There are all kinds of guitar tuners in this world. You’ve got your stompbox tuners, chromatic and strobe, rackmountable and clip-on, but have you ever seen a tuner that gives you that look of peak Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, EVH or Keef with a cigarette on the headstock – without the deleterious effect on your health? You have now – meet the Tunerette.

That’s right, the Tunerette is a clip-on chromatic headstock tuner that’s designed like a cigarette. No, it’s the sort of thing you would want to give to a 20-a-day smoker who is trying to quit, nor to an impressionable minor. And yes, it has a questionable public health message.

But quite honestly, anyone who doesn’t think smoking is bad for you is for the birds, and whatever gets people hooked on tuning their guitar, cravings first thing in the morning to get up and make sure their Stratocaster is bang in tune, that’s got to be a good thing.

The Tunerette was dreamed up by Dave Hinson. You might recognise the name – Hinson is the owner of Killer Vintage Guitars, in St Louis, is editor of the Vintage Guitar Price Guide, and a contributing editor to the Blue Book of Guitars. He knows his vintage apples.

He doesn’t strike us as the second coming of the Marlboro man but a man in his profession will absolutely consider being in tune as simply good hygiene – a mark of a sound grooming regime and a sign of good character. We would agree.

Hinson got the idea while driving through Oklahoma.

“Inspired by the legends of rock like Clapton, Hendrix, and Van Halen, he envisioned a tuner that not only paid homage to the golden age of guitar but also addressed all the gripes he had with existing headstock tuners,” says Tunerette.

The Tunerette might come in a box that’s like a pack of cigarettes, vintage tobacco marketing is the vibe, but this thing is serious about tuning. It has a bright LED display, is fully rechargeable via USB, and weighs just over an ounce.

“We advise removing any clip-on tuner before a performance,” reads the Tunerette disclaimer. “But with Tunerette if you leave it on, at least you won’t LOOK like an idiot!”

Well, quite. It does not say if it is compatible with Matchless amps but only a fool would try playing Smoke On The Water without sparking this little tuner into action. The Tunerette is available now, priced $49.95. See Tunerette for more details.

I can’t imagine clip-on tuners are the sort of thing most guitarists spend a long time thinking about. Over the years I must’ve picked up at least five of them, and to be totally transparent most of them are sitting in a drawer somewhere. So when I was asked to review the most expensive clip-on tuner I've ever come across, there was definitely a part of me that was more than skeptical.

The Peterson Stroboclip HDC costs a pretty penny, with an RRP around $/£80. For reference, a Boss TU-3 - arguably the most popular and durable guitar tuner ever made - is only $/£20 more, and can be had on sale and secondhand for much less than that. Even the TC Electronic PolyTune Clip can be had for a similar price with its unique polyphonic tuning capabilities.

So what makes the Stroboclip worth such an eyebrow-raising fee? With one attached to my trusty Telecaster, I dove into its features and abilities to find out, and ascertain whether it’s really worth that expenditure. Let’s get to it. 

Peterson Stroboclip HDC review: Features

The headline feature of Stroboclip HDC for me is that 0.1-cent tuning accuracy. It’s the smallest figure I’ve seen of any clip-on tuner on the market and puts it well in line with much more expensive pedalboard and rack-mounted tuners. It also tracks all the way down to 16Hz, so should handle tuning a five-string bass without issue.

It’s got an assuring 6 hours of battery life and is rechargeable via USB-C, so no digging around for older cables in a drawer. A bright LCD screen ensures visibility in all conditions and you can select various colours for the display too, which will likely be a godsend for any guitarists afflicted by colourblindness.

Something totally unique to the Stroboclip are its ‘sweetened’ tunings, which do away with classic equal temperament tuning where every string is tuned by intervals. With a ‘sweetened’ tuning each string is slightly flat or sharp to account for the intonation of that particular instrument.

Peterson Stroboclip HDC review: Performance

I’ve never used a strobe tuner before despite having played guitar for well over 20 years. It’s a weird feeling being totally stumped looking at the display of a tuner, but that’s exactly the situation I found myself in when I switched on the Peterson Stroboclip HDC. Rather than a note and some up and down arrows, the display shows what I can only describe as a portion of a two-tier roulette wheel.

The idea is to get the wheel to stop moving, and the direction of the spin determines whether the note is sharp or flat. If it’s moving to the right you need to tune up and vice versa. It’s initially baffling, but not too hard to get your head around once you’ve had a few goes with it. The idea is you’re not limited by the amount of LEDs the tuner has, making the moving wheel more accurate.

Did I find my guitar more in tuner versus my regular pedalboard-mounted tuner? Well, the truth is at these tiny increments you can’t really tell the difference. I didn’t feel like my guitar was more in tune than usual, but there is that unspoken reassurance that you know you’re not slightly sharp or flat. I have a heavy right hand so tend to tune my low string slightly flat to accommodate for that, and this is definitely made easier by this style of tuner.

The Stroboclip is super easy to use too, thanks to the three buttons mounted on the side. The middle one is ridged making it easy to find on a dimly lit stage and acts as a power button as well as allowing you to cycle through the options. The ones on either side let you scroll through the various options, whether you’re diving into the ‘sweetened’ tunings or adjusting your tuning for a capo.

