The Steel Guitar Forum

Never used them, but I think it would work well for my dobro....any recommendation for one? Are they all the same?

It would need to be chromatic, not just guitar notes...

The snark chromatic works well, is easy to read and inexpensive.

Peterspn makes several different strobe tuners, but one is especially suited for Dobro, and steel guitar players.

It is a little pricey, but it has a lot of things going for it, and you should have it for a long time.

The first, and biggest thing that this tuner does, is to give you tempered or sweetened tunings for many instruments, including Dobro, and steel guitar. Many instruments that tune into chord forms, tend to sound out of tune if tuned with mathematically correct intervals.

For Dobro you have two choices, either sweetened tunings with half tempered 3rds, or tunings with pure thirds, for tuning in A, D or G. There are many steel guitar choices also.

You can even program it to hold your personal temperaments if you like.

It is about the size of a "big Mac hamburger", and opens up like aclamshell, with a well lit big screen. It runs on batteries, but it comes with an A/C adapter.

It also comes with a mounting device designed to mount the tuner on a microphone stand. I find the mounting works very well on the leg of my steel guitar. You can plug into the tuner, and then out into your amp, so it is in line, ready for use whenever you need it. This is a digital strobe, not just a needle tuner.
Gene Warner
retired repairman

Peterspn makes several different strobe tuners, but one is especially suited for Dobro, and steel guitar players.

It is a little pricey, but it has a lot of things going for it, and you should have it for a long time.

The first, and biggest thing that this tuner does, is to give you tempered or sweetened tunings for many instruments, including Dobro, and steel guitar. Many instruments that tune into chord forms, tend to sound out of tune if tuned with mathematically correct intervals.

For Dobro you have two choices, either sweetened tunings with half tempered 3rds, or tunings with pure thirds, for tuning in A, D or G. There are many steel guitar choices also.

You can even program it to hold your personal temperaments if you like.

It is about the size of a "big Mac hamburger", and opens up like aclamshell, with a well lit big screen. It runs on batteries, but it comes with an A/C adapter.

It also comes with a mounting device designed to mount the tuner on a microphone stand. I find the mounting works very well on the leg of my steel guitar. You can plug into the tuner, and then out into your amp, so it is in line, ready for use whenever you need it. This is a digital strobe, not just a needle tuner.
Gene Warner
retired repairman

The Peterson Stroboclip is a clip on tuner that has the same features and accuracy as their larger "Flip" models. It reacts instantly and registers the low notes better than any other tuner I've used. The accuracy is within 1/10th cent as opposed to the 1 cent of many other clip-ons.

I tried one once... Freaked me out ... Like an "eye" was watchin' me ...

I knocked it off the headstock ...

When asked sometimes I tell people that's how I get signals from the mother ship.

The snark chromatic works well, is easy to read and inexpensive.

There are many models of Snark....any particular one better than the others?

there are only 3 notes on there. tuning by ear is pretty easy.

Chris -
yeah, yeah...but not when the band is playing. And not as quick to check on between tunes...and I don't have perfect pitch, so I do need at least one reference pitch all the time...

I also use the Stroboclip. In addition to the accuracy it has sweetened tunings for various instruments including Dobro. It's definitely worth the price IMHO. I bought mine when they had a $10.00 off mail in promo.

'snarking the snark' haha
i guess i'm just not sure of the finesse factor of super tuning a dobro with a sweetness setting.
it seems that the type of fairly heavy gauges of dobro strings and the bar placement factor would be hard to dial in perfectly...and not necessary as on a pedal steel with so many factors as pedal/note changes needing to blend. dobro seems more primitive to me (at least the way i play it)

not knocking anyone. just curious. of course i can understand being able to tweek it right up on stage.

The chromatic Snark is the SN-2, expect to pay approximately $15. My favorite for this week is the Fender FT-004. It programs for guitar, bass, violin, ukulele (I know everyone needs a ukulele tuner), or chromatic. Expect to pay about $15. I use it on guitar, banjo, dobro and lap steel.

I have a collection clip-on tuners, if I sold some of them used I could probably have enough money for a Peterson which is pretty much the Cadillac and be done with it until the next generation of cool clip-on tuners arrive.

Speaking of ukulele tuners, this is from the Department of KISS ("keep it simple sally" or "stupid," choose one. ) I was in a local music store awhile back and while I was waiting to pay for some strings, the manager sold the young lady in front of me a KALA clip-on ukelele tuner for her guitar. Of course the immediate comment from both myself and the other customer was "but it's a uke tuner!" It indeed has presets for uke tunings, but it has a chromatic setting and a great display that's really bright with big letters, and really easy to use. The manger said "I've been really liking this one and it's only 19 bucks." So I bought one and I like it.

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i- ... Mgod_lcAbQ

I have a couple different Snarks, don't know what they are - a red one and a newer black one. They both seem to work fine.

I also have the tiny Planet Waves Mini-Headstock tuner which I use mostly for my Martin dreadnought, but sometimes I'll use it for the dobro as well. I like how small and unobtrusive it is.

http://www.planetwaves.com/pwTunersandMetronomes.Page

I use a Snark SN-5. It's chromatic and works with guitars tuned to more than three notes too. Best of all, it has a nice big color screen and I can read it without putting on my cheaters. I got mine from Elderly.

Thanks to all of you....lots to choose from here....I ended up going with the Planet Waves Mini Headstock Tuner (Thanks, Mark!)...it was the lowest profile one, could easily stay attached full time, and just got a software upgrade to be faster....$15. I didn't need sweetened tunings, I do that by ear when I want to...

I got a bunch of Snarks. They work with anything. You can get 'em for 10 bucks or so on line, and that's cheap enough to give away, and I do.

The Snarks seem to be ubiquitous....but the Planet Waves mini is so unobtrusive I'm going to give it a try.....and it is oriented right for a lap-style guitar..

I've got an original Blue Snark and I love the easy reading dial. The original battery did not last that long, but the replacement seems to be doing better. It probably has something to do with the big, bright, and colorful display I like so much.

I also have a Korg Pitchclip a rep gave me and it works very well too. Its claim to fame is a very small and discreet foot print. The screen has a good viewing angle and can be rotated / flipped for easy reading in different mounting positions.

With todays tech its cheap and easy to build a good tuner. Its all about choosing the feature set that fits your needs and budget.

That is pretty sneaky-looking, Steve! The Snarks kinda look like the Martian spacecraft, from the "War Of The Worlds" movie. But you can tilt and lean 'em all over the place.

The short life of batteries was mentioned. Most good batteries last a long time in tuners. Unfortunately, many excellent tuners come from the manufacturers with low coat batteries that don't last. In times past, when a customer bought a tuner in my store and the tuner stopped working a week later, the tuner would be returned for a refund so now I put a new Duracell battery in when I sell a tuner and it stopped the returns.

Tuners! Harrumph! That said, I like tuners with a needle. Don't like ones with flashing lights. But,,,, my very best tuner is my ancient brown Tube Conn Strobe tuner. Incredible! My old giggin' Tu-12H just died. Any good tuners with needles available?

Stephen Gambrell wrote:I got a bunch of Snarks. They work with anything. You can get 'em for 10 bucks or so on line, and that's cheap enough to give away, and I do.

That's like giving someone a bottle of mouthwash!...and that's a good thing!

We have a joke in one of our bands with one 6 stringer in particular. "Check your breath," I'll say when his tuning is out and hand him my tuner.

Good info here. I'm going to try the Peterson.

Planet Waves mini headstock tuner (pictured above) works great, is totally unobtrusive, and costs about $15...