I use a clip-on Planet Waves tuner on my Deering Goodtime. It works pretty well considering how much electronic tuners seem to hate banjos (or at least tend to get very confused and overstimulated by them), but I'm wondering, has anyone found a tuner they think is particularly good for banjos?
I use daddario NS micros for all my instruments and they just came out with a really cool one specifically for banjos
http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Waves-P.../dp/B018K9K0AW
I love that it clips to the brackets. Can't stand having one on the headstock. Thanks for the tip Lbv!
I own 3 Snark tuners and really like them for banjo, guitar and mandolin. Not expensive, but they sure do work well.
Yes it's good for people like me who have bum eyes too. On the headstock it looks like it's a mile away.Originally Posted by Mike Baker
snark also makes an adapter for their tuners to clip on the brackets. I just think the daddarios are better tuners and when you add the adapter in the price, the daddario is cheaper
this is actually the cheapest I've found one. It's on sale here. Quite a bit cheaper than the snark+adapter
https://www.stringsbymail.com/index....3bvxoCYPPw_wcB
Here's a little about the new D'Addario Tuner. Ya'll would have read about that here first if we hadn't been blocking this big old site with some passwords back on January 25. We promise to not hide this information any further.
Banjo Cafe Administrator
Snark Sn-8. I put them on the peg head of the banjo/ guitar/ fiddle/ or mandolin when I need to use them to tune up, and take them off IMMEDIATELY after. I don't care how PROFESSIONAL a picker is - - he (or she) look like a complete amateur doofus standing there on stage behind a mic with a tuner hanging off of their instruments peg head while they are performing. Just my (humble) opinion.
I use the Snark tuners also. They do a great job!
I have Snark, Daddario Micro, and Sabine Zoid.
Out of the 3 I prefer the Zoid.
Recently I picked up a Polytune-this is hands down, the best tuner I've ever used, and appears to be extremely well made. I just ordered 3 more. It registers immediate, and on mandolin will easily register the E course harmonic at the 12th.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PolyTuneClip
once my other 3 Polytune arrive, the other brands I own will be donated to a school program.
d
Same here. The Snark SN-8 seems to work fine for me on mandolin, guitar, fiddle, and banjo. I put it on, tune up, and take it off. The display is large enough that it's still easy to see at the end of a banjo peghead. Since I play an open-back and the case padding fits pretty closely all the way around the rim, I don't think a rim-mounted tuner would work for me. And I don't think I'd want it on there anyway.
Because we can...
Over the weekend we pinged our contact at D'Addario about this discussion and they said we could give away 5 of their new NS Micro Banjo Tuners in whatever fashion we wanted, and they'd appreciate the recipients providing a short review here. So....
First five folks that post in this thread following this post, one of the tuners is yours! Simply PM (private message) us your mailing address if you're in that group of 5 and we'll pass them on to D'Addario so they can mail them to you.
This can't be a bad way to start a Monday can it?
Banjo Cafe Administrator
Oh, what the heck, I'll give it a shot! Maybe it will be something I end up liking. No way to know other than to try one, and free works for me.
I'd sure love to try one. Sounds like a great idea!
There are two winners. Hey, I'll take one too! Oh wait, that doesn't look right,
Banjo Cafe Administrator
Heck yeah! I'm in
i actually dont own the banjo version yet, but I know they're good tuners and I was planning on getting one soon
I like my snark, but I'll gladly give that one there a try. Thanks for the offer. spy.gif
If they'll send one to the UK I'll try it out.
They may not be willing but we will if they send it to us.
So that's the five we're giving away. Still need addresses from folks!
Banjo Cafe Administrator
I've got NS Micro "Headstock" Tuners on all three of my main playing banjos. I love the compact functional bodies of these tuners, they are great. I hate the mounts, they are weak and likely to be accidentally released. I have so badly wanted to get them off my headstocks and on the body of the banjos...
BTW, the compact functional bodies of these tuners are interchangeable with other mounts, which is very nice.
Soooo...
After reviewing the mount design of the older NS Micro "Headstock" Tuner and of the brand new NS Micro "Banjo" Tuner in pictures, I've made a prototype of a simpler but similar mount out of scrap ~1/16" thick sheet Mylar. The mount is approximately the same length and width as the mount on the new NS Micro "Banjo" Tuner but is a simpler, single flat piece that is keyed-holed so that the key-head on the compact functional body of the tuner locks tightly right on it just as it would on a stock mount.
This single flat piece mounts under the banjo's hook shafts just as the mount of the new NS Micro "Banjo" Tuner would, but with this mount the tuner fits even more compactly against the rim than the new NS Micro "Banjo" Tuner does, so it makes a very clean install.
I've mounted all three of my NS Micro "Headstock" Tuners on my main playing banjos using three copies of this prototype. They work great with all the normal functionality of the NS Micro Tuner bodies, and are very compact and convenient. Aside from polishing up the mounts, the one other thing I will change in making the final three mounts for my main playing banjos is that I'll find some black ~1/16" sheet Mylar so color is less prominent.
See pics below...
I just stumbled on this thread.. Am I too late to the party for the tuner give away ?
I could probably do the math and decipher the string.. but it is Monday
Re: Electronic tuners
Those new banjo tuners look great... Anyone tried one on a Nechville Heli-mount frame?
Al
Last edited by alprice; Apr-04-2016 at 12:07pm. Reason: more info
Sorry, LarryS, you were just a little late.
Banjo Cafe Administrator
Hmmm story of my life, thanks for letting me know. Now I have marked my calendar for the 15th ! Yahoo.
Hey Al,
I will let you know very soon. I'm hoping it will fit right out of the box but looking at the pictures, the bracket may need a slight alteration.
So, this alternative mount that I've been working on for the NS Micro "Headstock" Tuners has evolved a bit...
I've found that the Mylar material that I've made the mount from is flexible enough that I can place it all under hooks on the rim and still be able to remove the tuner for battery changes, so the tuner body itself can have a lower profile against the rim. If the banjo has hooks that are far enough apart that the tuner body fits between them, it's even better.
I've also found that I can custom trim the mount material for the banjo, and that it doesn't have to be as long of a mount as I had originally set it up. Trimming the mount material is to get it as close to the neck as possible, while still leaving enough that there is plenty of stability.
Below are pics that show how it is looking now...
-- Don
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