Moving onto the ‘sweetened’ tunings I set it to electric guitar mode and gave it a go with my Tele. After playing a bunch of chords and single note licks, I’ll admit I couldn’t find much difference to my ear. It all sounded just as good as when I had it in regular tuning mode. Ditto when I tried it with my Taylor GS-Mini. Nothing sounded off, but nothing sounded different either.

Perhaps my ears are not sensitive enough to these small changes, or perhaps it's a mode better suited to the orchestral instruments included in the list. It might be you’ll get a different result with your particular instrument and there’s no doubt the huge amount of instruments on offer could prove useful to those with expansive collections or specialist stringed instruments.

The colour options are a nice touch, and I opted for a nice bright green that provided the right contrast for my own eyes. There are ten colour presets, and you can even create your own specific colour blend. You can also customize the tuner so it changes colour when you select regular tuning or a ‘sweetened’ tuning mode, which could prove handy for those who are switching between instruments regularly.

Peterson Stroboclip HDC review: Final verdict

My only real qualm with the Peterson Stroboclip HDC is the price. It works fantastically well, offers a huge amount of options for all players of stringed instruments, and provides the highest accuracy available for any clip-on tuner. Whether or not you’re willing to pay the premium for such features? Well that's entirely up to you. 

Peterson Stroboclip HDC review: Specs

• Price: $79.99/£79/€89
• Type: Strobe
• Format: Clip-on
• Display Type: Strobe, HD backlit LCD
• Reference Pitch: Concert A = 390Hz-490Hz
• Tuning Range: C0-B6 (16-1975Hz)
• Accuracy: 0.1 cent
• Tuning Modes: 50+ Tuning Modes
• Inputs: Piezo sensor pickup
• Contact: Peterson Tuners

Two headstock guitar tuners launched in one day? No, we can't believe it either. Following on from the multi-tasking Taylor Beacon, Peterson Tuners has revealed the new  StroboClip HDC.

A follow-up to its impressively accurate Strobe Clip-on headstock tuner, the new model offers an adjustable and extra bright colour high-definition display.

The tuner's rechargeable battery (with USB-C charging input) npw also features a fast-charging cycle, which is always good news for something guitarists will need to have ready and close to hand. 

Peterson Strobe Tuners are known for their tenth-of-a-cent accuracy and the  StroboClip HDC is no exception, and another USP for the brand is Sweetened tunings and there are 65 included here.  These allow players to use custom tuning presets for types and models of instruments they use, and even the kind of chord playing they tend to lean towards. 

The StroboClip HDC is £79 and will be available soon.

If you play guitar you need a guitar tuner – it really is that simple. Actually it isn't quite that simple; you probably need a headstock tuner and a tuner pedal if you're performing, but at the very least you need the former. So choose wisely. All of this makes Taylor's new Beacon a very interesting addition to your headstock tuner shortlist – it can do four other things apart from calibrating your tuning.

As far as we're aware there isn't anything else that does the combination that the Beacon can; it's also a metronome, timer, countdown clock and flashlight.

All handy stuff, and that timer is actually far more relevant to live performance than some players may think – as anyone who has ever been hissed at for overrunning with their support set will tell you. No more of that now, thanks to the Beacon's TFT (Thin Film Transistor) colour LCD screen's sharp and bright images.

The light (located on the back of the Beacon) can be used to illuminate sheet music or lyrics (and finding plectrums) and the usefulness of playing along with a metronome cannot be overstated for any musician. That will offer 12 pre-set time signatures and bpm from 30-208. The click volume is also adjustable between silent, low and high with the LED display moving back and forth in time with the beats. 

The tuner itself offers five modes with Chromatic, Guitar, Bass, Violin and Ukulele with an easy-read strobe display and pitch values selectable between 430-450 Hz.

We're big fans of the move to rechargeable battery we're starting to see on headstock tuners too, and a charging cable is supplied. Players can monitor their Beacon's battery health via a three-band display.  

The Taylor Beacon will be priced at €49.99 

It’s understandable that professionals hire a stage guitar tech to tune up everything before they play. It’s not a job anyone enjoys. So we thought we’d run through some of the techniques used by a pro repair shop to crack down on those tuning gremlins, whether you're dealing with a high-end instrument or a cheap guitar.

In thepast we've covered installing tuners and how they’re only partly to blame for poor tuning performance. As the causes can be numerous, it’s helpful to have checklist to run through if your tuning problems are reoccurring. As you will see, it’s a lot of small steps and mostly it’s a matter of minimising friction with a dab of stabilising this and that.

The guitar of choice this month is a Gibson ES-335. The owner wants a set of 13-54s on - and in standard tuning. We’ve built in some other bridges for illustration showing how to service those too.

Check over each of these points when you’re stringing up the next time as part of your regular maintenance. Here’s how to tune up and stay tuned...

What you need:

• Fresh strings
• String winder
• Tuner
• String cutters
• Tuning lubricant: Big Bends Nut Sauce, or similar 3-In-One light oil
• Blue roll
• 10mm spanner
• PH1 screwdriver

Skill level

Intermediate

Step 1

Let’s check the guitar’s setup is right. A super-high string height means that in effect you have to bend the string to fret a note.

