TC Electronic Polytune Clip-on Tuner

[Wayne Bagley]

Does anyone know if this tuner works with a mandolin? I am sure that the chromatic part of the tuner will work but it is the polyphonic tuning that has me curious.

[pops1]

I have both the polytune and the unitune, both work just fine and are more accurate than most other tuners out there except the Peterson.

[Wayne Bagley]

Are all 8 strings visible at once for you when you strum?

[Paul Kotapish]

Are all 8 strings visible at once for you when you strum?

In my experience, the "polytune" feature doesn't really work the same way on the mandolin as it does on a guitar -- showing which strings are sharp and flat and whatnot in a single view after a broad strum.

As a tuner, though, it's been my favorite, and I have two of them. Works great on both mandolin and guitar in less-than-ideal conditions, and I haven't found another that I like better.

[Phil Goodson]

No. Works for guitar, not so much for mandolin.
Nevertheless, I use this tuner on strobe every day.

Edit: Adding: I agree with Paul, who was typing while I was typing.

[Wayne Bagley]

I did not realize that there are 2 different models of the clip on tuner. The Polyphonic version and the Unitune, the model which is strictly chromatic. The Unitune sounds like it would be fine with the mandolin and it is cheaper. I think that is the answer.

[Wayne Bagley]

I have just purchased the Polytune 3 pedal tuner for use with my guitar and I am loving it. This has spurred my sudden interest in their clip on models.

[mr_tom]

I just got one of these a couple of weeks ago. It is so much better than the Snark I was using beforehand. Much faster to identify the string you're tuning and a nicer screen, too.

The polytune doesn't work, though. After all, there's no way for it to differentiate between each of the strings in a given course.

[onassis]

I'm a big fan of the Unitune, especially in strobe mode. Super bright display and so accurate.

[Rick Jones]

I bought the polytune, use it on both guitar and mandolin. As others have said, the 'polytune' feature only works on guitar. I personally don't think that feature adds all that much value anyway. One string at a time, it has been a good, accurate tuner for me.

[Wayne Bagley]

Thanks Rick. For the mandolin I would be completely content with 1 string at a time. It was not until this posting that I realized that they actually had two different versions of this tuner. One with and one without polyphonic tuning. I am going to attempt to purchase the one without. The “Unitune”.

[darylcrisp]

the TC polytunes have replaced all my other tuners for guitar, mandolin, weissenborn, banjo, and dulcimer. they are fast, accurate, easy to see, and no battery drain. I'm well into my second year and I think I have changed one battery. I liked the Snark tuners, but they drained battery seemingly not even being used.

[illinoisfiddler]

The TC polytune works much better for higher tuned instruments like violin and mandolin than any other tuner I have. I have a TC polytune 2 on my fiddle/mandolin pedal board and it works great. Only other tuner I would recommend for home use is the Korg GA Custom which is a small hand-held tuner that also works great for fiddle/mandolin. In fact, it is my favorite for home use, but use the Polytune 2 for live work.

[OlDanTucker]

So I had a Polytune for years on my guitar. Loved it. It didn't get used much on the mandolin because it was kind of large to leave on all the time. But then the screw that held the tuner on the clip fell out and was lost. Heartbroken, I asked TC Electronics if I could buy a replacement screw and nut. They said they didn't have them and sent me a brand new Polytune which went on the guitar. Some paper clip wire and crimping later the old Polytune went in the mandolin case where it is used for recording and string changes because of the accuracy.

[Astro]

Thanks a lot yall. You just made me order one. But I got the unitune version. My second snark is falling apart and acting up and i'm done with them. i loved they were cheap and accurate enough when they work and I really loved the easy read but they just dont hold up so this time I'm going higher dollar --thanks to this thread.

[Wayne Bagley]

I plan on purchasing the Unitune also.