More accurate tuner - Korg GT-12?

trajectory fish · #1 01-05-2003, 02:12 PM

Howdy. I'm looking for a more accurate tuner so I can adjust the intonation on my guitars. Does anyone use this tuner? Any other suggestions in the same price range? ($60-$80)

Right now I'm using a Sabine ST-1100 AutoTuner

rgr · #2 01-05-2003, 07:38 PM

I would suggest the TU-2, it has a strobe mode that is great for setting intonation. It's also a pedal so you put it in your pedal board, when you step on it to tune, it mutes the signal (unless you don't want it to), very nice. Oh yeah, Vai has one in his pedalboard FWIW, I bought mine before I saw that though, it's a great tuner.

Roger

trajectory fish · #3 01-06-2003, 01:41 PM

I realy don't need a pedal tuner, as I'm getting a new one so I can do some fine adjustment on my guitars rather than something to use live.
Thanks for the input though.

Accidentally had it labeled as boss rather than korg

I guess I should give a list of features I'm looking for.
-chromatic
-needle display (unsure of actual term for this)
-very accurate
-ability to select individual notes
-price between $60 and $85

thanks!

microdmitry · #4 01-06-2003, 02:30 PM

If you want to REALLY adjust the intonation on your guitar, you're in the wrong price range. You need a Peterson stroboscopic tuner, and it's $200. You won't even be able to tune your guitar precisely with those Korgs and Bosses, let alone setting intonation precisely. I mean, it's OK on a gig when you need to retune quickly, but in the studio you need something that will let your chords sound as they should. Go see their demo. They're speaking truth there.

Rich · #5 01-06-2003, 05:52 PM

If you need a strobe to tune your guitar then you should switch to an instrument much more in tune with itself, like keyboards

microdmitry · #6 01-06-2003, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich

If you need a strobe to tune your guitar then you should switch to an instrument much more in tune with itself, like keyboards

Everybody needs a strobe tuner. If you don't own one your guitar is out of tune, plain and simple. Go try it out at the store. $200 is a good price for it.

I owned a TU8 and once tried to compare it to Peterson VS-1. I tuned my guitar with TU8, did the best I could do. Strummed a few chords, it sounded fine. Then I took the Peterson, plugged my guitar into it, selected GTR temperment, and tuned it again (needless to say it was out of tune after TU

. Then I played a few chords again - man, the difference is like night and day, especially when playing through a high gain channel. Chords come out clean, without the "wolf" notes. Double stops, complex Dream Theater-like riffing - it all comes out much better. And tuning is much faster and intuitive.

TU8 went to Ebay next day.

microdmitry · #7 01-06-2003, 11:26 PM

And I can't play keyboards due to broken index finger on my right hand. I hold the pick between my thumb and my middle finger (the EVH way

). Sometimes add the index finger to the mix for stability, too.

Rich · #8 01-06-2003, 11:35 PM

Why don't you take your strobe and play every note on the neck. Once you realize how far OUT of tune the neck is you'll realize how futile dead on tuning is at the nut. Then explain how a guitar that is slightly out of tune will be more IN tune on the neck [Feiton}. Then again you do need a strobe for Feiton tuning so I'll give you that point

microdmitry · #9 01-07-2003, 01:54 AM

See, I rarely play chords up on the neck. Funny thing is, with GTR temperment (which is NOT how you usually tune your guitar, it's some kind of Peterson's "secret sauce"), the error seems to be distributed evenly accross the neck, so even though absolute error might be obvious when you follow the keyboards really close, double stops still sound like double stops and triads still sound like triads.

I'm telling you again, if you haven't tried one, go try it. It's an eye opener. Besides, strobe tuners are cool.

Or at least see (and hear) the demo:
http://www.petersontuners.com/demos/vs1sdemo/index.cfm
http://www.petersontuners.com/vs1demo/vs1_demo.htm

Rich · #10 01-07-2003, 02:05 AM

Then there's no doubt why the Kork is not in tune to the strobe

Bottom line, a "decent" tuner is all anybody *needs*. For that fine tweaking to get a G and D chord in *sync* all you need are your ears. I don't need Peterson to tell me what "sounds" right. For those of you with the $$'s to blow, then of course precision is a luxury, but my ears came free so I'll just use them.

microdmitry · #11 01-07-2003, 02:07 AM

So have you checked out the demo?

Nothing is easy with those Floyd Rose guitars.

Rich · #12 01-07-2003, 02:16 AM

I guess there are sound samples there? You mean I have to get up and go turn my speakers on?!?!

I know what you're saying, a strobe is a nice luxury. But to the normal player the $200 can be much better used elsewhere when you can get accurate "enough" tuning using a tuner *and* your ears [remember, the "test" is somebody tuning by tuner alone and not using their ears]. On the other hand I really have been meaning to pick one up, I realize it's a necessity in my line of work. I am not looking forward to it though. Floating bridges and strobes, nahh, I'll probably "tune" with my regular tuner and just do intonating with the strobe!

**jemsite** · #13 01-07-2003, 02:21 AM

i'll give you the necessity of a strobo for proper benchwork on hardtails. But using one to simply TUNE a floating trem equipped guitar is like using a SLEDGEHAMMER to drive in a finishing nail

Now, more importantly, is there a more accurate pedaltuner than the Guyatone MT-3 (+/- 1 cent)?
http://www.pedalgeek.com/shop.cgi?co...mand=link--mt3

I need a replacement pedal tuner and the boss favorite is pretty inaccurate... glen

microdmitry · #14 01-07-2003, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich

I guess there are sound samples there? You mean I have to get up and go turn my speakers on?!?!

I know what you're saying, a strobe is a nice luxury. But to the normal player the $200 can be much better used elsewhere when you can get accurate "enough" tuning using a tuner *and* your ears [remember, the "test" is somebody tuning by tuner alone and not using their ears]. On the other hand I really have been meaning to pick one up, I realize it's a necessity in my line of work. I am not looking forward to it though. Floating bridges and strobes, nahh, I'll probably "tune" with my regular tuner and just do intonating with the strobe!

So how do you tune your guitar?

It may be a stone-age approach or something, but here's how I did it. Before I bought the Peterson I tuned it using that olde TU-8 and then fine-tuned with harmonics on 5th and 7th fret (4th and 5th frets fro 3rd and 2hd string). This is basically the same as strobe tuning. You hear sharp dissonance when two harmonics sound together if strings are not in tune with each other. The only problem is - it's strobe tuning against a relative pitch.

When I was done with fine tuning, the TU-8 sometimes showed my guitar was out of tune a bit, but I didn't care because chords sounded right. Now with VS-1 I can have it exactly in tune right away without having to do the second step.

Having said that, if I gigged I would have bought a pedal tuner or a Korg DTR series to quickly re-tune on stage, but for a bedroom player there's hardly anything better than VS-1.

Rich · #15 01-07-2003, 03:03 AM

My point is the last thing a bedroom player needs is a $200 tuner

I just tune it to pitch with a tuner and then recompensate for all the UNtempered tuning at the nut by playing chords and getting a meanpoint to where a G will sound in tune along with a D, A and E. I don't even pay that much attention to what I tweak so I couldn't "tell" you what I do, I just do it, and let my ears decide

Precise? Probably not. Does it sound right? You bet. Will it sound right against other instruments? You bet.