The action at the 12th fret should usually be 2.2mm on the sixth string and 1.5mm on the first string. Intonation and pickup height should be set first too.

Step 2

Correct string winding is absolutely essential and it’s the bugbear of many a guitar tech to work on a badly-strung guitar.

Here’s how to get it right. String through the bridge and ‘karate chop’ the 12th fret, this means that each string gets the same amount of windings each time.

Step 3

Here’s a neat way to self lock your string without tying it on. After a karate chop measuring the string, wrap the loose end under the first wind.

Kink the loose end up over the start wind, then wind the string under the start of the wind. Tune to pitch and repeat.

Step 4

With those string ends wrapped in that way it means they will only pull tighter when stretched. We now need to stretch these strings in.

Tune the guitar then stretch each string on its own; you’ll see how much it goes down in pitch. This is the windings settling down. Repeat stretching until the string stops dropping pitch.

Step 5

Are your tuners fastened onto the headstock properly? It’s a common question.

Tighten up the 10mm nut on the front (if your guitar has one) being careful not to over do it: these nuts can be very weak. If your guitar doesn’t have the nuts on the front, check that your bushing isn’t loose as that won’t help.

Step 6 

On the rear of the headstock many tuners have small screws helping to anchor them onto the headstock.

Make sure that these are doing their job properly. Don’t over-tighten these as they can shear off. If they free spin (very common on mahogany necks), you will have to repair the holes and then re-drill.

Step 7

Any point of friction needs tending to. When you depress a tremolo or bend a string, it will move slightly through each of the friction points of your guitar.

Minimise this friction to attain tuning enlightenment. The nut slots can be lubricated with Big Bends Nut Sauce, or a similar product.

Step 8 

It’s essential that your nut is cut right for the string size that you’re using.

With these Rotosound 13-54s we’ve enlarged the string slots quite a bit - but be warned: nut slot cutting is best left to a proper guitar tech as it requires specialised tools. This porous bone nut will hold grease for a good few string changes.

Step 9

Next, lubricate the bridge saddle. The string will still slide over this part of the guitar when you go wild on the tremolo, or go for a raging bend.

This 335 has roller saddles, we put 3-In-One light oil into that so it penetrates the moving parts better. Use Nut Sauce on other types of guitars.

Step 10 

If your guitar has a Strat or Floyd Rose-type tremolo you need to lube the fulcrum points there too.

If you have the full Floyd Rose system, the clever locking nut and saddle string clamps have already minimised your string’s length thus eliminating almost all friction points.

Step 11

Do you have string retainers or a string retainer bar? Guess what? Those little fellas are another friction point so they will require lubing too.

Check for sharp edges that could pinch a string too. There are some clever Graphtech ones available, which get our ‘gold star’ for performance and never need lubing as they are graphite.

Step 12

It’s no surprise that this joining of the two halves of the guitar is critical, the join has to be solid not only for tuning stability but for sustain too.

If the neck can swivel or move back and forth in the neck pocket this needs reinforcement either with side shims or neck bolts instead of screws.

Snark has unveiled the Snark Air, a clip-on guitar tuner that is rechargeable, tiny, unobtrusive, and might just further complicate the debate on whether you want a clip-on tuner, app or a pedal

There is a lot of gear wisdom that can be challenged or left behind, but there are some things we are unanimous on, like we all know that the most important accessory you can have is the guitar tuner. There’s no getting around it, if you don’t have one in your life, you need one. The question is: what kind? 

Those with an electric guitar might add one to their pedalboard. Others might rather have an app for everything, so why not guitar tuning, too? Those with an acoustic might prefer a clip-on guitar tuner that affixes to their guitar’s headstock and offers a reading in real time. One drawback for the clip-on tuner is that, well, it’s kind of ugly. Or at least it is a distraction for the audience.

Here you are, you’ve spend north of three grand on a high-end acoustic guitar from Martin (hey, we can dream), and you don’t want the tuner obscuring that logo, augmenting the perfect squared-off form of the headstock. Sometimes they can feel a little heavy too, particularly if you’re playing a small-bodied acoustic instrument such as the ukulele.

Well, Snark, might just have the answer with the Snark Air; with the caveat that we’ve only seen video and pictures so far, this looks to be the smallest clip-on tuner we’ve seen – it is so small that the audience won’t even know it’s there. 

Also, the Snark Air is rechargeable, and with no batteries onboard, that surely must make for a more lightweight tuner, and definitely one that you won’t have to worry about carrying spares for.

With a design such as this, minimalism is the watchword. So there are no buttons. You simply tap it to activate it, and tap twice if you want to change the display. Just stick it behind the headstock and you are good to go, the LED airplane will illuminate when the tuner is active, and the display looks typically bright and easy to read.

Snark says you can affix it to the back or the front of your headstock, with the  and it will do more than just tune your acoustic. It works on electric guitars, bass guitars, ukes, banjos and more. 

Charge it up via USB and you are good to go, with one charge enough to last weeks to months depending on usage.

