Best cheapest strobe or chromatic tuner for setting the intonation on a guitar.

[Slobrain]

I wanted to ask opinions on this subject on tuners to set intonation with. I’ve been using a really nice Seiko chromatic quartz tuner for many years and it works well but looking at the needle jumping a bit you have to get used to knowing the sweet spot that gets the intonation dead on. After a conversation with a buddy he said he like using the Boss stomp box tuner to set intonation with.

I looked at MF and seen some nice tuners but really want to get one that makes setting the intonation a bit easier than watching the fluctuating needle on mine, that gets a bit old...

Everyone has a favorite tuner and some like strobe, others like LED and some like the needle type.

What’s your favorite???

[Jag]

For years, I used my Boss TU-2 in strobe mode and it was awesome.

Around Christmas, I went on a major app rampage with my iPhone. One of the useful apps I downloaded was the Peterson Strobe Tuner app and I've been using it ever since. It's really great as long as you have a good interface adapter. I'm using the Apogee Jam. The cheap interfaces, like the iRig, don't do so well with it and they are noisy with other apps.

I still have the TU-2 in my gig bag.

[Sweetfinger]

If I don't have an old Conn or Peterson strobe tuner, rather than torture myself trying to use a digital strobe or some other digital or analog tuner, I'll just do it by ear. Use a second string as a reference tone and use a bit of distortion so you can hear the notes "beating" against each other. That is also how I do a final check on a guitar I've done with a strobe.

[Slobrain]

Anyone dealt with the Buzz Feiten method in tuning?

[Sweetfinger]

I'm an authorized retrofitter. What do you want to know?

[Slobrain]

I'm an authorized retrofitter. What do you want to know?

Didn't Buzz use the offsets on a regular guitar before modifying the nut?

[Sweetfinger]

Yeah, he probably did. I have offsets that I sometimes use depending on the player's style. I'll set the low E and A right at 0. I set the D forward just a bit, so the fretted note at the 12th is slightly sharp. I set the G slightly forward as well. The B is set back, just a little flat, and the high E is set back but not as much as the B, almost at 0. I set the radius flatter than the fingerboard. YMMV. It doesn't work on every guitar and I wouldn't use it on a root/5th metal type guitar.
This does nothing for the age-old problem of the "cowboy chords" being out. For that you do need to bring the nut forward. I would guess that the offsets for the current BF system are really designed to work with the shelf nut and might not work well without. There are some digital tuners that have the offsets built in. That's what we use.

[Sweetfinger]

Yeah, he probably did. I have offsets that I sometimes use depending on the player's style. I'll set the low E and A right at 0. I set the D forward just a bit, so the fretted note at the 12th is slightly sharp. I set the G slightly forward as well. The B is set back, just a little flat, and the high E is set back but not as much as the B, almost at 0. I set the radius flatter than the fingerboard. YMMV. It doesn't work on every guitar and I wouldn't use it on a root/5th metal type guitar.
This does nothing for the age-old problem of the "cowboy chords" being out. For that you do need to bring the nut forward. I would guess that the offsets for the current BF system are really designed to work with the shelf nut and might not work well without. There are some digital tuners that have the offsets built in. That's what we use.

[kleuck]

I use a Korg Pitchblack, several modes, just perfect.


And cheap.