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Post by damuniz on Mar 25, 2020 8:01:33 GMT -5
I've had a Snark for a long time.
It still works fine but the rubber-like coating around the edge is deteriorating and feeling sticky.
Any recommendation for a tuner that doesn't have that rubber like coating on it and works well?
Thanks.
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Ayns
Wholenote
Posts: 767
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Post by Ayns on Mar 25, 2020 9:18:32 GMT -5
I've had several Snarks, and although battery life appears "variable" and the mounting is easily broken (well, by me at least) they are so cheap, I can't really fault them. That said I recently got a Polytune Clip. It feels like better quality, more accurate, and easy to read on stage. It's also about 4 x more exepensive, although I got mine on a deal for £30, but they're usually twice that.
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tmc
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Posts: 893
Formerly Known As: tmc
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Post by tmc on Mar 25, 2020 10:37:22 GMT -5
I really like the TC Electronic UniTune clip-on. It is more durable than the Snarks and I don't have to move it around to find the sweet spot on my bass headstock.
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Post by Duke on Mar 25, 2020 15:24:02 GMT -5
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Post by Joe Potts on Mar 25, 2020 15:47:52 GMT -5
I had a Snark for about three years, giving it only occasional use. One day it was dead, so I replaced the battery. Still dead. It wasn’t the battery, the unit itself had died.
I didn’t think that was acceptable life, even for a relatively cheap unit.
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Ayns
Wholenote
Posts: 767
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Post by Ayns on Mar 25, 2020 16:10:09 GMT -5
Joe, this is probably no help to you, but I've sometimes found that if you put a new battery in a Snark, and it still doesn't work, try taking it out and putting it back in. Worked for me anyway ;-)
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Post by LTB on Mar 25, 2020 16:17:03 GMT -5
This one: www.amazon.com/KLIQ-UberTuner-Professional-Clip-Instruments/dp/B00O4L3F9E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8I had 3 snarks that didn't last long. I bought this one and it is still going strong 3 years later. It has a large bright display that is easy to see. Unlike the Snark that broke in 2 different places, one on the neck of it and the other on the Clip this one does not have those premature physical failures (so far so good) . It is so darn close in accuracy of my Peterson Virtual Strobe I often use it for intonation as well. Peterson is accurate to +/- 1/10 of 1 cent I believe this less than 1 cent. Snarks are rated at +/- 3 cent
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Post by satele on Mar 25, 2020 17:31:25 GMT -5
I use a Snark, but also have a Peterson Clip on...very touchy, but VERY accurate.
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Post by larryguitar54 on Mar 25, 2020 17:59:52 GMT -5
I go with the TCE Polytune. They cost a little more but well worth it. The Snarks are so fragile they break if you just give them a mean look.
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Post by theprofessor on Mar 25, 2020 21:18:57 GMT -5
I’ve had no problems with the Patterson HD, although it’s smaller in real life than it appeared in the ad copy.
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Post by LesTele on Mar 25, 2020 21:25:24 GMT -5
Tuning is such a bourgeois concept!
I have a 6 year old Snark that works just fine, shows no signs of wear and has had the battery replaced twice. It’s my go-to tuning device. I may have been lucky.
Not relevant to the clip-on subject but my old Boss TU 6 still works and I have a couple of other no-name units that I can call on in a pinch. I also have a Boss TU-2 which powers my pedals. There are apps on my phone too.
I’m a fully paid-up member of the bourgeoisie.
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Post by LTB on Mar 25, 2020 22:49:25 GMT -5
I go with the TCE Polytune. They cost a little more but well worth it. The Snarks are so fragile they break if you just give them a mean look. Polytune are good footpedal type tuners as are Peterson stompbox. For anyone using a pedal board and has realestate to put one on they are the ideal way to go. Just step on pedal button and tune, no fuss no muss. I do not have one but on my bass amp I have my Peterson VS-1 virtual strobe sitting on it and plugged in to tuner out on amp head. I have only used the Qlik Uberstrobe on my Acoustics and Electric guitars but now that I am spending more time these days on guitar I am considering moving the VS-1 over to my guitar amp. Some time I may get a dedicated tuner for guitar amp and have the VS-1 back on my bass amp. Also, I noticed some posts talk about the Snark display jumping. I just used my Qlik Uberstrobe clip on tuner to tune my Gibson after putting new strings on. This tuner is steady and doesn't jump much at all.
