Tuners For Doing Intonation

[avengers63]

I'm looking into getting a more accurate tuner so that I can accurately intonate my guitars. All I have tight now is an old Boss TU-6 (needle) and the one that's incorporated into my Digitech RP50. Both are just accurate for stage tuning, bot not for strring intonation. What would your suggestions be?

[foil1more]

A Korg CA-30 is what I use for my cello, guitar, and bass. It's accurate, and it has a LCD screen that tells you how far off you are and what note you're playing. It's only about $20 American. It also seems to be the most popular tuner for players in any orchestra I've been in.

[pariah223]

Assuming your frets are cut right and your bridge is positioned correctly, you should only need fine tuning in the intonation. I beleive a quick way to check your intonation is to fret the 12th fret, and then play the 12th fret harmonic, and they should be the same. I dont think anyone really checks every single note on every string to make sure they are all in tune. From my understanding, if your 12th fret is in tune, and your open is in tune, then you should be in good shape as long as your frets are good. Someone please correct me if i am wrong.. im quite a novice

[aidlook]

Assuming your frets are cut right and your bridge is positioned correctly, you should only need fine tuning in the intonation. I beleive a quick way to check your intonation is to fret the 12th fret, and then play the 12th fret harmonic, and they should be the same. I dont think anyone really checks every single note on every string to make sure they are all in tune. From my understanding, if your 12th fret is in tune, and your open is in tune, then you should be in good shape as long as your frets are good. Someone please correct me if i am wrong.. im quite a novice

You've got most of your info straight, although the original question was about the tuner you would use to check tuning while intonating.

[avengers63]

Assuming your frets are cut right and your bridge is positioned correctly, you should only need fine tuning in the intonation. I beleive a quick way to check your intonation is to fret the 12th fret, and then play the 12th fret harmonic, and they should be the same.

You've got most of your info straight, although the original question was about the tuner you would use to check tuning while intonating.

Right on both accounts. I know how to check and adjust the intonation, it's the fine-accuracy tuner I'm looking for.

So far, there's one vote for a Korg CA-30. Any other suggestions?

[borge]

I've never come across a non strobe tuner thats good enough for setting intonation on its own, this is why ALL good guitar techs use strobes.

I get it close with a guyatone stomp tuner and fine tune it by ear.

I don't think its good practice to rely on the 12fret alone, IMO its better to find a compromise for all playing positions instead.

[GGW]

If you want to use your computer, I've had good luck with G-Tune. It loooks like they are now merging with Peterson or something but the much cheaper G-Tune is still available. It has varoius modes of display including strobe type readouts.

[j. pierce]

I grew up tuning to either the first Ramones record or a casio keyboard, whatever was closer.

I'm a huge fan of the boss stomp box tuner - it's accurate enough for me, it's adjustable for when you're playing with something like an accordian or what have you, where A doesn't equal 440hz, and it's touch like a brick, and serves as a handy mute when you're drinking a beer while the singer is trying to talk to crowd between songs.

But yeah, I still prefer tuning to an audible tone, and use pitchforks and synths and a function generator hitched up to a practice amp and silly stuff like that.

[guitar2005]

For intonation work, something like a Korg CA-30 simply won't cut it. You need something accurate to +- 1 cent like a Korg DTR 1000/2000 or a peterson strobe tuner like the strobostomp.

Anything else will absolutely not give you proper results.

[WezV]

i have got a stroboflip and its definately awesome! the new korg Pitchblack is also getting alot of praise so might be worth a try if a peterson tuner is out of your budget

personally i always start doing intonation at the 12th fret but also check other octaves, such as tuning so the 5th is in tune and checking it at the 17th

[erikbojerik]

If you're already set up for digital audio on your home computer/laptop, the Peterson Strobosoft app works great.

Strobosoft

[avengers63]

After reading your suggestions and doing some homework of my own, I came to the conclusion that Peterson was unreasonable. I'll be using this tuner for precicely one thing: setting the intonation. I have 2 other tuners that are plenty good enough for routine stage tuning.

So, after looking into a great number of tuners, I settled in on the Korg LCA-120. It's plenty accurate for intonation. I found one for $60 shipped, so it fit into my budget, too.

After getting it in yesterday, I set the intonation on the three guitars that needed it. It worked great. So, this is basically a heads-up that there is a reasonably priced alternative.