For more details, head over to Snark.

Reader, take note: buying yourself one of the best guitar tuners could be the smartest way of spending your cash. It’s not necessarily the most exciting purchase, but a good-quality, reliable guitar tuner could make the difference between a good gig or a recording session and a bad one.

A guitar tuner makes sure that all of your strings (whether you play electric, acoustic, bass or ukulele) are in tune with each other, so that when you play a chord, the intervals within it are ringing out as they should, resulting in something that hopefully sounds good! The best guitar tuners become even more crucial when playing with other musicians - there’s nothing worse than you all playing the same thing and one of you is slightly out of tune. A band being incredibly in tune with one another can also help them sound tighter.

Many players can tune by ear, but a good tuner is usually more accurate, plus it means you’re not having to shush the audience to hear yourself when playing live.

You really don’t have to spend a lot, either - there are even free guitar tuner options included in this guide. We’ve put together our list of the best guitar tuners, plus some useful buying advice to ensure that no one has to endure an out-of-tune Stairway to Heaven again.

Best guitar tuner overall

TC Electronic is the first name in polyphonic tuning (which allows you to tune all strings at once), and its latest incarnation is, in our opinion, its best pedal tuner yet. The third entry in the PolyTune line boasts a built-in BonaFide Buffer, which offers players the choice between all-analogue buffered bypass and true bypass, adjusted via internal DIP switches.

Buffered bypass is useful for boosting a signal along long cable runs or large pedalboards. Elsewhere, the pedal packs the same features as the PolyTune 2, including an ultra-bright LED display, polyphonic and chromatic tuning modes and a +/- 0.02-cent accurate strobe tuner. Hit the link below to see how we found it in action.

Best headstock tuner

Headstock tuners don’t get much smaller than this, but the NS Micro Tuner doesn’t sacrifice functionality thanks to an easily adjustable screen, multiple calibration modes and even a visual metronome. We found it easy to attach to the front or back of our guitar’s headstock, too, and was invisible to all but the most eagle-eyed of audience members.

There's no problems fitting it to just about any instrument with a headstock, whether that's electric guitar, acoustic, classical, bass, banjo, mandolin, ukulele or upright bass. Its discrete appearance, low price and quick tuning response make it the best headstock guitar tuner around.

Best battery life

Here’s a quality pedal tuner that offers multiple different display options, +/- 0.1 cent accuracy, buffered and true bypass and a nice, bright display that’s easy to read in any scenario.

It’s really easy to use, and you can choose whether you have it in strobe, half strobe, mirror, or the more traditional regular display mode. This means that you can have the tuner work in whichever way you find the easiest. The display is easy to read, with nice big letters showing up, plus you’ve got the option of making it even brighter if perhaps you’re playing outside on a sunny day.

It’s accurate and works well on guitar and bass, and you’ve got the option of operating it in either True Bypass or Ultra Buffer mode. So, if you’re running long cables, you can ensure your top end remains intact. You’ve also got a power output that can run up to 200mA of other pedals.

Best strobe tuner

Famed for their accuracy, Peterson strobe tuners have long been the choice of pros seeking the highest quality gear, and 2019 saw the company unveil what it considers to be ‘the ultimate pedal guitar tuner’ – the StroboStomp HD.

Boasting a feature set far beyond most of its rivals, you’ll find both true and buffered bypass modes, plus 135 ‘sweetened’ tunings – micro-adjusted reference pitch points optimised for a variety of instrument types and altered tunings. You can even save your own presets.

Of course, this level of nerd-ish tweakery can only be employed by the most precise tuners – and the StroboStomp HD delivers 0.1 percent accuracy. Enough for the most discerning of ears.

Best for reliability

Boss created an industry standard with the TU-2 pedal tuner in 1998, and its successor offers a number of improvements on the classic format. The TU-3 is quoted at +/-1 cent over a 23-segment LED display, which means it tunes more accurately, something we can attest to. Other functions include drop tuning up to six semitones and bass tuning up to three flats.

A new high brightness mode means that maximum current draw is up from 55mA (TU-2) to 85mA. Using the recommended Boss supply and a PCS-20A daisy chain, the TU-3 will also pass power to a total of 200mA to up to seven other pedals. Boss is resisting true bypass switching, which may be an issue for the tone-obsessed, but the usual Boss buffered output helps when using long leads and numerous pedals.

Best on a budget

Though there are several pricier and fully featured tuners here, Snark’s ST-2 is aimed at the player who wants just the bare essentials. So, what might those essentials be?

First of all, the ST-2 tracks quickly. Set it to the vibration sensor and it’ll work just fine in all but the loudest of gigs. The microphone is for acoustic instruments of course, so you’ll need some peace and quiet.

Second, the attachment system is robust and the screen is easily angled – a surprisingly important feature because clip-ons have to fit in around tuning machines on six-string guitars, 12-strings, mandolins, basses… you get the idea!

At this price it’s worth having an ST-2 around even if you only keep it in a gig bag.

Best guitar tuner app

Available for both iOS and Android, Fender's first ever app aims to deliver an intuitive, easy-to-use interface that makes it easy for newcomers to get their instrument in tune, while also covering basic tone tips, including strumming and setting up amps.

