Another Tuner Bites The Dust

Korg CA 40 works great. Acquires the note quickly, and is easy to turn the instrument to pitch. Cost a bit more that some tuners in this thread, around twenty bucks at my local guitar store, but you get what you pay for.

Mike
 
Speaking of tuners, this has been posted before, but certain finishes do not like having a tuner on them all the time. Whatever I'm playing, I prefer to play it without the tuner on the headstock.

"Snark advises NOT to use its tuner with any instruments having these types of finishes: Nitrocellulose Lacquer, Polyurethane, French Polish (scratches easily). These are some of the brands that currently or have used Nitrocellulose Lacquer finishes: Gibson, Gretsch, Taylor. These are some of the brands that have used or currently use Polyurethane finishes: Fender, Epiphone, Gretsch, Ibenez."
 
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Wonder said:
Korg CA 40 works great. Acquires the note quickly, and is easy to turn the instrument to pitch. Cost a bit more that some tuners in this thread, around twenty bucks at my local guitar store, but you get what you pay for.

Mike
Click to expand...

I have a Korg that I used for my other (wind) instruments. It tuned okay (I don’t use it much any more.), but one hasta hold in his/her hand while tuning or mebbe just memorize the sound of the tuning note. I suppose one could place it on a tabletop while tuning, but the ones which attach to a stringed instrument are much more convenient.

Snarks costs less too, if one doesn’t keep breaking them. :eek:ld:
 
I've had a variety of Snarks and broken only 1. However, they are not accurate enough for me - I always have to tune with the Snark and then tune the strings with themselves. However, I've recently starting using the TC Electronics UniTune and it seems much more accurate - using it I rarely have to retune the strings to be in tune with each other.

YMMV
Sopher
 
UkerDanno said:
I have a Snark and several D'Addario Planet Waves micro tuners and a couple D'Addario sound hole tuners, batteries last a long time, years actually. Just tune up and turn it off!
Click to expand...

Our experience as well. 32 instruments, each with either a Snark or the Mini Planet Waves. None have caused any trouble and have only changed a few batteries. Tune daily anyvinsyrument we play.
 
Jerryc41 said:
Speaking of tuners, this has been posted before, but certain finishes do not like having a tuner on them all the time. Whatever I'm playing, I prefer to play it without the tuner on the headstock.

"Snark advises NOT to use its tuner with any instruments having these types of finishes: Nitrocellulose Lacquer, Polyurethane, French Polish (scratches easily). These are some of the brands that currently or have used Nitrocellulose Lacquer finishes: Gibson, Gretsch, Taylor. These are some of the brands that have used or currently use Polyurethane finishes: Fender, Epiphone, Gretsch, Ibenez."
Click to expand...
I don't have any idea what finishes are on my ukuleles. How does one know? I tried looking on the Ohana page one time and I can't find it there either. Anyway, I don't leave them on the ukes all of the time anymore. I used to. I was obsessed with tuning all of the time, but now not so much so.
 
kkimura said:
Try one of these. No batteries required and no moving parts.

View attachment 114176
Click to expand...

There must be more than two of us. My fork is still good since 1948. the best two dollars and fifty cents I ever spent. No tax and no battery as you say.
A still equals 440 after all these years. Made in New York. Happy 2019 in case I forget. giggle.
 
1931jim said:
There must be more than two of us. My fork is still good since 1948. the best two dollars and fifty cents I ever spent. No tax and no battery as you say.
A still equals 440 after all these years. Made in New York. Happy 2019 in case I forget. giggle.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know a guy who still uses a tuning fork. Anybody use one of these anymore? flint-steel-538x354.jpg :)
 
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Or a flint knapper and no I don't know how to use one of those.
 
On one of my snarks one of the joints had a piece almost off. I took a strip of packing tape and ran it tightly around each of the two fittings. The bad one has stayed about two years now. No problems on the other.

I have had the problem with the rubber part coming off on the clamp. Tried gluing it with couple of glues I have but can’t get a bond.
 
Favorite stay-on tuners: JOYO JT-306 & D'addario PW

After checking out a handful of tuners over the last 3 months, I ended up keeping either a D'addario Planet Waves or JOYO JT-306 ($6-7 /www.ebay.com/itm/112417767898) on the back of the headstock of every uke I have.
JOYO's a less expensive alternative to D'addario & has a nice large screen. Almost ALL buzzed (hence tape). For scale: 4th pic is on soprano & concert Kala Waterman; others on a Martin LX1.
Cheapo Aroma AT-101 was reliable, Mr. Power MT-05 was flat.
(not sure why my posted pics always come out so small?)

