Does everyone use those clamp-on, plastic tuners now?

**AlsoRan** · 02-09-2018, 12:57 PM

I see a lot of guitarists with those clamp-on plastic tuners. Is this now a must-have item for most guitarists?

**kris** · 02-09-2018, 01:10 PM

clamp-on plastic tuners - I use them...and I like them.Tc Elrectronic and Korg.They are good for quick tuning.

**AlsoRan** · 02-09-2018, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by kris

clamp-on plastic tuners - I use them...and I like them.Tc Elrectronic and Korg.They are good for quick tuning.

Thanks, kris. When I hear someone like you uses them, it helps convince me that I need to do the same.

**Stringswinger** · 02-09-2018, 01:39 PM

I bought one of the first generation clip ons and am still using it 15 years later.

**wintermoon** · 02-09-2018, 01:41 PM

only tuning an acoustic @ home and it comes right off after.
never on a gig...

**AlsoRan** · 02-09-2018, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by Stringswinger

I bought one of the first generation clip ons and am still using it 15 years later.

That tears it for me. I am going to order a two-pack right now. They are D'Addarios and they had good reviews.

**sgosnell** · 02-09-2018, 01:43 PM

They're convenient, cheap, and they work. There is no excuse for being out of tune. If you have a pedal board, you can put a tuner there, but for those of us who don't use pedals a clip-on tuner is the answer. You can tune without even being plugged in to an amp or pedals, and do it with all sorts of noise around you. Trying to tune by ear with everyone else trying to do it at the same time, and others noodling and setting amp volumes is a losing proposition. Nobody wants to listen to someone tuning. I most often use my phone, with the Peterson strobe app and the phone's mic, but that is really only viable at home. I have a clip-on pickup that connects to the phone's 3.5mm jack for quiet tuning, and also several standalone clipons. I have a couple that are very small and easy to carry around. They're so cheap I keep trying new ones, and Reverb has some that are almost free when they put them on sale. They work well enough. Snarks seem to be very popular, and do a good enough job. So yes, I think they're in the realm of required equipment. Not as essential as a guitar, amp, or cable, but more essential than a distortion pedal.

**wintermoon** · 02-09-2018, 01:48 PM

I just keep a Korg Pitchblack on my amp, all I have to do is hit the button and I'm done in seconds.
if you have an aesthetically pleasing looking guitar and don't want an appendage hanging off your headstock that looks like something from War Of The Worlds, this works for me.
that said I wouldn't dismiss one of the discreet ones they make now that lay flat on the back of the headstock.

**JazzNote** · 02-09-2018, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by AlsoRan

I see a lot of guitarists with those clamp-on plastic tuners. Is this now a must-have item for most guitarists?

I've used a couple of Snark H.Z. for a few years. One is in my gigbag, one at home. They are inexpensive and accurate enough for me. I find them more practical than any other tuner i had, but after tuning i immediately take them off the guitar, unless i forget, which has happened a few times so far.

**M-ster** · 02-09-2018, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by AlsoRan

... Is this now a must-have item for most guitarists?

Yes, and they're inexpensive, so why wouldn't you?

**rlrhett** · 02-09-2018, 02:05 PM

Yes.

**Stringswinger** · 02-09-2018, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by wintermoon

only tuning an acoustic @ home and it comes right off after.
never on a gig...

I use mine on gigs, bUT it is only on the headstock in between sets, never while playing.

**Papawooly** · 02-09-2018, 02:27 PM

I use the Polytune clip on at home...
... and we use Snarks at the studio

They clip back onto mic stands when not tuning

as SS says... "Never while playing"

**TOMMO** · 02-09-2018, 02:32 PM

I bought one about twenty years ago and it still works. It's great to not have to plug in to tune for example and to be able to tune anywhere: on stage, off stage. But as soon as I have tuned it's off the headstock - looks so ugly when it's still there when you're playing...

**Jp267** · 02-09-2018, 03:05 PM

I have one I don't think it's very accurate though. I prefer a Korg strobe pedal.

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TH · 02-09-2018, 03:38 PM

I got a snark, and the mounting stalk didn't survive heavy use and forgetting to take it off before packing up. I got the Son of a Snark, a little one, very unobtrusive when mounted on the back of the neck, great and fast and extremely accurate. So much that I can check my tuning anytime without the slightest amount of effort.
I still like tuning by ear but that little clip on is an integral part of my rig.

David

**Doublea A** · 02-09-2018, 03:54 PM

I have one made by D’Addario/Planet Waves. I like it because it is discreet. I place it do that The screen is on the back of the headstock.

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**Greentone** · 02-09-2018, 04:11 PM

It's purely aesthetic, but I think they look like s@#t. I own a couple, but refuse to use them in public. I have other tuners that are less obvious to the audience than a doodad hanging off the headstock.

As a rule, though, tuning issues are associated with skinny strings. When I use .10-.48 strings, I start noticing some tuning instability. With .12-.52 or .13-.53 sets, though, I notice much more stable tuning. The gig I played last week with a Strat, I used TI Swing flats in .11-.47, not a very heavy set. Still, each time I re-checked the tuning I was "on," except once when the b-string was about 5-cents flat.

That's not bad over a cold, 4-hour evening in a huge university field house.

**Gramps** · 02-09-2018, 04:31 PM

Yes

**LtKojak** · 02-09-2018, 04:41 PM

I don't have one of those.

I use an old Korg MT-1 I bought in NYC in 1981. Is big, heavy and clunky, but still works as it should.

Not that I use it that often, mind you. Fortunately, my ears still go strong after all these years.

**JazzNote** · 02-09-2018, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by Stringswinger

I use mine on gigs, bUT it is only on the headstock in between sets, never while playing.

I would have said the same a year ago, but as it happened once last year when, packing up after the last set, i was looking for the tuner, even crawling around the stage until the saxplayer told me to look into the guitarcase. And there it was - still on the guitar :-((.