The app detects notes from acoustic guitars and amplified electrics, and offers auto tune, chromatic and manual tune modes, including alternate tuning options and the ability to create custom tunings. Additional in-app purchases add a more visually precise Pro Tuner, metronome and drum beats, plus scale diagrams and chord finder.

Best soundhole tuner

It's not the first acoustic soundhole tuner we've seen, but D'Addario's Micro Soundhole Tuner is certainly the smallest and least intrusive. Mounted via a non-marking universal mounting clip, the tiny chromatic tuner is concealed within your guitar's soundhole.

A highly sensitive piezo transducer detects vibrations from the soundboard, promising fast and accurate tuning response, while the bright display makes for easy viewing. The NS Micro Soundhole Tuner is designed for acoustic guitars, basses and ukuleles, and offers an A435-455 calibration range.

Best poly clip-on

It’s been a pretty popular choice since its introduction in 2015, but boasting a staggering tuning accuracy of +/- 0.02 cents in strobe mode and 0.5 cents in chromatic mode, the TC Electronic PolyTune Clip is still very much worth its salt in our opinion.

Not so surprisingly, it’s a polyphonic tuner at heart, but with both chromatic and strobe modes on hand, it’s suitable for people of all tuning persuasions. The PolyTune Clip is even suitable for our low-end merchants, with the one-note ‘needle’ mode.

Unfortunately we did experience the odd negative point. Polyphonic mode is prone to being a little buggy at times, especially in environments that aren't totally silent, and its' accuracy is a little way off. It’s also quite big for a clip-on, which might put some people off - but if you’re after something bold, bright and very visible, then this is the one for you.

Best budget pedal

Recently, we've found ourselves increasingly impressed with the budget offerings from NUX, and the NTU-3 is no exception. NUX has managed to pack a lot of valuable features into a relatively small package, all while keeping the cost down - it's a win, win!

The Flow Tune offers users a trio of display options, including strobe and two "Arrow" modes. Better yet, the colourful screen is incredibly vivid and large enough to see at any distance, perfect for large stages or outdoor gigs.

What's more, the NTU-3 offers players the ability to switch between true bypass and buffered bypass modes!

Glossary

• Auto Mode: Your tuner’s lazy mode (in a good way). It automatically detects which string you’re playing without you having to tell it. Perfect when you’re just starting out and don’t want to faff about with settings.
• Calibration: Adjusting your tuner to match a specific pitch reference, usually A440 (440Hz). Most tuners let you tweak this if you’re playing with a piano that’s tuned slightly differently, or if you’re into historical tunings.
• Cent: A tiny unit of pitch measurement—there are 100 cents in a semitone. When your tuner shows +5 or -3, that’s how many cents sharp or flat you are. The closer to 0, the better.
• Chromatic Tuner: The all-rounder of tuners. It recognises all 12 notes in the musical scale, so you can tune to any note you want. Great for alternate tunings or if you play multiple instruments.
• Clip-On Tuner: A little tuner that clips onto your guitar’s headstock and picks up vibrations directly from the wood. Super handy for noisy environments where a microphone-based tuner would struggle.
• Drop Tuning: When you tune one or more strings lower than standard. Drop D (where your low E string drops to D) is the most common. Your tuner will help you nail these without guessing.
• Flat: When your string is tuned below the target pitch. Your tuner will usually show this with a minus sign or by lighting up on the left side. Turn your tuning peg to tighten the string.
• Frequency: How fast a string vibrates, measured in Hertz (Hz). Standard tuning puts your A string at 440Hz. Your tuner reads these frequencies to tell you if you’re in tune.
• Hertz (Hz): The unit for measuring frequency—one Hertz equals one vibration per second. A440 means the A note vibrates 440 times per second. You’ll see this when calibrating your tuner.
• Intonation: How well your guitar stays in tune up and down the neck. Even if your open strings are perfectly tuned, poor intonation means fretted notes will sound off. A tuner helps you check this.
• LED Display: The little screen or lights on your tuner that show you what note you’re playing and whether you’re sharp or flat. Easier to read than squinting at a needle.
• Microphone Tuner: A tuner that uses a built-in mic to “hear” your guitar. Works fine in quiet rooms, but can get confused if there’s background noise or other instruments playing.
• Needle: The visual indicator that swings left (flat) or right (sharp) on many tuners. You want it dead centre. Some tuners use lights instead, but the concept’s the same.
• Pitch: How high or low a note sounds. When you’re tuning, you’re adjusting each string to match a specific pitch. Standard tuning is E-A-D-G-B-E from thickest to thinnest string.
• Reference Pitch: A known pitch you tune to, like A440. Some tuners can play reference pitches out loud so you can tune by ear, which is great for training your hearing.
• Sharp: When your string is tuned above the target pitch. Your tuner shows this with a plus sign or by lighting up on the right side. Loosen your tuning peg slightly to bring it down.
• Standard Tuning: E-A-D-G-B-E, from your thickest string to your thinnest. This is what most songs are written in, and what your tuner defaults to when you first switch it on.
• Strobe Tuner: The fancy, super-accurate type of tuner that uses rotating patterns to show tuning accuracy. Overkill for most beginners, but beloved by professionals and gear nerds.
• Transducer: The bit inside a clip-on tuner that picks up vibrations from your guitar. It’s basically a tiny sensor that feels the wood vibrating and converts that into a signal the tuner can read.

