clip it on the same way on multiple ukes and it's ready to go. Once the uke is tuned, the Snark comes off and is stored in the compartment of my uke's hard case.
 
I'd bet a lot of people break their Snarks because they keep fiddling with and adjusting them and/or they don't respect the limitations of the adjustable mechanisms. My wife is such a person with a lot of mechanical things. She wants the mechanical thing to bend to her will and her way rather than she having to learn the mechanism and bend/yield to its limitations. I've had my Snark 5+ years and I've probably only adjusted it 2-3 times. Once it was adjusted to where I like it, I just clip it on the same way on multiple ukes and it's ready to go. Once the uke is tuned, the Snark comes off and is stored in the compartment of my uke's hard case.

Right on! Mike. :cheers: :eek:ld:
 
I'd bet a lot of people break their Snarks because they keep fiddling with and adjusting them

I think my experience was that if you gig with them every week for two years then you HAVE to fiddle with them - and then they break.
 
Blimey - I ran in to some real Snark love here. All I did was answer a question

End of the day 99.9% of clip on tuners - Snark / D'addario / Korg / kala / whatever - are just rebrands of the same tech. If they use a needle system they are all kind of as accurate as each other. The D'Addarios I like are about the same price (shopping around) as Snarks and in fact most tuners.

Buy what you like - it's all cool.
 
I wonder what that's all about - I have 6 of those NS-Micros and I've only ever had to change one battery. And if you buy the batteries in bulk on Amazon, it cuts the small fortune down by about 50% of retail, with a lot less packaging.

ETA: worth mentioning - I always, always turn my tuners off the minute I'm done tuning. Drives me crazy to see those flashing lights when I play - but I wonder if this conserves battery life as well??

I have to agree here - I have about 18 of the Planet waves tuners (almost one per uke, and I leave them in place), and only have to change batteries about every 6-8 months. The Snarks I was changing monthly. The batteries are the same as I use in my glucose meter, so I buy in bulk on Amazon, and always have enough, for cheap.

I do have a few Reverb tuners (never opened the packages), and a couple of Fishman tuners, but they are bulky, and battery hogs. My old Korg with the 1/4" jacks/mic is still usable, but huge by comparison, and I had a handful of tuning forks, all labeled "A440", but when I checked them all with the same electronic tuner, they varied from 428 to 438. None are truly 440. I gave the 428/432/436 forks to a friend to use in the science classes she teaches. (And I was really amazed that I was able to tell the difference between 438 and 432, even before I got my hearing aids!)

Which brings up another issue - New Hearing Aids. I thought one of my ukes had been damaged (after being outside, during a thunderstorm) because it sounded horrible, especially when ever I played a "G", regardless of where it was on the fret board. I kept hearing double tones, and they weren't complimentary. The uke group I was playing with that day said everything sounded just fine.

The next day, I noticed that the oven signal at work was now two tones, overlaying each other. I grabbed another uke, and the G was two tones.

Took the hearing aids out, and everything sounded good again.
The tuners showed all strings to be in tune, throughout the entire episode, even when my ears were telling me that there was a problem.
 
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My favourite tuners are the "Intelli IMT 500." I've got three of them. Their display is very accurate and beautifully lit and it works best for me. It also flattens out in a case.

I have a Snark and it has never busted, but you have to bend it a lot when storing it and putting it back on the uke. They should call it "Snark Yoga" ;-) hehe I have no other issues with my Snark, but I mainly use the Intelli tuners.

Petey
 
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I started out with an Intellitouch PT1 for my guitars. That worked very well for many years until it finally broke.

I owned two Snarks. One just stopped working, and the other spontaneously broke at the ball joint. Both went into the trash a long time ago.

I have a Peterson Stroboclip when I want something near perfect and four D'Addario micros for everything else. I also have D'Addario's free tuner app on my iPhone that does a fantastic job when I wander into a music store.

Oh... I also have a tie-dye Kala tuner that's pretty crappy, but it looks good in pictures on the headstock of my tie-dye concert Flea.


Scooter
 
I had a handful of tuning forks, all labeled "A440", but when I checked them all with the same electronic tuner, they varied from 428 to 438. None are truly 440. I gave the 428/432/436 forks to a friend to use in the science classes she teaches. (And I was really amazed that I was able to tell the difference between 438 and 432, even before I got my hearing aids.

I find that worrying and it makes a nonsense of the advice that the most accurate way to tune is with a tuning fork. If you are just playing solo, then it doesn't matter but if you are playing with others, then it's important you all use the same standard.

I usually tune with an electronic tuner, then check by ear and tweak as necessary. Electronic tuners make it so much easier to get an instrument basically in tune but it's always worth that final check.
 
I find that worrying and it makes a nonsense of the advice that the most accurate way to tune is with a tuning fork. If you are just playing solo, then it doesn't matter but if you are playing with others, then it's important you all use the same standard.

I usually tune with an electronic tuner, then check by ear and tweak as necessary. Electronic tuners make it so much easier to get an instrument basically in tune but it's always worth that final check.

However, I have to admit that I have a certain modicum of reverence for those people who can naturally hear an "A", can tune their A string, and then can tune the other three strings to that A string. If I use a snark to get the A for me, I can do the rest...but I've not been able to do it from scratch.
 
However, I have to admit that I have a certain modicum of reverence for those people who can naturally hear an "A", can tune their A string, and then can tune the other three strings to that A string. If I use a snark to get the A for me, I can do the rest...but I've not been able to do it from scratch.

Yeah, I have trouble with that too. Sometimes it sounds just right, but, when I check it, it's not. Ahhh, well . . . :eek:ld:
 
I just bought a KLIQ UberTuner during Amazon Prime day and I really like it. Nice large bright display and very accurate. I don't know about the battery yet as I've only had it a few weeks. It's a bit expensive but worth it.

KLIQ UberTuner
 
I've had several brands: One Lanikai that eats batteries like crazy, one Fender that's very slow in responding, one Planet Waves Micro which I don't find easy to zero in, the Reverb tuner which is rather dim even with new battery, etc. Then I have a Snark 6 which I love, fast, bright display, long battery life, no breakage, but did have the rubber pad come off.

The Snark was my favorite one until I found a rechargeable Tetra-Teknica. This has great display, easy to zero in and it lasts a long time with a charge. The display tells you how many cents you're away from the note. It uses the same USB connector as a cell phone to recharge. This is my new favorite. I'm not buying any other battery operated tuner.

I've place them all on instruments at the same time (up to 3 at a time) and they all agree on tuning, so they're all seem to be equally accurate. They just respond different and give you different information (display brightness, how close your are to the note, etc.)

Eugenio
 
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