Snark tuner

[Steve Mead]

Missing the rubber pad off the bottom jaw of tuner that contacts headstock. Does anyone know where you can get a replacement. No one at Snark answers emails and no phone number listed. Thanks

[Pittsburgh Bill]

PM me with your address as I have a few broken ones and I will pop one in an envelope and send it to you. I have several broken ones. I quit buying them as I have a problem with them breaking around the swivel ball.

[Steve Mead]

Thanks, will do. I have several, one for every case, never had one break but did loose the rubber gizmo

[DaveGinNJ]

Interesting. My Snark just broke at the ball joint. I guess that is a thing

[Marcus CA]

The only problem I've ever had with Snarks is their inaccuracy. I can noticeably change the pitch of a string without having the gauge change, which is frustrating when the gauge is at the green.

I've moved on to rectangular clip-on tuners by Unitune (my favorite) and D'Addario, which are significantly less cool than Snarks, but significantly more accurate.

[snakehead_a2z]

I second the plug for the Unitune. It is the best electronic tuner I have found, and I’ve been using them since I got my Sabine tuner, when it was one of the first ones out, mid 1980s.

[thesecretmandolinist]

I had a Snark snap about a week after I got it. Been using Korg PitchCrow ever since… not the smallest or sleekest but accurate and affordable

[J Mangio]

When my Snark broke at the joint, I switched over to a DeltaLab CT-30 and didn't look back.

[thumbknuckle]

Just in case it is useful to anyone: I recently purchased a D'Addario Nexus 360 rechargeable tuner.

Small, bright, good mechanics and of course no batteries to replace.
Not a very good tuner. The indicator lamps are not finely enough calibrated or reliable.
Tuner revolves in its mount and there may not be a really positive coupling.
If your instrument's intonation is good enough to require no "sweetening" when tuning then it would be "adequate."

Not the tuner to eliminate my battery consumption darn it.

[pops1]

The Unitune is not only a better tuner, but it's battery consumption is very minimal. I have one I use daily and the battery is still good long after a year. You can make up the difference in price from the snark just from the savings on the batteries, and get a much more accurate tuner to boot.

[mandroid]

>Snarky comment (pun) inserted here<

[Steve Mead]

I have resisted the rechargable ones because I have found with other rechargable items I own that I forget to check the charge level, if that is even possible, and they go dead at the least opportune moment. Nothing worse than the rechargable flashlight going dead during a night time adventure. I would much rather pop in a fresh battery in the tuner when needed than wonder where I am going to get the rechargable one charged up. If you need to carry a battery operated one, just in case, than it is a rather pointless exercise. I agree with Pops that throwing in a new battery once a year, even twice, is not a major inconvenience.

[DaveGinNJ]

I have a tough time understanding why one tuner would be more accurate than another. Better sensitivity? Better suppression of extraneous noise?

[pops1]

I have a tough time understanding why one tuner would be more accurate than another. Better sensitivity? Better suppression of extraneous noise?

Quality of build would be my guess. A cheap tuner, that is not accurate, eats batteries, is bought because it doesn't cost much. Peterson tuners are very accurate. The Unitune is right up there with the Peterson, for less $$$.

[DaveGinNJ]

Quality of build would be my guess. A cheap tuner, that is not accurate, eats batteries, is bought because it doesn't cost much. Peterson tuners are very accurate. The Unitune is right up there with the Peterson, for less $$$.

After my current Snark breaks maybe I'll try the Unitune

[Mandobart]

I have a bunch of Snark tuners. Some of the old red ones have busted swivel joints on the display head. I've fixed these in a variety of ways. When the rubber pads come off I just cut a new one from thin cork automotive gasket material and glue it on the foot. Cork is easier on most instrument finishes than rubber.

I've found some of my Snark tuners develop a sticky film when kept continuously in newer cases - probably the plastic interactions with the off-gassing VOC's used in modern cases? I don't usually keep my instruments in their cases. They only get cased when they leave the house.

[allenhopkins]

The ball swivel on Snarks is a definite weak point. Usually it's one segment of the collar that fits around the ball, that busts off.