How to choose

Finding the best guitar tuner doesn’t have to be complicated. Here’s what to consider when you’re shopping around.

Type matters: Clip-on tuners are brilliant for beginners, they’re affordable, portable, and work in noisy environments by picking up vibrations from your headstock. Pedal tuners are great if you’re gigging and need something sturdy on your pedalboard. App-based tuners work in a pinch, but aren’t always the most accurate.

Go chromatic: A chromatic tuner recognises all 12 notes, which means you’re covered for standard tuning, drop tunings, and even other instruments. It’s way more versatile than a guitar-specific tuner.

Check the display: You want something easy to read, especially on a dimly lit stage or in bright sunlight. LED displays with clear needle indicators or colour-coded lights make life easier.

Accuracy counts: Look for tuners with accuracy within ±1 cent. Most modern tuners hit this mark, but it’s worth checking reviews.

Extra features: Some tuners include a metronome, pitch calibration (handy if you’re playing with a piano), or a built-in mic. Nice to have, but not essential.

FAQS

How we selected the best guitar tuners

Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our guides.

When choosing what we believe to be the best guitar tuners available right now, we combine our hands-on experience, user reviews and testimonies and engage in lengthy discussions with our editorial colleagues to reach a consensus about the top products in any given category.

First and foremost, we are musicians, and we want other players to find the right product for them. So we take into careful consideration everything from budget to feature set, ease of use and durability to come up with a list of what we can safely say are the best guitar tuners on the market right now.

Find out more about how we test music gear and services at MusicRadar.

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Being able to do your own guitar maintenance doesn't just save you money, it's also a great way to understand how the different features of an electric guitar affect its tone and playability. 

We’ve teamed up with Jack Ellis from Manchester's Jack’s Instrument Services to come up with a guide to fitting new locking tuners for your guitar…

Why bother?

Why change to locking tuners? Locking tuners can improve tuning stability as they actually clamp-lock the string down at the tuner, this helps folks who struggle to wind neatly and consistently. There’s a more critical advantage that’s sometimes overlooked; with a locking tuner you can afford less wraps round the tuner - less wraps means less spare string hanging around which is a source of string slippage.

The Floyd Rose system (tremolo and locking nut) take this principle to the extreme by eliminating everything but the playing area of the string – there’s no spare string behind the nut or behind the saddle as they’re locked off. Needless to say, if you have a locking nut you don’t need locking tuners!

The Kluson locking tuners Jack will be fitting here are a direct drop in, meaning no extra drill holes are required and they are close looking to the originals - winner!

We’re also covering a mini repair that needs to be done to make sure these tuners fasten correctly to the headstock. After all, what good are locking tuners if they’re poorly fastened?

The right tools for the job

• You will need:
• Set of new tuners
• PH1 PZ1 Screw drivers
• Bradawl (pokey thing for marking drill holes!)
• Drill
• 2mm or 1.5mm drill bits
• Candle or bar of soap
• Wood glue
• Blue roll or damp cloth
• 10mm spanner
• Flush cutting wire cutter pliers
• Cocktail sticks
• Optional: light pin hammer

1. Remove the old tuners

So let’s extract the old ones starting with the 10mm nuts on the headstock face. Be careful not to scratch the paint job of course (not that this Gibson here is brand new).

Pull out the specialist threaded ferrule / nut with its washer.

Next, audition a couple of screwdrivers to find the best fit for your screw head types, ours was a Philips PH1 size but you may find that a Pozidrive works best. Try and see which grabs the best - that’s the answer for you. 

Unscrew the 12 mini screws.

If your old tuner bushings are being stubborn at this point, check out  Billy Penn's great tip above for removing them. Remember to follow Billy's advice and take it slowly – slow and steady wins the race when it comes to guitar maintenance work. 

Here’s what we’re left with, a fairly beat up blank headstock rear. You can see the lovely orangey colour of the Mahogany timber used to make the neck typical of Gibsons. However we also have quite a bit of wear to the screw holes.

2. Tidy up your timber

Mahogany although classed as a hardwood isn’t that, well, hard.. Over the years the old tuners have been bashed about a bit and the timber has taken the impact. We’ll repair the holes.

Let’s use a cocktail stick to repair each hole which will be glued in. Most cocktail sticks are bamboo, harder than match sticks and also the right shape so let’s use those.

Prepare some wood glue in a small pot and grab your flush cutting pliers.

Nip off the spiky part which would be too thin for use.

Dab the tip of your cocktail stick in the wood glue and feed it into the open hole, ensuring glue goes in the hole. 

Push in the cocktail stick all the way, it helped us to trim it shorter and knock it in lightly with a soft faced hammer - emphasis on lightly!

Wipe away excess glue and trim off the left-over stick with the flush cutting pliers. A damp cloth or damp blue roll will take away the excess wood glue with ease.

