Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

A week ago, after the gig, a member of the audience came up to me and said he'd discovered this great little tuner called a Snark. He said it was the best one he'd ever found, and less expensive. Turns out he was right on all counts. I bought three of 'em, because tuners seem to migrate away from wherever I need them at the moment.

It runs on a lithium battery, and like the Intelli, and similar tuners, picks up string vibrations from the guitar's (or bass's) headstock with a piezo. The thing I like best about this particular model is that it has an easier time reading the low E string. You don't have to fool with playing the 12th fret harmonic to tune that string. It's chromatic, so you can use it to retune into alternate tunings, as well as tweak the tuning when using a capo.

Anyhow, I like it a lot. I thought all of you would appreciate this little note.
JimK

Thanks for posting this Jim. A few questions for you. Is there any danger that it may mark the headstock when you clip it on? How much are these and where did you buy yours?

The Snark tuner is great! One of my students has it. Much better then the GoldTone clip-on I had. Can't wait to get one.

OK I found them at Musicians Friends. They are selling the blues ones for $29.99 USD with free shipping to the USA. I'll look around in Canada to see if anyone is selling them yet.

I am a bit worried about marring my Rickenbacker headstocks though. Any comments that alleviate that concern would be appreciated.

I got mine through Amazon for about $12 each. I've bought three so far - one is a gift for my son for Christmas - and at this price, will probably pick up a couple more, so I can keep one lying around wherever I play. I'll second JimK's comments - these things are easy to use, easy to read, and lock onto notes remarkably quickly. If they can handle the low B on my son's 5-string Ibanez, my lap steels, a ukulele and all my guitars in between, I'd say this is one genuine bargain.

The jaws are clad in a fairly firm, rubber-like material. I have no idea what it actually is, or what the long-term effect on any finish might be - there's certainly not enough pressure to cause any damage, as far as I can tell.

There's also a slightly higher priced red version which includes a switchable microphone, so it can be used for a variety of other instruments.

Yeah Brian....get yours at Amazon.com, lots cheaper. No they don't mark your guitar as long as you don't leave it on there for three weeks. What the long term effects on a Rick finish would be, I can't say. Me, I tune up my guitar, and put the thing away when I'm done (usually in a vest pocket).
JimK

I bought the SN-2 for $9.99 plus $7.00 shipping from a seller on eBay. That way I can tune my violin as well. Not that its gonna do me much good. I sound like Jack Benny when I play that instrument.

Thanks Jim. As always your advice is sound.

Ordered 2 thru Amazon, they arrived today.Neat l'il gizmos--but they don't always agree with each other.Placed upon the same Hofner 500/1 at the same time, they sometimes read out differently.Still, I like them MUCH better than my Dean Malakly pedal tuner.

fatcat wrote:...but they don't always agree with each other.Placed upon the same Hofner 500/1 at the same time, they sometimes read out differently.

Hmmmm, I'd better check this out. I have three of the blue ones. Two of them are here at home with me.

OK....so the two of mine at home agree with each other, I'll assume the third one does, too. I have to ask the obvious; have you checked the calibration on each of your two units? They can be set at another pitch besides A=440Hz
JimK

This seems to be the best price on Ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Snark-SN-1-Clip-On- ... 53e51890b6

Hey, I might even spring for one.

Will it do "flat" tunings? (I am tuned a half step down..) and will it do basses or is it strictly for guitars?

I was really liking the PolyTune app on my iPhone but this is very tempting.

There's a chromatic "all instruments" model so I think it should be able to handle bass. With the way a Ric kicks you in the chest when you play it, I figure this would have to be able to sense the notes.

atomic_punk wrote:Will it do "flat" tunings? (I am tuned a half step down..) and will it do basses or is it strictly for guitars?

I've used it on my basses.

I'm thinnin that it will do flat tunings, it can be reference calibrated to a range of 415-466Hz.

Or you might be able to use the capo setting to get a flat setting--pushing that button makes ir read flat, as if you put a capo at the first fret,it would read the F as an E.

jimk wrote:

fatcat wrote:...but they don't always agree with each other.Placed upon the same Hofner 500/1 at the same time, they sometimes read out differently.

Hmmmm, I'd better check this out. I have three of the blue ones. Two of them are here at home with me.

Well, I tried the two of them on my 4003 JG and they behaved better.


I'm happy.