Polytune Clip-on Tuner (again !)

[Ivan Kelsall]

My Polytune tuner shows a spot on open 'A' note & a spot on harmonic 'A' note, however,fretted at the 12th fret,it shows a spot on,unwavering 'D' note,as though the strings were tuned to D ???.

Any ideas re.why that should happen ?. I checked the tuning with my Red Snark, & that displayed the open A / harmonic A & a 12th fret A. Obviously the Polytune tuner is responding more to 'something else' than the actual note being played.

Maybe the headstock is tuned to 'D' ?,
Ivan

[Mark Wilson]

Maybe not related but.. I get that sometimes w/ my PT whilst tuning at jam. Going from D to the A strings the tuner will show "D" while stroking the A string. I always figured the D was still vibrating but honestly dunno. Just saying it happens to me too. I would dampen the D strings somehow and retry

Do you have it turned off of polytune mode. I think they call it bass mode - it works better for mandolin imo.

[AlanN]

Battery good??

[Ray(T)]

Is it the same on all your mandolins Ivan, or just a particular one?

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Alan - The battery's fine - bright display,everything !. I have a tuner for each mandolin a Red Snark for my Ellis & Lebeda,& i bought the Polytune simply for a 'difference' despite it being twice the cost of another Red Snark. The PT is for my Weber & Ray, no,i haven't tried it on any other mandolin,something i'm going to do right now - please hang on !!.

Well - Curiouser & curiouser !!. I made sure that my Ellis & Lebeda were tuned correctly using my Snark tuner & then used the PT.
On my Ellis it gave a correct octave A note,on my Lebda,it wavered between A & D ??. So - it looks to be mandolin related,but, as my Snarks give a correct,unwavering A note at the Octave on all 3 mandolins,why should the PT be any different ? - odd ,but something i can live with. I can only assume that the PT is picking up a strong D resonance somehow - but it's a tad weird !!,

Mark - I don't know what 'mode' i'm in,but it's the one with the linear bar graph going from top to bottom i think that it's the 'strobe' mode - PDF File attached.
Ivan

[Eric Platt]

Just got mine to do something similar. Am wondering if it's reading a harmonic instead of the fundamental note?
FWIW, am using mine in the strobe setting. I like it a bit better than the regular setting. But switched it over to the regular setting and it does the same thing. With a bit less note jumping.

[Lord of the Badgers]

Well. If I'm playing at home I use a good tuner on my phone - loads more accurate. Onstage, yes a vibration sensor one is exactly the one I need. Probably more accurate tuners out there but on the phone I use Guitar Toolkit + as it's also got a chord library and finder - and I can have presets for just the strings of a mandolin/octave and ensure when tuning up I'm not about to be forgetful and break a string (it's happened... dunno if it's common ... but i'm slightly dyspraxic so things like that just "get' me)

never use my snark at home

weird though that you're getting this on a mando, as i find sympathetic resonance more of a prob on my zouk/dola

[Mark Gunter]

I use a variety of tuners from time to time, the stroboclip mainly, but I have a snark, a Boss TU-10, and a handful of the cheapest you can find JOYO tuners. I've experienced several tuners sometimes read the G string as a B in open position. I thought of the same possibilities with harmonics, etc. but really, I think it is more likely that some tuners have a bug in the programming somewhere.

[Tavy]

I would vote for reading a harmonic, though normally it's exactly a 5th above the note (ie 2nd harmonic, 3x the frequency, an E in this case), and normally happens on the lowest strings of the instrument. Could be a sympathetic vibration somewhere I guess as the 12th fret notes are pretty weakly registered on most clip on tuners, especially for the A and E.

Maybe you should stop humming bluegrass tunes while tuning?

[mandocaster]

Sometimes if you move the tuner to different spots on the headstock it will be more or less sensitive to particular strings and notes.

[Mark Wilson]

Mark - I don't know what 'mode' i'm in,but it's the one with the linear bar graph going from top to bottom i think that it's the 'strobe' mode

Definitely Strobe mode. But Bass Strobe Mode not guitar - page 8, #3. Takes it out of polytune (guitars only) and prevents the polytune screen from popping up unwanted

I would try a new battery as well. I thought my strings were going dead early - hard to tune - changed them - same thing - was the battery even tho the screen looked fine.

[MontanaMatt]

I've switched to the Peterson stroboclip, as have my band mates. It is significantly better than the $20 club, but it is somewhat fragile, as one of four has broken (in a bass players gig bag). ((Waiting on warranty replacement))
They are easy to read, very accurate, and can compensate for capo tunings.
The specific sweeteners have gelled our sound as a band.
I hope it will pressure the whole market to step up it's game.
Happy pickin

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Mark - The battery is fine. It's just this weird octave "D note" should be an "A note" thing going on. Both my Red Snarks show the correct note,so why should a tuner costing twice the price & supposedly a ''better one'' show an error ?. It tunes the open strings just fine,although it's ability to 'lock onto the notes' lags well behind the ability of my Snarks.

It's other 'problem' (not really), is that the tuner display doesn't swivel,which means that i have to place it in the only place that i can see the display properly,on the edge of the headstock furthest away from me = fiddly. Maybe the answer is to put the tuner on before i sling the mandolin strap around my shoulders ?. All in all,i should have gone with my instinct & bought a 3rd Red Snark,
Ivan

[Eric Platt]

Just using the Polytune on the Breedlove these days. Found it fits on the upper part of the headstock and can still be seen. Otherwise, it would probably just sit. While I do have a Pederson, usually grab the Korg Sledgehammer Pro instead. Usually on the Gibson. Brighter screen and seems to lock in a little bit quicker than the others, IMO.