That’s what you should be left with, a nice glued in and filled in hole. Now repeat for the other 11 holes!

3. The installation stage

Right, we’re now at the start of the installation stage with those lovely shiny new tuners… 

Have a look at the washers that have been supplied and check if there’s a nice side and a rough side to them, there’s often one  designed to be the show face.

Load in the tuners and tighten on the ferrules and washers through the headstock. Just do them up finger tight for now.

Line up the tuners and they should stay there while you prepare for the next stage.

Using your bradawl, mark through the holes in dead-centre which will be the location for your mini screws. Take some time with this!

Let’s play smart and mark our depth for the drill holes – we absolutely don’t want to drill through the headstock face! 

We used a 1.5mm drill bit based on the size of our new screws supplied with the new tuners. The screws were 2mm so we’ve under-sized a little so the screws have plenty of bite in the wood.

Let the guitar have it! Drill away into those bradawl holes you poked to the depth of your masking tape depth mark. Repeat x12

It’s time to get our mini screws ready, rub the threads on candle wax or a bar of soap, this will help the little fellas in. 

We’re taking loads of precautions with these as the little screws are simply not that tough, especially compared with hardware store wood screws.

Use a screwdriver to install the screws, absolutely do not use a drill drive to install these! Again try out the PZ1 and PH2 drivers to see which fits best. You have a small amount of wiggle room here to fine tune the placement of the tuners.

...And lock it up. Tighten up the 10mm ferrules on the face to seal the deal. Don’t go crazy as these can’t hold loads of pressure.

That’s it we’re here, tasty upgraded locking tuners installed and totally, properly fastened.

How to set up your guitar: a DIY guide to intonation, truss rod, bridge and fretboard maintenance 

D’Addario has unveiled the Nexxus 360, a guitar tuner that clips onto your your instrument's headstock and can be viewed from any angle, and is fully chargeable via USB.

The Nexus 360 is the brand’s first omnidirectional, rechargeable tuner and it is suitable for guitar or bass guitar alike. It can deliver a full day’s worth of tuning before you need to plug it into a USB power source to restore its lithium battery to full charge.

The tuner is pretty much all LED, and that's a good thing. Its high-powered backlight should make it visible in low and high-light situations – though we'll have to see how it fairs at an outdoor summer afternoon set to attest to the latter – and is attached to your electric or acoustic guitar via a clip with a multi-pivot joint that allows the tuner to be be twisted all the way around. 

Mounted on the fascia you have a rubber button to turn the tuner on and off, and with arrow buttons either side. The LED screen will alert you in good time before the battery needs charging, and D'Addario says the Nexus 360 is a “ready-for-anything, go-anywhere” tuner. 

• 10 guitar setup hacks: tips on changing strings and staying in tune

“We’ve tuned in to the needs of gigging performers, and we’ve developed the most capable, adaptable tool for the job,” says D’Addario. “The result is a durable, sleek, and sophisticated blend of form and function that’s ready to bend over backwards to keep your tuning breaks seamless, succinct, and pitch-perfect. 

“The highest levels of dexterity and clarity mean more flexibility for you as a performer, and its unique design and superior construction are sure to keep it in heavy rotation for years to come.”

Heavy rotation? Oh, well played, D’Addario! While it is good to know that the Nexxus 360 is ready for anything, hopefully that anything is simple bringing your guitar up to pitch or for a routine change of strings. 

If you are looking for new electric guitar strings, or acoustic guitar strings for that matter, check out our buyer’s guides. Meanwhile, the D'Addario Nexxus 360 is available now, priced £30. See D'Addario for more details.

If you ever find yourself caught short without a guitar tuner, the answer now lies in your web browser, because Google has just added one to its roster of built-in apps.

Accessed by typing the words ‘Google guitar tuner’ into the search box, this uses your computer, tablet or smartphone’s built-in mic to detect pitch, and works just as you’d expect.

And, of course, it’s not just guitarists who can use the new tool - other instrumentalists and singers might also find that it comes in handy.

Check it out over at Google.

Peterson goes all-put with its guitar tuners and the StroboPLUS HDC brings the comprehensive features to a compact handheld format that's ideal for travel or keeping close to hand on your desk.

There's over 180 Peterson on-board Sweetened Tunings – smart custom tuning presets to accommodate types of instrument (eg acoustic guitar) and even the types of chords you may be playing - such as a bias to making major or minor chords intonate better.

There's a metronome offering "precise beat matching 0.1 BPM adjustability, ultra-wide tempo range, advanced subdivisions, accent patterns and polyrhythms and can also import tempo maps." 

The high definition colour screen is great for monitoring the StroboPLUS HDC's 'True Strobe' +/-0.1 cent tuning accuracy, with Concert A range of 390-490 Hz. 

There's also a built-in electret condenser microphone and ¼” input and 3.5mm headphone jack for listening to the metronome. The StroboPLUS HDC is powered by the built-in Li-ion Battery that's rechargeable via USB.

All these features come at a price from one of the best names in the business; £165 / $179.99, to be precise – and a carry case will set you back another £30. 

