Guitar Tuners – Essential Tools
Guitar tuners are an important part of the guitarists gig bag. THere is nothing worse than playing to a crowd and see pain on their faces because those sweet chords and your well practiced solo arer all out of key. Guitar tuners have changed a lot over the years from stomp boxes to full rack tuners and now headstock tuners which are very convenient.
Guitar Tuners – Why
Guitar tuners are essential because strings stretch, wood warps with temperature changes and a myriad of other reasons for guitars to go out of tune over time. If you tune a guitar in the morning on many occasions you will need to re tune next time you pick it up.
If your guitar has a floating tremolo system then expect to need to re tune it if you have been making engine and horse noises on the guitar as well. Yes fun but it will need a re tune a lot of the time.
Types of Guitar Tuners
Guitar tuners come in basic forms like a set of pipes you blow through to tuning forks and electronic tuners. All have their place but you really need one of them to get started.
The electronic tuners come in small compact head stock tuners these days which are very accurate. There are stomp box tuners and tuners incorporated in multi effects boxes as well as rack mounted units for the pro’s.
Phone apps – Guitar tuners
You will also find plenty of Android and IOS apps on the relevant app stores with guitar tuners as well as metronomes and some with recording features all for free.
These are fine in a quiet environment as are the tuning pipes but with a bit of noise or that incessant drummer making a noise these can be problematic. It is possible to get a cable and plug into the phone n some instances such as if your using a small personal guitar amp from VOX which I have personally. Outside this its hard to ensure your guitar signal was strong enough to register on the phone app.
Guitar Headstock Tuners
Headstock tuners are very popular and you see many YouTube guitarists and pros with them. They are very convenient and accurate with a multitude of suppliers using them.
Headstock tuners are have a small microphone in them which detects the vibration from the guitar to give you a reading. You will see them clipped to the top of many guitarists headstocks on both electric and acoustic guitars.
Guitar Concert or Natural Pitch is the most common tuning but this does not mean there are not others. Many modern hard rock and metal guitarists use drop tuning where all strings are detuned by 1/2 or even a full step. The guitar is then tuned to Eb or D in this case respectfully.
Drop D tuning is popular with a number of songs with the thick E string being Detuned by it self to D. This allows a lower or deeper note that still works in the E natural tuning.
There are some great examples of songs with the drop D tuning like the Foo Fighters Everlong as well as Slither by Velvet Revolver, Slash is one of my favorite Guitarists.
Guitar Natural Tuning
With all this talk of tuning maybe we should understand what natural tuning is. Today the natural tuning standard is 440 Hz but it has not always been so. For many hundreds of years the tuning standard was 432 Hz. This occurred in 1955 to standardize orchestra tuning as for many years there was no fixed standard.
| Guitar String | Frequency |
| 6th String (Low E) | 82.4Hz |
| 5th String (A) | 110.6Hz |
| 4th String (D) | 146.8Hz |
| 3rd String (G) | 196.0Hz |
| 2nd String (B) | 246.9Hz |
| 1st String (high E) | 329.6Hz |
Whats Special about 443 Hz
The 432 Hz tuning standard from the past has many qualities that are said to be better than the 440 Hz. This may be personal preference but with a good tuner you can adjust the base frequency and see if you agree with others.
The benefits of the 443 tuning is its said to be more soothing and resonates with the earths natural frequencies has been said. There is also a conspiracy theory regarding the Nazi’s wanting to make the world more on edge with the new 440 Hz standard being sit to have been introduced by the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels.
There are also a number of mathematical claims because the 432 number can be divided by a series of consecutive prime numbers and other coincidences. Whatever the truth we are stuck with 440 Hz but if your chakra needs some smooth music then tune to 432 Hz and give it a try.
Popular Headstock Tuners
The headstock tuners are very popular so lets look at the most popular ones currently available if your looking to pick one up.
Floor Guitar Tuners
Floor guitar tuners have been part of guitarists pedal boards for ever. There is no pedal board that does not have a quick tuner at the beginning of the chan. THese will most often stop any guitar noise pass through them when activated so you can tune qquickly and quietly without all the tradition tuning noises if the guitar is not isolated.
The standard in Guitar Tuners
The Boss TU-3 Tuner is a staple tuner for gigging guitarists. Its tough and features are its reliable and indestructible with a moderate price and most importantly easily read by a gigging guitarist.
Modestly priced around $100 this guitar tuner is one item that should be in your professional gigging gear box. It has a 21 LED display and comes with detuning support required my many rock guitarists.
Guitar Strings and Tuning
Its so important to be in tune so choose what suites you best as far as tuners but its important you have one in your took kit. But what other factors effect your guitars tuning stability?
There are certainly a number of guitar factors that make a big difference to your tuning stability. Simple things like the way you change strings on your guitar. Ensuring you stretch them when you initially install new strings does make a big difference.
Learn about installing strings to ensure your guitaring time isn’t frustrating.
Guitar Tuners – Locking Tuners
The quality of your guitar tuners installed to your headstock are also very important. You can get a number of varieties on guitars with some being locvking which is a great option.
To ensure the strings are not slipping when installed they can be locked by these locking tuners and form another barrier to prevent string slipping and the guitar going out of tune.
When checking a new guitar you also want to ensure the tuneres move smoothly and dont bind at any point. Is there a point you can lubricate them is another check to ensure you have a quality instrument in your hands. It is certianly possible to upgrade your tuners t locking tuners and have a much better experience.
Going back to strings its important to get them locked and stretched when installing. The path strings take through the guitar nut is always a point of contention. Making sure the slots are cut correctly allowing the strings to move smoothly through the nut will ensure they don’t get caught and need returning.
This really requires a luthier to ensure the nut slots are the correct size for every string. It is also possible to add some lubricant to the nut to help with any friction. It has to be remembered every time you play a chord or a note in a solo especially if your making some big bends in your epic display of rhythmic notes!
Cross the Bridge
Not all bridges are created equally so ensuring the string can move freely from its anchor point over the guitar bridge is so important. Any point of contact is critical. I’m sure you are getting the idea. This and all of the above is the difference between a good and a great guitar.
There are a number of varieties you can upgrade to like roller bridges to limit the friction over the bridge.
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