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Post by Pinetree on Mar 26, 2020 2:35:32 GMT -5
Snark replaced mine no questions asked (it had battery issues), but generally I use a strobe tuner app on my phone.
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Post by Opie on Mar 26, 2020 5:55:09 GMT -5
Tip for all you Snark users. The weak link with those is the pivot link. Be proactive and re enforce it with a small sized zip tie like is used to bundle wires. Pull it tight and snip clean,haven't had one break since. www.cabletiesandmore.com/cable-ties
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Post by SoK66 on Mar 26, 2020 7:50:12 GMT -5
The first Snark I got was a freebie from one of the onine retailers. It works great to this day, but I broke the socket on the thing so the head can fall off. I tried Supergue and it held a while. I bought two more of 'em and they're ok, but not as nice as that first one. Too lazy to check on model numbers.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2020 16:25:57 GMT -5
I've been looking at the Peterson unit.
(As a non-clip-on side note, I bought the Peterson iOS app and it is pretty awesome.)
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Post by Highstrung56 on Mar 26, 2020 21:49:59 GMT -5
I have a Snark which works ok. I just switched to the D'Addario NS Micro. They are smaller and work fine for me. I put them on guitars and mando.
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Post by LTB on Mar 27, 2020 12:49:04 GMT -5
Note to moderators: This is about why I needed and chose a particular pedal tuner
With the large multi foot pedal I have and the 2 expression pedals (one volume, one FX) that I just ordered for my new Katana amp I decided to make rather than buy (to give me something to do right now) a pedal board. I know I am going to probably not move this amp from my Music room so why make a pedal? I have 2 reasons one being to keep everything in place and look neater and the other I just want to, LOL. With that I thought, do I really want to move my Peterson VS-1 from my Bass rig (nope, it would look too large sitting on this amp). I am a little tired of grabbing the Clip on tuner every time I go to play guitar. Unlike my bass guitars seem to hold their tune even hanging on the wall 2 weeks the guitars go slightly out of tune over night if hanging on the wall. And it seems the one with a Bigsby needs it clipped on while using if I use the Bigsby a lot. Sooo short story long I went ahead and ordered a pedal tuner to put on the board when completed. I narrowed it down to two choices (Polytune 3 and Peterson). Both are really good choices and Polytune 3 $40 cheaper but in the end I chose the Peterson or only 2 reasons:
A. Peterson accurate to .1 cent all the time vs. Polytune 3 .2 cent on Chromatic scale and .1 cent on Strobe. Even that is not totally what tipped me over into the Peterson corner as .2 is not that big a difference to warrant the extra $40.
B. What tipped the scale at the last second (due to my almost 68 year old eyesight) was the fact I was very used to the Peterson style strobe where once you got it close to the particular strings "Note" from then on it was easy to just focus on the moving bars. Moving up (sharp) moving down (flat). The slower it moved the closer you were until dead stop (right on it). Granted in rare moments a particular string (usually brand also) would slightly waver back and forth ever so slightly right around the perfect tune point. For those I typically ignored. It made for fast tuning for me as I didn't have to concentrate on anything but the movement and the bars are big and easy to read unlike my small clip on tuner . I will save the clip on for my one Acoustic guitar. Also, I read a post on a Katana Facebook Forum playing around with Pitch and an expression pedal they said you could get a "Whammy bar" effect (have to see that one??? ) and if it is reasonably good I might remove the Bigsby and just use that for more stable tuning.
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Tall-Fir
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Liking both kinds of music—Country and Western!
Posts: 109
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Post by Tall-Fir on Mar 27, 2020 18:14:44 GMT -5
I own and use several snarks, with each of my guitars having one in their case. I’ve had no problems with them and I like them. I also have the standard Boss tuner on one of my boards, but I am not great ar using it. My vision is not as great as it used to be.
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Post by LTB on Mar 27, 2020 21:12:10 GMT -5
The following is an excerpt from an article on difference between Typical Snark and Strobe Tuner:
" Strobes are far more sensitive than our Snarks which are accurate to 3/100 of a half step. Strobes are typically accurate to within 1/1000 of a half step (1/10 of a cent)." So a strobe tuner is 30 times more accurate. For setting intonation on a guitar, this is essential accuracy." Polytuner is almost as accurate at 2/1000 of a half srep (.2 cent) on Chromatic scale and as accurate on non chromatic scale (1/1000 or .1 cent).