I've glued a couple of the joints, in the most-probably-useful position. I've also saved just the "head" of a red Snark, and kept it in an Autoharp case. With the input adjusted to "mic" I can set in on the instrument and use it to tune.

I'm on to the D'Addario "minis" now; have several semi-permanently attached to guitar, banjo, ukulele, mandola headstocks. Not ideal, but accessible for quick tuning "on the fly" at performances or jams. There are probably more precise tuners out there, but I've always maintained "close enough for folk music" as my axiom.

[Marcus CA]

I have a tough time understanding why one tuner would be more accurate than another. Better sensitivity? Better suppression of extraneous noise?

I've never done comparison tests on suppression of extraneous noise, but tonal sensitivity is the key factor for me.

Every tuner is set up to flip to the next half-tone up or done once you go more than 1/4-tone away from the current tone on the screen. However, different tuners divide that 1/4-tone interval into different numbers of sections. My SuperSnark HZ has five gradations on each side of the green bar, my D'Addario has six, and my Unitune has seven or eight. So, on the Unitune, you can be well into the first gradation off-pitch while the Snark still says that you're on pitch.

BTW, in reading over the earlier posts, I've seen quite a few creative solutions for dealing with broken Snarks, but nobody has said anything about repairing broken D'Addarios or Unitunes, maybe because ...

[DaveGinNJ]

I've never done comparison tests on suppression of extraneous noise, but tonal sensitivity is the key factor for me.

Every tuner is set up to flip to the next half-tone up or done once you go more than 1/4-tone away from the current tone on the screen. However, different tuners divide that 1/4-tone interval into different numbers of sections. My SuperSnark HZ has five gradations on each side of the green bar, my D'Addario has six, and my Unitune has seven or eight. So, on the Unitune, you can be well into the first gradation off-pitch while the Snark still says that you're on pitch.

BTW, in reading over the earlier posts, I've seen quite a few creative solutions for dealing with broken Snarks, but nobody has said anything about repairing broken D'Addarios or Unitunes, maybe because ...

Ok, that makes sense. I didn't think I was having accuracy issues with the Snark but maybe I was just unaware.

[David Lewis]

I use a boss Tu-5. Clips on nicely. Big screen. Accurate. Handles mandolin and five string bass. Robust.

[Falconerguy]

I haven't had much luck with the snark tuners on a mandolin. I think the string courses and short scale length aren't very forgiving with the relatively unprecise Snark tuners.

I bought a Peterson Strobo-Clip and haven't looked back at all. Its a bit of an upfront cost at $60, but its such a quality device that I can't NOT recommend it, even if it doesn't exactly answer your original question.

[Rob Roy]

The Unitune is more accurate. When I tune each string of a pair independently, they come out in tune with each other. The Unitune is WAY faster, it nails the pitch instantly. They are indispensable for mando tuning IMO-

[DaveGinNJ]

The Unitune is more accurate. When I tune each string of a pair independently, they come out in tune with each other. The Unitune is WAY faster, it nails the pitch instantly. They are indispensable for mando tuning IMO-

Good thread. Up until now I was completely happy with my Snark, ignorant of its shortcomings. Now I have no choice but to buy one of these swanky high end tuners

[lowtone2]

I haven't had much luck with the snark tuners on a mandolin. I think the string courses and short scale length aren't very forgiving with the relatively unprecise Snark tuners.

I bought a Peterson Strobo-Clip and haven't looked back at all. Its a bit of an upfront cost at $60, but its such a quality device that I can't NOT recommend it, even if it doesn't exactly answer your original question.

After breaking an unknown number of inaccurate Snarks, i bought one of these and it looks like my tuner buying days are over. Definitely worth the price. I’ve been using it on mandolin, bass, and saxophone for several months and the battery is still good. The rubber pad hasn’t popped off either. The only problem I have with it is that it tends to somehow end up on a sweetener setting, or at something other thsn 440 Hz, and I have to pull up the manual to reset it. It’s a little too complicated for me, but a big improvement over Snark.

[Mandoplumb]

I’ll bet the chips are the same. I’ve never seen an electronic tuner that will twin the pairs of string on a mandolin. That is why God gave us ears