While we all talk and get lost in the tuners, still see a number of pros, including the other mandolin player in my band (who is also my mentor) and they get along fine with the old Intelli tuner.

[pops1]

I clip my polytune at an angle and I can see it very well on any instrument

[Perry]

It tunes the open strings just fine,although it's ability to 'lock onto the notes' lags well behind the ability of my Snarks.

That could be an indication of it's increased accuracy over the Snark.

I love the TC Poly clip. Sold all my Peterson's they were too bulky and ate batteries much faster.

[stevedenver]

I would vote for reading a harmonic, though normally it's exactly a 5th above the note (ie 2nd harmonic, 3x the frequency, an E in this case), and normally happens on the lowest strings of the instrument. Could be a sympathetic vibration somewhere I guess as the 12th fret notes are pretty weakly registered on most clip on tuners, especially for the A and E.

Maybe you should stop humming bluegrass tunes while tuning?

This!
its reading a harmonic.
my polytune doe the same on guitar when tuning my b string, sometime it reads out "F".

you may continue to hum as you please, btw.

[Mark Gunter]

I use a variety of tuners from time to time, the stroboclip mainly, but I have a snark, a Boss TU-10, and a handful of the cheapest you can find JOYO tuners. I've experienced several tuners sometimes read the G string as a B in open position. I thought of the same possibilities with harmonics, etc. but really, I think it is more likely that some tuners have a bug in the programming somewhere.

I would vote for reading a harmonic, though normally it's exactly a 5th above the note (ie 2nd harmonic, 3x the frequency, an E in this case), and normally happens on the lowest strings of the instrument. Could be a sympathetic vibration somewhere I guess as the 12th fret notes are pretty weakly registered on most clip on tuners, especially for the A and E.

Maybe you should stop humming bluegrass tunes while tuning?

Makes sense, especially since I was confused in my memory when I wrote the above ... this doesn't happen to me when tuning the mandolins (reading a "B" at the open "G" string) as I had mistakenly recalled - it happens when tuning my guitars, reading a "B" at open "E" string (only on the sixth string - low E). So it always happens to me reading the note a fifth above the fundamental.

[Ivan Kelsall]

From Perry - "That could be an indication of it's increased accuracy over the Snark.". I think that it's a 100% indicator of it's poor ability to 'lock on' to a specific note. I've mentioned before that if i check either of my 'Snark tuned' mandolins with the PT,the PT shows correct tuning,so the tuning ability of the Red Snark tuners can't realistically be questioned. Personally,i don't need the green bargraph on a tuner to be endlessly 'dithering' around a specific note. I want it to recognise the note & stay put - like the Snark tuners do.

However,i will pick up on Perry's comment - could the PT be 'too choosy',making it a tad tricky to use ?,
Ivan

[Jess L.]

I've switched to the Peterson stroboclip, as have my band mates. It is significantly better than the $20 club, but it is somewhat fragile, as one of four has broken (in a bass players gig bag). ((Waiting on warranty replacement))
They are easy to read, very accurate, and can compensate for capo tunings.
The specific sweeteners have gelled our sound as a band. ...

I get the wrong-note harmonic thing sometimes with my brand new Peterson Stroboclip HD, as well as my Polytune (I have both now). This is on guitar where I notice this most often. Once in a while mandolin, but less frequently. I seem to have vague fuzzy recollection that my lower-priced old Korg would do that sometimes too, but it's been a while and I don't have the Korg anymore to experiment with.

... I hope it will pressure the whole market to step up it's game. ...

Yup, I agree with that. Quality improvements are a good thing. So are lower prices (well, from my point of view as a buyer, anyway) - I've noticed that both the TC products *and* the Peterson products have started coming down in price - I wouldn't have bought the latest Peterson otherwise. Surprising what a $10 difference can do to a person's purchasing decisions.

[David L]

It may be picking up a harmonic, but it could be making the open D string vibrate sympathetically. I try and mute all of the other strings with my fingers while tuning one string at a time.

[dhergert]

With clip on tuners it's really easy to overpower the tuner with the strong volume/vibration of the note being played.

Usually if I have any question about how well a tuner is picking up an actual note, I'll play the harmonic of the note at the 12th or even the 5th fret. Those are soft enough that they don't overpower the tuner.

[pops1]

I believe they are designed to use the harmonic and while I haven't read them in a while, the directions say just that. If you strike the open string do do extremely soft so as not to overdrive the tuner

[Ivan Kelsall]

From David L - " I try and mute all of the other strings ...".Quite right David. I didn't mute all the other strings,just the D strings,but it was still showing a D note !.

It's no problem at all - but i was curious as to why it should do that,especially as my Red Snarks show a correct octave A note - which, when setting my bridge position,is the note i use. I'm wondering if it's not something ''internal to the tuner'' that's being triggered in different ways on different instruments ?. Oh well !!,
Ivan

[Spencer]

It may be picking up a harmonic, but it could be making the open D string vibrate sympathetically. I try and mute all of the other strings with my fingers while tuning one string at a time.

Did that today, The when when picking the A string fretted at the 12th fret, the Polytune wanted to show a D. While the string was ringing, I muted the D string, and bingo, it read A, good and solid.

After getting a Polytune, all my other tuners are collecting dust. Only tuner I have used that when it says your strings are in tune, they are, and I don't have to fine tune the paired strings, they are spot on.

Spencer