I was just looking up Snark Accuracy becaue I think 3/100 of a half step should be 3/1000 th. They were saying Snark does not publish it's accuracy but many believe it is around 3/1000-5/1000 th.
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Post by Stinger22 on Mar 27, 2020 21:14:32 GMT -5
+1 on the Polytune clip on
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Post by LesTele on Mar 27, 2020 21:29:42 GMT -5
Tuning is such a bourgeois concept! What happened to pitch pipes or a piano and then harmonics on the instrument as a tuning aid. In my orchestral past we tuned to an oboe. I can see why accuracy is important when setting up instruments in a workshop. A favourite English band of mine, Lindisfarne, has an album called ‘Nicely Out of Tune’. I wouldn’t want to obsess over it personally.
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Post by Pinetree on Mar 27, 2020 22:15:06 GMT -5
Tuning your guitar is probably one of the best aspects of making it sound like you know what you're doing.
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Post by LTB on Mar 27, 2020 22:19:49 GMT -5
Tuning is such a bourgeois concept! What happened to pitch pipes or a piano and then harmonics on the instrument as a tuning aid. In my orchestral past we tuned to an oboe. I can see why accuracy is important when setting up instruments in a workshop. A favourite English band of mine, Lindisfarne, has an album called ‘Nicely Out of Tune’. I wouldn’t want to obsess over it personally. Yes, and in the 1950's mechanics routinely tuned cars including setting timing by ear. You are talking about old school stuff that worked when we were young but as we get older our hearing sometimes changes. But even back then not everyone could tune a guitar with tuning forks, pitch pipes and the like as some do not have the ear for it. Piano's were and still are great but subject to 2 things, one being they make for one huge non mobile tuner And two again, not everyone has an ear good enough to tune even with a piano. At age 12-17 I used to tune a guitar totally by ear then as I grew older I discovered I could no longer do it with any constant rate of success. True, some have vision problems but put a guitar tuned with an accurate electronic tuner it is probably easier to get them in tune by just looking at it and allowing it to tell you visually, again verses a pitch-pipe and other audible tuning devices. Vision is quicker too. Yes, I could tune one with a pitch pipe and actually had a couple in the distance past but today I would still be trying to get one in what my ears hear as "being in tune".
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Ayns
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Post by Ayns on Mar 28, 2020 4:50:12 GMT -5
Tuning is such a bourgeois concept! What happened to pitch pipes or a piano and then harmonics on the instrument as a tuning aid. In my orchestral past we tuned to an oboe. I can see why accuracy is important when setting up instruments in a workshop. A favourite English band of mine, Lindisfarne, has an album called ‘Nicely Out of Tune’. I wouldn’t want to obsess over it personally. :-)
When I started out playing in the mid '70's, one of the first "accessories" I bought was an "A" 440 Tuning Fork
When I started playing in bands in the late '70's we used to let one guitarist tune up, using a tuning fork, + harmonics (or a piano/ keyboard, if there was one available), then everyone else would tune to him. God help you if you went out of tune on stage during a gig.
"Tuning is such a bourgeois concept!"
Yeah, I think the Stones were out of tune for most of their Hyde Park gig, and I don't think I've ever heard a live Zeppelin or Hendrix track where the guitar was in tune.
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Post by hushnel on May 16, 2020 9:18:46 GMT -5
I still have my 440A tuning fork, since 1962.
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Post by LTB on May 17, 2020 4:38:52 GMT -5
I still have my 440A tuning fork, since 1962. I haven’t used one of those since the Middle Ages ha Sometimes I feel that old lol 😂
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Post by rdr on May 19, 2020 11:57:09 GMT -5
I never had a tuner when I was in a band wayyy back. We had a B3 which we tuned to.
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Post by stratcowboy on May 19, 2020 18:47:15 GMT -5
We had a B3 which we tuned to. They're kinda hard to clip to your guitar.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on May 19, 2020 19:53:53 GMT -5
The first Snark I got was a freebie from one of the onine retailers. It works great to this day, but I broke the socket on the thing so the head can fall off. I tried Supergue and it held a while. I bought two more of 'em and they're ok, but not as nice as that first one. Too lazy to check on model numbers. I've fixed 'em for other folks by putting a blob of hot snot in the socket and then sticking the stalk in. Make sure to have it in the proper orientation because it's immovable when the hot snot cools off.
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