> I remember at the 2002 LSA conference sitting slightly behind and to
> the side of Ronn McFarlane as he performed (it was a packed room) and
> seeing red lights blinking on the back of the peg-head of his lute.
> It took me a bit to figure it out, but he must have had a very
> compact tuner attached to or embedded in the peg head, which I
> thought was really cool. I wonder what kind it was?
There is a brand "Sabine" which uses a row
of 12 blinking LEDs instead of needle:
fast blink red = very sharp
slow blink red = sharp
green = OK
slow blink amber = flat
fast blink amber = very flat
The Sabine has a weird adhesive on the back which
(they claim) does not harm finishes. I have never left mine on
for more than a few minutes.
I have a Sabine, and it works OK, at least as well as the Korg. It
is very compact (same area as a business card, and
thick as a cigarette).
Some models are built with a simulated wood grain (as camoflage).
The absolute best tuner (in my experience) is a strobe tuner with an actual
mechanical rotating wheel, coupled with a contact mike. In its display
you can see non-linear vibration, string imperfections (false overtones),
overtones, etc, in real time. No wandering needles, no guessing.
Unfortunately, they are expensive ($300-600), big (2/3 of
a loaf of bread), and heavy (maybe 2 pounds).
Peterson's "virtual strobe" (with an LCD display instead
of a mechanical wheel) is crummy
compared with their mechanical wheel model.
I'll sell mine for 1/3 retail.
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