It happens with every tuner I've ever used, clip on, in line, pedal, rack... I think it just picks up harmonics and locks on a wrong note. I just let it settle and do it again
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Caveat-i don't have this tuner or any tumer-specific device, so this could be a stupid question.
Does this tuner work better if you mute the other strings?
Does this tuner work better if you mute the other strings?
I just got a TC clip on. I think it works better if I mute the strings but I'm not positive. It works pretty well even if I don't. It locks onto my B string in a second or two. I wasted money on cheaper tuners and was frustrated with them. Yeah this one is expensive for a clip on. I would buy another one in a heartbeat.
Thanks, all. Moving it to another location does help dramatically. It seems to be more finicky with placement only on one bass of mine, for whatever reason.
It's a fantastic tuner all-in-all, and I'm glad I bought it. I use it on guitar as well and for both it's insanely fast, accurate, and easy to read, in addition to being small and classy looking.
It's a fantastic tuner all-in-all, and I'm glad I bought it. I use it on guitar as well and for both it's insanely fast, accurate, and easy to read, in addition to being small and classy looking.
What are the advantages of clip on tuners? It seems they only have negatives... so I am obviously missing something here.
They're tiny, you don't need to plug them in/lug them around, they're accurate and fast (just as accurate and fast as the Polytune pedal in this case, from what I've read), and they're convenient. Lots of advantages!
Ever since moving it around on the one bass it had this one issue with, everything is golden now.
I did some experimenting, and it seems to happen whenever the headstock touches the spring in the clip. There is a ridge on the rubber lining on the inside of the clip that is supposed to prevent this, but it's easy to push the headstock past it if you open the clip fully. As soon as I started paying attention to this, the tuner started to track perfectly.
I just got a polytune clip, had this issue, which led me to waking up this old thread.
To those suggesting to go ahead and tune it to the false "B": in equal temperament, that B will read as a little sharp when the E is in tune, it's only 2 cents, so it's very minor-- but on the tuner it will show a red line at 2 cents.
Muting other strings doesn't fix it, bass mode doesn't fix it.
The 12th fret harmonic is a decent workaround-- even though it is likely a tiny bit sharper than the fundamental. Moving the tuner around the headstock might work.
Here are some solutions I've found to work.
The tuner itself has some resonance (due to its bar-shape)-- so as an experiment, I attached a small clamp to the tuner itself to dampen that resonance, and that worked great, but isn't usable at all.
Then I tried sticking on some poster putty in various spots on the tuner-- which I found either fixes it completely or makes it worse. (Like now the E reads as B constantly, or the low B reads as F#). The permanent solution will be to find the right place and then apply some Sugru to make it more permanent.
I also found that simply swiveling the viewing angle changes this resonance and can improve the reading of E & B strings.
As an aside, the clip on this tuner really limits the ways I can mount it. So I used a dremel tool and removed the clamp part, and kept the flat part to mount with double-stick tape (or Sugru). It's an expensive tuner to cut up like that, but I like it way it mounts better now. Changing the battery will be a little more inconvenient though.
To those suggesting to go ahead and tune it to the false "B": in equal temperament, that B will read as a little sharp when the E is in tune, it's only 2 cents, so it's very minor-- but on the tuner it will show a red line at 2 cents.
Muting other strings doesn't fix it, bass mode doesn't fix it.
The 12th fret harmonic is a decent workaround-- even though it is likely a tiny bit sharper than the fundamental. Moving the tuner around the headstock might work.
Here are some solutions I've found to work.
The tuner itself has some resonance (due to its bar-shape)-- so as an experiment, I attached a small clamp to the tuner itself to dampen that resonance, and that worked great, but isn't usable at all.
Then I tried sticking on some poster putty in various spots on the tuner-- which I found either fixes it completely or makes it worse. (Like now the E reads as B constantly, or the low B reads as F#). The permanent solution will be to find the right place and then apply some Sugru to make it more permanent.
I also found that simply swiveling the viewing angle changes this resonance and can improve the reading of E & B strings.
As an aside, the clip on this tuner really limits the ways I can mount it. So I used a dremel tool and removed the clamp part, and kept the flat part to mount with double-stick tape (or Sugru). It's an expensive tuner to cut up like that, but I like it way it mounts better now. Changing the battery will be a little more inconvenient though.
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Just to follow up, I put a blob of epoxy putty on the end of the PolyTune Clip (it came off, so I used double-stick tape to put it back on-- it sounds uglier than it is). It worked perfectly. E & B strings both consistently read as they should with the blob attached.
To follow up about the clip-mount mod. So using my dremel-like tool I cut off the spring clip, and other bits to make the mount a flat plate. I used Gorilla brand double-stick tape. I tried a few mounting positions on my Ibanez SR headstock, but space was limited. I ended up attaching it to the flat backs of the tuning machines.
On both my 5-strings, I attached it diagonally across the E & D string machines. This stays out of view, doesn't affect any of my stands, and is easy to use. The viewing angle is perfect. One of my basses worked fine just as is. For the other one, I had the pitch tracking problem on the E, so I attached a small weight to one side of the tuner, and that fixed it.
On both my 5-strings, I attached it diagonally across the E & D string machines. This stays out of view, doesn't affect any of my stands, and is easy to use. The viewing angle is perfect. One of my basses worked fine just as is. For the other one, I had the pitch tracking problem on the E, so I attached a small weight to one side of the tuner, and that fixed it.
Here are some pictures. You can what the mount looks like with the clip removed. On one of the pictures, you can see that I attached a part of a ferrite bead as a weight to fix the pitch mis-read problem. That was just what I had lying around.
I was taking my bass in for some neck work, and when I pulled the tuner off, the caps on the backs of the tuning machines came off. They snap back on, but just an FYI.