1228181253_HDR_2.jpg . 1228181255_HDR_3.jpg . 1228181255a_HDR_3.jpg . 1228181224_HDR_2.jpg . 1228181328_HDR_2.jpg

As a back-up, there's a tuning fork in every instrument case.

kkimura said:
Try one of these. No batteries required and no moving parts.

View attachment 114176
Click to expand...
 
I just broke my SNARK after a few weeks of use. A clip on the back of the tuner head broke.
I've just searched for repair methods...
one user glued his SNARK to the clamp using gorilla glue...he did away with the extension with the pivot head. He found an orientation that worked.
a second user greased the head on his extension, mounted the head on it, and wrapped the socket joint on the head with fine, fine thread. Then he applied super glue all over the thread. His SNARK works the way it was designed to work. It's flexible and he can position it where he likes. H has a youtube video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTmYwRAiT1shttps:/
/boardgamegeek.com/thread/1657340/one-approach-repairing-broken-snark-clip-tuner

I hope it's ok to post links...glad I didn't throw my SNARK away...

edit: I fixed it! I used the simpler method shown here...found a 2" rubber band, 1/4" wide. I took the SNARK, put the extension in the broken back, then wrapped the elastic band around it many times. It wasn't easy; I tried 4 times before it worked for me. I had to be patient.... Point is I really like my SNARK. I want to keep using it, but I didn't want to buy another.
I figured I had nothing to lose. I could glue the SNARK to the base/clamp if the elastic thing didn't work.
 
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hope those links help someone.

I always put my uke away in my gig bag. the bag doesn't have a pocket; it's a tight fit.So I insert the tuner in a crevice alongside my uke. Bad idea. SNARK broke...one of the plastic tabs on the back of the tuner head.
 
2mnycars said:
I just broke my SNARK after a few weeks of use. A clip on the back of the tuner head broke.
I've just searched for repair methods...
one user glued his SNARK to the clamp using gorilla glue...he did away with the extension with the pivot head. He found an orientation that worked.
a second user greased the head on his extension, mounted the head on it, and wrapped the socket joint on the head with fine, fine thread. Then he applied super glue all over the thread. His SNARK works the way it was designed to work. It's flexible and he can position it where he likes. H has a youtube video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTmYwRAiT1shttps:/
/boardgamegeek.com/thread/1657340/one-approach-repairing-broken-snark-clip-tuner

I hope it's ok to post links...glad I didn't throw my SNARK away...

edit: I fixed it! I used the simpler method shown here...found a 2" rubber band, 1/4" wide. I took the SNARK, put the extension in the broken back, then wrapped the elastic band around it many times. It wasn't easy; I tried 4 times before it worked for me. I had to be patient.... Point is I really like my SNARK. I want to keep using it, but I didn't want to buy another.
I figured I had nothing to lose. I could glue the SNARK to the base/clamp if the elastic thing didn't work.
Click to expand...


Tried to get you a link....except I can't find what i found at home on my own compuer.

I was ready to glue the SNARK. Then I searched using google; I found a remedy using the rubber band wrapped around the broken socket. I don't have a link. It worked well the 4th or 5th time I tried. Advantage is that I have a working SNARK without trashing it with a hole tube of glue of some kind.
 
PLanet Waves area all dead to me. Weak ness is the joint where the ball goes into the clip on unit. They ALWAYS fail,. I've had five of them. The new HETZ version is much better but I still had one fail. Now I use Planet Waves Eclipse tuners. One in each of my 4 all wood tenors. I have the micro tune on my Fluke. works fine.

I want to try the tuning fork. I think it might be cool and easy.
 
Martinlover said:
Gosh darn it. I really had high hopes for the Kala rechargeable tuner. It only lasted one charge—almost 6 weeks. Then plugged it in and it just won’t work. Dead snark every 3 months or so. The only working tuner I have now is the d'Addario soundhole tuner I have on my baritone. Maybe because I never have to throw that in my purse.

View attachment 114175

Anybody got a tuner recommendation?
Click to expand...

"Dead Snark every 3 months or so"? Do you mean the battery or the entire tuner? I have a few Snarks and have no trouble with them. I keep a tri-pack of batteries in my cases. They are $1.35 for three at the local Dollarama and they take about 30 seconds to change.
 
It sounds like some folks keep their tuners on the peghead of their uke. I have never done this since I hate the looks of junky pegheads with unclipped strings, capos, tuners and even cigarettes stuck up there, but I finally read the instructions that come with most clip on tuners. This one is from the Snark:
CAUTION: INSTRUMENT FINISHES. READ
THIS BEFORE USING THE SNARK TUNER.
The general rule is: Do not leave any item
attached to your instrument longer than necessary.
We recommend you remove the Snark tuner from
your instrument as soon as you finish tuning.
Please be aware that any lacquer type finish can be
adversely affected if the rubber pad of tuner is left in
contact with the finish for a period of time.
 
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