Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm thinking of buying a 'better' electronic tuner for using around the shop.
I'd appreciate opinions and experiences about the current crop of Peterson tuners:
Stroboflip
StroboStomp
V-SAM
and any others you care to mention.
Is there a big 'step up' in functionality from a 'regular' digital chromatic tuner (eg Seiko) with the increased price for a Peterson?
Any others I should be considering?
I don't want to mess with a laptop in my wood shop, so I'm not considering software tuners just now.

Thanks
John

Well,I have the older model VS-1 John. The screen is a little jumpy,but I can still get it to work well.They say the screen on the newer models are much better.These strobe
tuners are very accurate.I have mine mounted on the wall which makes it handy .I can't give you any technical info on them but I do like them much better than your basic tuners.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Definitely accurate. The only thing I'm not sure about is how to get it to
pick up the signal from the guitar without plugging it in. How do you
tune an acoustic?

They have a little clip mic they sell for about $10 or so, or any other mic will work, too. I can't remember offhand whether it's a 1/4" or 1/8" mic input.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Yeah, Its 1/4 plug you just clip it on the headstock.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I used to have the VS-1 and now have the VSAM. Excellent tuners for the
money and very useful. Cheaper digital tuners are good like the Seiko you
mentioned are good enough for ballpark tuning, but that's about it.

On the cheaper end, the Boss TU-12H is surprisingly accurate (the last three
I've had were all dead on with my tuning forks and Petersons) but not nearly
as versatile. If you're going to be working on instruments, the VSAM is
certainly a good investment.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Most expensive option is to marry a professional violinist, many, including mine, develop perfect pitch. I've found her ears to be the most accurate tuner around and, I'll bet your electronic ones don't make the tea!

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I like the accuracy and functionality of my VSAM. However, I have found the Peterson plug-in mike to be unreliable and dont use it.

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Kent

Facebook Page

I have owned many of the digital Strobe Petersons ( or played with them before giving them as gifts to friends). They are all good. BUT, if you want a really good tuner, buy a Peterson REAL Strobe tuner. I think they start around $500. But worth every penney if you can afford it.

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

[QUOTE=Colin S] Most expensive option is to marry a professional violinist, many, including mine, develop perfect pitch. I've found her ears to be the most accurate tuner around and, I'll bet your electronic ones don't make the tea!

Colin[/QUOTE]

When I was in High School we had an analog strobe tuner that used vacuum tubes (valves). It wouldn't make tea, but it could boil the water for you.

On the topic of this discussion:
The advantage of the strobe style tuners over the needle gauge style is that the eye can detects the slight motion of the strobe much better than the slight displacement of a needle. With needles you get parallax error. The human eys is designed to detect motion and the strobe style gives you that.

Some people swear by the true analog strobes while others say that the digital strobes simulate the analog just as well.

The analog strobes will offer you a visual glimpse of the overtones that
the digitals won't. This can certainly be useful, but the convenience and
equal accuracy (of the fundamental at least) makes the VSAM a
competetive choice against the intimacy of conventional strobes. In some
ways the analogs are certainly superior, but the older versions in
particular can need regular recalibration and maintenance in addition to
the initial cost. A Peterson 490 would be great, but for the money it's
hard to beat the VSAM in my opinion.

That said, though I use my VSAM quite often as a very convenient tool,
when doing the final tweaking of intonation I still prefer to do it by ear.
Still, one of my dream toys I would still love to get some day is the
Peterson SC-5000. It's the best tuner to allow viewing of virtually all
harmonics simultaneously, but in this trade it would be more an academic
investment than everyday utility. It would be a great tool to have, but at
$3500+, I'll wait until a few other shop improvements are paid for.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I agree with David here I have a VSII and love it

Thanks, everybody.
I'll put one on the list- sounds like it will be a useful step up from my Seiko.

Cheers
John

I've had a Peterson 450 since the mid-eighties .. it's a very good tuner

i've not used a peterson digital but am very fond of my peterson true strobe. quick, extremely accurate.

if i were going to invest in a small strobe, rather than the petersons i think i would be considering a campbell. more expensive, but to my mind probably worth the extra cash.