Clip-on Tuner?

[Hallmark498]

Peterson strobo Appt for the iphone ($9.00), with the peterson adaptor ($12.00) so I can clip on the bridge in noise situations. Best solution i've found so far.

[fatt-dad]

another for the zoid. My daughter just got me one for my birthday and I used it for the first time tonight. Great!

f-d

[Doug Brock]

I have a bunch of tuners and the Intelli IMT-500 has been my favorite of late. It seems to latch onto the note quickest and is very readable. I love its crisp back-lit display.

I really like my Peterson tuner but don't like the size, so will probably try the StroboClip. The price is certainly right (for a Peterson anyway).

[Nick Triesch]

The PT-10 is the best I have ever used. Works even better on guitars!

[mandroid]

At home It is either the 440 Htz A tuning fork or the electronic keyboard .. both are spot on
and always work, as reference pitches.. though they still need the ears.

[TheMandoKit]

For clip-on, I use either the TuneTech TT-1000 or Intellitouch PT-1. The TuneTech has a three-color LED to show flat/in tune/sharp, as well as the needle and scale display. Helps to tune quickly. I have had the Intellitouch since they first came out years ago, and it is still pretty reliable, although it works better on guitar than mandolin. For more accurate tuning and for setting intonation, it's hard to beat the Peterson StroboFlip, though.

Anyone tried the Sonic Research ST-122 strobe tuner?

[Luke C]

I don't trust my ear to tune the second string in a course to the first. Once they get real close, it gets to where my ear/brain can't tell which one is higher or lower.

For me the easiest way is as follows: Playing both strings in the course at once, I drop the second string down a bit, just until it's very easy to distinguish that it's lower. Then I bring it up slowly until they blend together-when they are in tune, it almost sounds like you are playing one string by itself. It works well for me, I hope it helps.

[wsugai]

I have a bunch of tuners and the Intelli IMT-500 has been my favorite of late. It seems to latch onto the note quickest and is very readable. I love its crisp back-lit display.

I'm another satistifed user of the Intelli IMT-500. I have it for no other reason than that it was the one that was on sale when I was in the buying mood. I've learned to change out the batteries sooner rather than later because I suspect that it does strange things when the batteries even start to go downhill. Besides, the batteries are pretty cheap via mail-order.

<Rant on> I don't know why people expect a clip-on electronic tuner to be the end-all of tuning an instrument, whether it be a mando or a guitar or whatever. Those things just get you close. Final tuning should always be done by ear, especially since strings are always slipping, or corroding, or tops are warming up, or bridges are creeping around, etc. It's both unrealistic and impractical to rely so thoroughly on a tuner to get in tune and to stay in tune. <Rant off>

[foldedpath]

For clip-on, I use either the TuneTech TT-1000 or Intellitouch PT-1. The TuneTech has a three-color LED to show flat/in tune/sharp, as well as the needle and scale display. Helps to tune quickly. I have had the Intellitouch since they first came out years ago, and it is still pretty reliable, although it works better on guitar than mandolin. For more accurate tuning and for setting intonation, it's hard to beat the Peterson StroboFlip, though.

Anyone tried the Sonic Research ST-122 strobe tuner?

My Significant Other is a fiddler, and she really likes her ST-122. She bought one after I tried to get her interested in my Peterson StroboFlip, but she just couldn't get used to the display pattern on the Peterson tuner.

The Turbo Tuner ST-122 seems about on par with the StroboFlip for accuracy and a good display for drilling down into your tuning, and it's an easier display for some folks to relate to. The rotating circle is just one thing to focus on, instead of watching the multiple virtual harmonic "wheels" on the Peterson display. Like the Peterson tuners, the ST-122 can also be set to custom tunings like perfect 5ths (for fiddles, not mandolins), and it's a little easier to switch back and forth between custom tunings than the StroboFlip. That's basically a non-issued for mandolin players, but I thought I'd mention it.

I still like my StroboFlip and StroboStomp tuners better, because I'm used to them, but the ST-122 is a good alternative. Both my S.O. and I use our tuners with clip-on piezo pickups on a cord. For gigs, I wire my clip-on microphone into a StroboStomp pedal, through my mixer's insert jack. I do keep a Korg clip-on tuner in the case, as a backup and for casual jams where it doesn't make sense to use the StroboFlip.

[david blair]

Comparing the intonation of my Intelli against my Peterson 590 ST validates both as identical. The
Intelli is best used without a pick. RTFM!
I prefer using an A tuning fork.
Planet Waves makes a strobe tuner for guitar, not yet for mandolin. It works with led lights, it doesn't hear at all. Can't wait for the mandolin edition.

[Coffeecup]

For me the easiest way is as follows: Playing both strings in the course at once, I drop the second string down a bit, just until it's very easy to distinguish that it's lower. Then I bring it up slowly until they blend together-when they are in tune, it almost sounds like you are playing one string by itself. It works well for me, I hope it helps.

Coming from below definitely makes it easier but don't rely on trying to identify pitch high/low by ear once they get close. As mentioned in posts 17 & 21 listen for a beat between the strings. The speed of the beat alters as the pitches get closer then disappears when they are exact.
The physics of it - you know that one of the models for sound propagation is a wave. When the notes differ the peaks and troughs of the two waves arrive slightly out of synch. As the pitch of one changes the waves get closer to a match until they final coincide.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Another Zoid user here. It's pretty easy to use and to read, and have used it on three different mandolins with no problems. (But then again I've never used any other all-in-one clip-on tuner before I bought it, so maybe I just have low expectations. )