The Steel Guitar Forum

Interested to see how many use a peterson strobo. Is it really any better that a snark or any other tuner when it comes to pedal steels ?

The advantage of the strobotuner is that it is pre-loaded with the sweetened settings most steel guitarists use. You dont have to remember the (+/-) cents for each string.

When I played pedal steel, I used a chart and a Seiko SAT800 tuner.

You have to get used to watching the strobe display on a strobe tuner. It drives some people nuts.

Depends on how you tune your guitar on whether a strobe, such as the Peterson's, is useful or needed.

Most do not tune everything to "0" thus with a standard tuner you have to remember or have a tuning chart when you tune. With a programmable (or pre-programmed) strobe tuner you don't have to have a chart as all the variations have been programmed into the tuner and you tune everything at (compensated) "0" (no movement on a strobe). This method is much easier and faster.

The good strobe tuners provide a more precise readout and in my experience are much more stable on the lower strings. Initial accuracy is not critical but as a guitar begins to drift due to things like temperature, play in mechanisms etc it's better to have the initial tuneup accurately centered. A few cents off is nothing but added to the drift that occurs in all guitars over the course of a few hours the total error can be very audible.

If you temper tune, then you at least need a strobe, needle or digital readout to get the temper correct. One big advantage of a strobe is that you can see and use it easily along distance away so your tuner can sit somewhere safely and remotely off your guitar.

I just got the Strobo Plus HD...very nice unit.

I am struggling to figure out how to use it. The manual is very complicated for this country boy.

Skip the manual!

All the pedal steel settings are below. Here's what I do in 4 easy steps:

Select SE9, tune E9 neck open strings
Select SP9, tune all the E9th pedals
Select SC6, tune C6 neck open strings
Select SP6, tune all the C6 pedals

Substitute OE9/OP9 for SE9/SP9 if you want a slightly different E9th tuning.

PEDAL STEEL GUITAR
SE9 Peterson E9 Pedal Steel Sweetener 1 SE9
SP9 Peterson E9 Pedal and Lever Offsets for SE9
SC6 Peterson C6 Pedal Steel Sweetener
SP6 Peterson Pedal & Lever Offsets for SC6
OE9 Peterson E9 Pedal Steel Sweetener OE9
OP9 Peterson Pedal & Lever for 0E9
EM9 Peterson Emmons Style E9 Pedal Steel Sweetener
EP9 Peterson Emmons Style E9 Pedals & Levers
EM6 Peterson Emmons C6 Pedal Steel Sweetener
EP6 Peterson Emmons C6 Pedals & Levers
U12 Peterson Universal Pedal Steel Sweetener
P12 Peterson Pedal & Lever for Universal Pedal Steel

I have my own programs, based on the SE9/SP9 programs. The SP9 doesn't include some modern changes that were not around when Newman developed his tunings. e.g. 1st string full tone raise (F# to G#) and 2nd string half tone raise (Eb to E). There are several others.

I also developed one E9th program for both opens and pedal/knee lever changes (except 4th string raise to F# and lower to Eb as these conflict with the same changes that have different offsets).

I did the same thing for C6th, everything except the 3rd string C to B is in one program.

The three exceptions are in a separate program. However, they rarely need tuning so no big deal.

As I've posted before, if your e-mail is registered with Peterson Connect I can "Share" (as Peterson calls it) my tunings with you. You can then download them to your tuner. (I've done this for quite a few forum members).

I have an E9th program that another forum member gave me with everything in one program but it doesn't work for me.

I just go to the Sweetened E9th and it has them all there. Mainly I still just use the old needle tuners, and tune to the Newman chart. I have them memorized and don't have a problem, and this is the U-12 too. When you get into tuning, it's like religion and politics. hahaha

I really like my Stobo Plus..especially on a noisy stage!

I just got my strobe tuner. When you turn the unit on, how do you access the sweetened tuning?

Craig

Craig, the manual explains it very good, but the big knob on the right, turn it, it will change an icon on the screen, keep going till it come to se9. I just leave mine there, but as I said I seldom use it. I still use the old Boss tuner with the needle.

What I like about the Strobo Plus HD is that you can have it in line without affecting the tone. I tried that with the Boss tuner and that unit did affect the tone. I had to plumb that separately.

Is it better? It's very well made.
Their customer service is, frankly, outstanding.

If you leave it in line, remember it you're using a sweetened tuning, you cannot use it to track your intonation. If you play a C# chord in tune with anyone else, your strobe is gonna tell you you're crazy sharp (and even worse if you play an F.

I don't like the very concept of programming the tuner.
If you're gonna run your C#s 17 cents flat because they sound better that way, you ought to know it, understand why and aim your needle at -17.

Just some things to think about

I've never left any tuner in line. I connect it, tune up and then disconnect it. I don't find I (normally) need to touch up or retune during a set. I may check the tuning when we take a break but even that's not all the time.

A comment about the Newman C6th sweetened program in a Peterson. I tuned up using the "Harmonic" method (that Buddy documented at one time) and then checked it with my Peterson. Surprise I was in tune with the Newman tuner program!

I use the needle. Been using the same temper for years, so I got 'em memorized.

There is some discussion on the Peterson tuner in this thread as well:
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... highlight=