Clip on Tuners

[lyric_girl]

I read the article on 5 Clip On Tuners reviewed in the April 2009 issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine. If you haven't seen it, it compared the following models:

Crafter TG-200H
Planet Waves Headstock Tuner
Sabine Z-1000
Seiko STX-1
Tunetech TT-500

Was wondering if anybody can recommend any of these or any others that are on the market?

Many thanks,

Lynda

[lw216316]

Lynda, if you followed my recent post about trying a strobe tuner-
my advice is try one at a store first no matter how good the reports -
It may work well for others but not for you -

or be prepared to return it.

- Larry

[lyric_girl]

Larry,

Yeah I read your diatribe about the strobe tuner.

Thanks for your advice.

[JavaVern]

I have had two clip-on's, The Intellitouch (runs about $45) worked, but is a bit large, and for me had trouble locking on to all the strings. I typically had to move it to a couple places on the headstock during tuning. I never bothered to replace the batteries.

The second is what looks to be the Tunetech TT-500 (it was branded Intelli on what I bought.) I like this one very much, it gets the strings more reliably and is nice and compact so I can have it on my instrument at all times. Its jaws open wide enough to clip onto a fiddle scroll also. Takes a special battery (mercury?) but they are easy to find and last about a year. Tuner runs for about $20 to $30.

Don't have any experience with your other tuner choices.

[ffinke]

I've got the TuneTech TT-500 which seems to be quite stable and accurate with but one caveat: one of the buttons (there are three: 'flat', power/light, and calib.) sounds loose. There is a quite audible rattle which I find distracting and therefore use the TT method: Tune and Take it off.

fred

[ncognito]

I have an Intellitouch which is okay, but could be better; I also have an Oasis OH-11which is very vague.  I want something reliably percise.

          DAVE

[unclrob]

To me there pretty much all the same.If I may have you ever thought of using a tuning fork.I worked in a shop that had an "A" tang from a zillaphone at the shop entrance that we used to tune almost everything.Just walk by and tap it listen to the ring and start tuning.

[Algonquin]

I picked up an inexpensive unit about a month ago that I'm glad I purchased.  It was around $20 CDN which is equal to about $3.79 American (Kidding, it's just shy of $18 US)

It works well on my acoustics, but I've never tried it on electrics as I've a Boss TU-2 for those.  The battery however only lasted about a month, so I'm hoping the replacement battery will last a wee bit longer.  Mine takes the coin sized CR battery that I believe costs around $5 to replace.

I'll see if it has a brand model and post what it is, but as previously mentioned... these units are all likely very similar.

Cheers,
David

[morrow22]

Hey Lyric-girl,
I have a SABINE Zoid Z-1000, and it is very accurate, and easy to use and see. 

[BenF]

Lynda

I have the Intelli IMT-500, which is a cheaper version of the intellitouch.  It is decent enough, although doesnt pick up the low E unless you position it perfectly, and doesn't do a great job for dropped tunings below E. 

What I do is tune up, and then fine tune fretting at the 12th fret, and find that it gets me pretty much spot on every time.  for a simple to use tuner it does the job plenty well enough for me.  If I were playing out I reckon I would be best to invest in something more accurate, but that is a long way off!!!

Ben

[obe-wan]

I had one of those intellitouch ones for a little while, drove me nuts !  Vague, jumped back and forth. I ended up selling it and going back to my old reliable Korg.

Cheers, Scott.

[bluesman67]

I'm sure they all have their stong points.  The crafter  has some great features and it's the simplist and smallest tuner I've used.

Pros:
very small
cheap (paid $22)
back lit making it easy tuning in the dark
back light only on when you are tuning a note and immediately shuts off
auto off after about a minute
batteries last forever and it's an inexpensive replacement
back light changes color when you are in tune
can tune to any tuning (eg standard, open a, d, g, ect.) without needing to push a button or change a setting

Cons:
the on/off button is tiny and it would be nice if it were larger

[lw216316]

hey blues, is there any particular model number on that
Crafter tuner ?
- Larry

[bluesman67]

It's the one that Lynda was asking about, the TG-200H.

[lw216316]

thanks blue - that one sounds interesting.

[brimc76]

Hi lyric girl, I just saw the flyer for the Monster Days sale at Long & McQuade and they have the Apex clip on tuner on sale for the month of June. I've seen these under a number of different names but it's the same as most of the other $20 tuners -except this is on for less.
I'm not sure if you are anywhere near a L&M store now though.

[lyric_girl]

I ended up with an Intellitouch PT-2. Gonna try it out and I can return it if I don't like it.

Thanks for your comments.

[lyric_girl]

Well I tried the tuner tonight and I can honestly say that it's going back. Unless there is a way to make the notes stay longer on the display...it's going back.

[bluesman67]

bummer

[WileE]

Well I tried the tuner tonight and I can honestly say that it's going back. Unless there is a way to make the notes stay longer on the display...it's going back.

I have the Oasis OH-11 and like it a lot more than I thought I would. I find it to be much more accurate than the mics on the two non clip-on tuners (Korg & old Matrix) that I have. Also, the note display stays on the very brightly backlit screen for 5-10 seconds.