B. T. Walker
Nov-28-2009, 8:29am
At a recent jam, I put my Intelli clip-on tuner in my pocket. But for whatever reason, the tuner never made it back out of the pocket before the jeans went in the washer -- full cycle, heavy-duty agitation, fast spin, cold water. When I saw it in the wet clothes, all I could say was, "Oh, well," but well sounded more like a scatalogical reference. You get the picture.
Rather than just throw it in the trash, I took out the battery, removed the back, and put a fun blowing on the tuner's innards. A couple of days later, I put it back together, and powered it up. Voila!
It still works! (sort of) The part of the display showing what note you're playing does not work well, so a G looks like a C, and an A looks the same as an E or an F. The needle still pops up when you pluck a string, but you have to eyeball whether it is in the middle.
Even with these defects, it is still functional. I figure it is now the perfect tuner to take where, if it is liberated/stolen or gives up its electronic ghost, you don't really care. I think it also speaks to how tough these little chunks of plastic and circuitry are. Perhaps it is pure luck it's still working at all. Nevertheless, I am amazed.
Rather than just throw it in the trash, I took out the battery, removed the back, and put a fun blowing on the tuner's innards. A couple of days later, I put it back together, and powered it up. Voila!
It still works! (sort of) The part of the display showing what note you're playing does not work well, so a G looks like a C, and an A looks the same as an E or an F. The needle still pops up when you pluck a string, but you have to eyeball whether it is in the middle.
Even with these defects, it is still functional. I figure it is now the perfect tuner to take where, if it is liberated/stolen or gives up its electronic ghost, you don't really care. I think it also speaks to how tough these little chunks of plastic and circuitry are. Perhaps it is pure luck it's still working at all. Nevertheless, I am amazed.