Double Bass Another Bass Tuner Q

[gerry grable]

I got tired of jerking around with electronic tuners that sometimes worked and sometimes took me forever to finish tuning. I saw Bill Merchant tap an A tuning fork on his workbench, stick it between his molars and tune a bass with harmonics in about 2 minutes. I tried it and it works for me. The A-440, through bone conduction, fills your head with a tuning pitch regardless of background noise. I get my A string in tune and then use harmonics across the strings. No batteries, either.

I have a Fender brand tuner that I've used for years. It works fine but is useless on a gig with other people tuning, honking and banging. But my old standby is my 440 fork. I put it in my teeth, yes I still have them, or just touch the bottom of the fork to the belly of my bass and let it resonate. I have no actual proof, but I strongly suspect that the advent of the electric tuner ( I even have one on my iPhone!) has had a detrimental effect on the ears of a myriad of younger musicians. The upside: At least the guitars of the multitude of guitar players are in tune with themselves .

 

[Lee Moses]

Love my TC Polytune. It blows my Snark out of the water, and it does great tuning bowed strings. Glad you found the secret code.

 

[bucephylus]

I got tired of jerking around with electronic tuners that sometimes worked and sometimes took me forever to finish tuning. I saw Bill Merchant tap an A tuning fork on his workbench, stick it between his molars and tune a bass with harmonics in about 2 minutes. I tried it and it works for me. The A-440, through bone conduction, fills your head with a tuning pitch regardless of background noise. I get my A string in tune and then use harmonics across the strings. No batteries, either.

Yup. That's the way I used to do it as well.

 

[bucephylus]

Are you set on a clip tuner?

If not, might I recommend the Sonic Research Turbo Tuner as an excellent pedal tuner option. Great with a bow or otherwise, near-instantaneous tracking, solid build, lots of functions if you need them. Best tuner I have used.

Strobe Tuners by Sonic Research - Turbo Tuner Home Page

Thanks for the link. I'm not really set on anything in particular. I just go with what works. For the moment the clip on unit is working; but I will keep your recommendation in mind.

 

[LEUllman]

I'm not sure if it's still available, but if you have a pickup on your bass, the Korg Pitchjack is far and away the best tuning solution out there. Way better than any clip-on tuner (and I've tried most of them), especially on the E string. Used to be under $15 on Amazon. Pitchjack | PLUG-IN TUNER | KORG

 

[B String]

I'm not sure if it's still available, but if you have a pickup on your bass, the Korg Pitchjack is far and away the best tuning solution out there. Way better than any clip-on tuner (and I've tried most of them), especially on the E string. Used to be under $15 on Amazon. Pitchjack | PLUG-IN TUNER | KORG

I have a few of these tuners I've used for my tuner out jack on a few of my slab bass amps. They work ok for that but seem useless on my upright. They work fairly good on the open strings, but get confused as I go up the neck. They can't find the center of the note at all. I believe these were discontinued. My TC clip is just so much better for every application, upright or electric. The Pitchjacks just live in my drawer now.

 

[Josh Kneisel]

I don't like clip on tuners... I use a Korg Pitch black.

 

[Josh Kneisel]

I have a few of these tuners I've used for my tuner out jack on a few of my slab bass amps. They work ok for that but seem useless on my upright. They work fairly good on the open strings, but get confused as I go up the neck. They can't find the center of the note at all. I believe these were discontinued. My TC clip is just so much better for every application, upright or electric. The Pitchjacks just live in my drawer now.

Don't you only need to tune the open strings? If you know where you positioning needs to be for intonation then that should be all you need right? Am I missing something here?

 

[B String]

Don't you only need to tune the open strings? If you know where you positioning needs to be for intonation then that should be all you need right? Am I missing something here?

When I'm working on intervals or up in thumb and can't use open strings and such, I like to be able to check my intonation. Its only for when I'm practicing but for me its as important as using a metronome on and off when working on walking at different tempo's etc. I've been playing most of my life. It kills me that I still have to work on the basics......But I think I'm seeing some progress...lol