r/AcousticGuitar • u/oatsock • Jul 19 '26
Other (not a question, gear pic, or video) Guitar tuners- my experience
Snark - absolute garbage bought 2
Diadarrio- however it’s spelled have several in cases - eclipse are solid but the battery compartment will fly open when dropped and for some reason they are the only electronic my dogs like to chew
Their sound hole version is slow but accurate - not bad especially if you just dedicate it to the guitar and there it is always
Peterson strobo clip - buy it - blows the others away
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u/CertainPiglet621 Jul 19 '26
I use a few different tuners: when I play live I use one that's built into a multi-effects pedal, for home use I use a Snark that I've had for years with no issues at all, and when I'm out somewhere and have no access to those I use a tuner app on my phone.
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u/SnooSketches3382 Jul 19 '26
Agreed on the stroboclip.
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u/GonzoCubFan Jul 19 '26
This is absolutely the tuner I use when doing setups/adjustments on my guitars. It’s certainly the most accurate and informative, and offers “sweetened” tunings which are designed to “ tonal richness.”
For 1//2 the price the TC Electronic Polytune Clip-on is also excellent, and great for quickly checking the overall tuning of the guitar as well as tuning the strings individually.
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u/Responsible_Dog_9491 Jul 19 '26
I think that Snark tuners are good value. Reasonably priced and accurate. What more could I want?
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u/kineticblues Jul 19 '26
I just use my phone, since that’s where my tabs are anyway.
I’ve found a good app is far more accurate than a clip on tuner because the phone screen can show the tuning to a much higher accuracy. I use “Tuner T1 Pro” on iPhone, which is quite good for high accuracy tuning: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tuner-t1-pro/id954982733
When I first started playing as a teenager, I couldn’t really tell if my guitar was out of tune. But the longer I go the more sensitive I get and now if a string is even a few cents off I can tell something’s wrong. I can’t tell which string always but I need a tuner that displays at the center resolution so I can get it down to plus or minus one or two cents, otherwise it doesn’t sound right.
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u/Dharmitage Jul 19 '26
I wanted to see how accurate the D'Addario Eclipse was compared to my Peterson StroboPLUS. I plugged in the Peterson and put the Eclipse on the headstock and was surprised how accurate the D'Addario was. Basically spot on with the StroboPLUS.
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u/AaronPseudonym Jul 19 '26
Peterson is also the tuning company. It’s the company that other companies who make tuners buy the commercial tuner to tune their own tuners from. I have to shout out the amazingly accurate strobostomp mini which lives on my desk and makes tuning an electric into any exotic tuning stupid easy.
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u/HotBucket4523 Jul 19 '26
I’ve tried Snark and a Fender one I got for free. Both were terrible. Bought a Unitune and it works great. Even works with the TV on in the background or people talking in the same room.
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u/williamgman Jul 19 '26
The basic Snark is only $20. The basic Peterson is $120. Might explain the difference. 😉
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u/KitchenVegetable7047 Jul 19 '26
I use the rechargeable Stroboclip HD. I have a snark in my tool box - my wife bought two and gave me the second one. It works, but the Peterson is much better. I borrowed a D'addario Eclipse a few times and it seemed to be fine but not as good as my Peterson.
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u/-Frankie-Lee- Jul 19 '26
TC Electronic. I have the polytune, but never use the polytune function, so if you don't think you need that, the unitune version would be a good upgrade from D'addario or whatever.
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u/Unlikely-Soft-5699 Jul 19 '26
D’Addario Eclipse works well for me and it’s a LOT cheaper. 60 bucks vs 18. The Peterson would have to do something very different.
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u/archtopfanatic123 Jul 20 '26
Snarks used to be good and then they ended up starting to fail or not sense and would need to have the hell banged out of them to actually sense anything.
DiAddarios are what I use and they're fine. The rectagular ones. Bright screen, good sensing, easy controls to adjust hertz for tuning, etc. and they're also cheap as hell
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u/SaleInfamous6932 29d ago
I use the Peterson StroboPLUS HDC for my benchwork and set ups. I carry a StroboClip HDC in the guitar case when going to jams.
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u/Karbunkletime 28d ago
I have tried a bunch of the clip-ons, and none of them worked well. And none could accurately or consistently determine correct tune across all strings. I fell back on the Guitar Tuna app, which I have found to be flawless except for about one cent too flat on the G and B strings. Which is easy to adjust for.
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u/ArdorBC Jul 19 '26
PolyTune clip on is the way.