Tuner Jitter

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sprint said:
I find it settles when you let the note ring out. If you repeatedly pluck a string in rapid succession the tuner jumps around but letting it ring out a bit seems to allow it to settle.
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That's what I'm doing. I was hoping someone would make a quick video & show us if what is being described here is something worse than that for them.
 
Phostenix said:
That's what I'm doing. I was hoping someone would make a quick video & show us if what is being described here is something worse than that for them.
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Exactly what I've asked for from a few days ago. I suspect you guys are onto something here - with a strobe tuner, you hit the note and let it ring. It's not a Boss TU-2 where you need to keep hitting the note.

Maybe that's the root cause? Seems to me if it was universal, everyone would have the issue.
 
Wonder if this could also be related to Axe-Edit? Can't quantify this but I get the impression that the tuner appears more "jittery" in Axe-Edit than it does on the Axe itself.
 
quark said:
Wonder if this could also be related to Axe-Edit? Can't quantify this but I get the impression that the tuner appears more "jittery" in Axe-Edit than it does on the Axe itself.
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Well I could see how since it's sending the data via MIDI sysex to update it. I disable all that crap in the AxeFXII (set send realtime sysex to none).

There are some things that you can do to help make tuning quicker and more stable. We already mentioned rolling the tone back and using the neck pickup. The reason behind that is there are less overtones and harmonic content to confuse the tuner. More of the fundamental frequency for it to latch onto. Another is to let the note ring out (I always do this as well). As soon as you hit the string it is stretched and goes sharp for the first few moments. Once it settles down a bit then it is more stable.

Peterson (the company who makes strobe tuners) has a DVD that they sell with some of their products which is really good. If you have it and haven't watched it (I didn't for like a year, because I already know everything :) )...give it a quick look. It can't hurt you.

The harmonic thing is something that works in a pinch, but for critical tuning I'm just not a fan of it. I'm not real sure why, I suppose it's fine for open strings, but using it for intonation and stuff I'd highly discourage it. Once the string is fretted it's stretched and the intonation compensates for that.

Also make sure that you are in the playing position because the headstock can change string tension and don't have your hands on the neck or tuners when you are actually looking at the tuner.
 
shasha said:
There are some things that you can do to help make tuning quicker and more stable. We already mentioned rolling the tone back and using the neck pickup.
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As a peterson stroborack user (which is very sensitive) the big tip is to use the fleshy part of your thumb not a pick, I also noticed the jittering calmed down dramatically on the axe by increasing the guitar vol slightly on the affected string
 
GiRa said:
No one here with issues did describe how they tune, I suppose it's a user error.
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I guess so; I've only been using electronic tuners for 35 years.

It would never have occurred to me that people tune by repeatedly plucking the string; I've always plucked (using finger or thumb) and let the string ring.

I only have the issue on the low E, and it's not terrible. If I let the string ring to the point of decay, the jitter does calm down...right before the signal drops below threshold.

My Petersons don't do this, FWIW. And I get the same behavior with both of my solidbodies.
 
I have extreme tuner jitter on the high B string (standard tuning) and a bit on the high E String. But only on short scale guitars (24,5")! On 25,75" scale guitars it's fine.
 
painkiller said:
I have extreme tuner jitter on the high B string (standard tuning) and a bit on the high E String. But only on short scale guitars (24,5")! On 25,75" scale guitars it's fine.
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Tuning with your thumb & let it ring?

I just tuned a travel acoustic guitar (piezo) with a 23.5" scale neck & it worked just like my video above.
 
my 2cents
let go of the tuners , the pressure of your fingers on the peg can cause the note to fluctuate in pitch, so turn it and let it go (Dan Erlewine)
And yes, you should read the Peterson instructions for strobe tuning.
 
Phostenix said:
Tuning with your thumb & let it ring?
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Yes, like this. I use a Peterson strobe tuner since many years, hence I know the peculiarities of these kind of instruments ;)
Could be a coincidence that I have the jitter with my two shortscale guitars.
 
strobe tuning tip!

let me preface this by saying i have been tuning my 7-string jackson (floyd bridge) with absolutely 0 issues since the day 6.0 was loaded on my ii. i see it lock dead on and even stop, with and without blocking the trem. this is with axe-edit running on a fairly slow computer (but not the mfc yet cause i haven't updated. i'm such a deadbeat.)

please take the following points as (hopefully) general unbiased information, as well as advice to take a deep breath when you tune carefully. i'm not trying to be condescending and i hope this can help you. if it doesn't, let me know.

now, to all who are having tuner issues, are you familiar with strobe-type tuning? it's a very different animal from the ubiquitous needle tuner or polytuner. shasha and several others have already alluded to this. sometimes people don't like it for this reason, but i believe the accuracy speaks for itself. on low strings especially (or even all strings), you must use a subtler approach instead of just kerranging the strings in full pick/pluck. because the tuner is so sensitive, striking it in the normal way makes the tuner go haywire. there may be a video out there from peterson about how to use a strobe tuner, but youtube is blocked here at work. here's my approach that is consistent with my peterson strobe tuner results (which i probably don't need any more!). i forgot where i found this approach from, but it is very successful.

1. like you are palm muting, slightly dampen the string so it has somewhat of a dead ring. you really only need to dampen the string you're tuning plus maybe the one above and below.
2. pick the string once (or more as necessary but not too often) almost as if you were doing a pinch harmonic, i.e. with the flat of your thumb and the pick at a slight angle from perpendicular to the string
3. let the note ring a bit and watch the "8 ball" rotate till it stops as you tune slowly up (or down then back up)
4. check again with same dampened strike, adjust as necessary
5. repeat as necessary for all strings
6. turn tho vol and/or tone knobs down a tad to keep it behaving if it's still wild. i don't think i've ever had to do this, but that would help.

caveat: i am not doing this with gig background noise.

hope this works!
 
painkiller said:
Yes, like this. I use a Peterson strobe tuner since many years, hence I know the peculiarities of these kind of instruments ;)
Could be a coincidence that I have the jitter with my two shortscale guitars.
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Can you make a quick video of it so that FAS can see the behavior of your unit?
 
Tuner is horrible now, very bad on low E , i had to bring another tuner on stage,and the 8 ball ,aarrrhhh ,just hate it,
anyways still have to say thanks for the great work on 6.0
 
I my 30 years since my first guitar lesson I have never repeatedly plucked a string while tuning. In fact, I always use my thumb to minimize transients then let the string settle before making adjustments. Especially with a strobe tuner.

I've had no problems with version 6.00c and the tuner. I bet it could tune a fish (couldn't resist)..
 
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