More info at Peterson Tuners

Harley Benton has another addition to its AirBorne series following the AirBorne Go wireless amp. This time it's focussing on the guitar wireless systems market with the new AirBorne Pro; a wireless 5.8 GHz transmitter with pedal tuner/receiver. 

The four-channel system looks like a serious proposition for live stage, rehearsal and even home use with the wireless connection is guaranteed up to 35 metres, easily covering almost any stage. The battery run time on the transmitter provides five hours – so more than enough to cover even the most extended of jazz odysseys. Recharge time is around 3.5 hours. 

Quality is 24-bit and 48 KHz with overall latency at 5.6 ms. The receiver unit can even power effects pedals via its 9V output as well as being a guitar tuner pedal with a backlit LCD screen. 

The AirBorne Pro is priced at €98 / £83 and is available now at Thomann. 

GEAR 2021: The most fundamental necessity of playing  is being in tune so investing in at least one guitar tuner is a no-brainer – and there's so much choice out there for pedals, clip-on tuners and apps. And when the makers of industry standard guitar tuner pedals bring a new clip-on model to your headstock, it's definitely worth your attention. 

The Boss TU-2 and TU-3 have had a ubiquitous presence on pro pedalboards over the years for its rock solid performance and build, so the idea of another mobile version to add to the range with the existing TU-01, TU-10 and TU-03 sounds appealing (yes Boss is quite keen on headstock tuners and it also has a tuner app).

The TU-02 is a clip-on tuner designed for guitar, bass, ukulele and other stringed instruments and offers a high-contrast colour display with a choice of tuning modes for electric and acoustic guitar, 4- and 5-string bass, plus ukulele. 

• NAMM 2021 is cancelled, but we'll be covering all the big January gear announcements right here on MusicRadar.

A chromatic mode is available for alternate tunings and other stringed instruments with flat tuning up to two semitones down also supported.

A single CR2032 lithium battery provides a continuous runtime up to 24 hours and the tuner powers down to conserve battery life if left idle.

The best news is the price - just $12.99 and available in February. 

More info over at Boss.

However boring it may seem, the humble tuner remains one of the most essential tools for electric guitar, acoustic guitar and bass guitar players - not only does it help you tune up your own instrument, it ensures you're in tune with the rest of the band, too. Still don't own one? Our pick of the best guitar tuners should help...

Nowadays, there's a huge range on offer, from pedals to options that clip on to your guitar's headstock. Elsewhere there are handheld as well as free and paid-for guitar tuner apps for your smartphone or iPad. The most important thing to remember is that none of them will break the bank.

So, if you're wondering which is the best guitar tuner for you, we've rounded up the leaders in the field, aimed at all abilities of guitar player. Whether you're tuning up your guitar for the first time or using one to set up your guitar's intonation, we've got you covered.

What is the best guitar tuner right now?

For us, it's hard to look past the TC Electronic PolyTune 3. The original PolyTune genuinely changed things up in the world of guitar tuning, and this newest iteration continues that lineage with the addition of buffered or true bypass. One for the pedal-heavy players, perhaps, but it's always good to have the option. 

If headstock tuners are more suited, the D'Addario NS Micro is a thoroughly decent choice. Small enough so you won't know it's there, but accurate and cost-effective enough to make it ideal for anyone and any situation. 

Best guitar tuner: buying advice

When it comes to buying the best guitar tuner for your needs, you have what we'd call a 'good limitation' – meaning there aren't hundreds of different variations to choose from. It's not like distortion pedals, where the options can be mind-boggling. 

Tuners really fall into one of a small number of categories – pedal or headstock are the most common, although tuning via mobile devices has improved immensely in recent years. We'll skirt over panpipes or forks for the purposes of this article...

Pedal tuners are among the most popular. With a pedal tuner, you're looking for durability and accuracy. Durability covers the build-quality and ruggedness of the tuner. It'll likely find a home among your other pedals and is the pinnacle of set-and-forget. Place it in the chain in the desired location - usually at the start - and it'll sit there quietly doing its job whenever called upon. 

If it is to be part of a wider pedalboard, you'll likely want to consider 'true bypass' as a feature. This ensures the audio signal from the guitar isn't tainted in any way as it travels through the rest of the chain. A poor signal at the start can be multiplied to bad effect once it hits gain pedals, tube amps etc.

Headstock tuners are a different kettle of fish, desired for their simplicity as much as their scaled down designs. They sit at the end of the guitar and interpret intonation through vibration. Where once these tuners were cheap and cheerful, and rarely made it out of the practice room, nowadays they can boast some seriously useful tech. 

The new kid on the tuning block involves the phone or tablet you're possibly reading this article on now. For bedroom practice sessions, they're ideal too as they're quick to use, accurate and often inexpensive.

Whether it's a sturdy, solid gig staple you're after, or a simple but reliable option for backup, this list of the best guitar tuners has something for every player.

The best guitar tuners to buy right now

TC Electronic is the first name in polyphonic tuning (which allows you to tune all strings at once), and its latest incarnation is its best pedal tuner yet. The third entry in the PolyTune line boasts a built-in BonaFide Buffer, which offers players the choice between all-analogue buffered bypass and true bypass, adjusted via internal DIP switches. 

Buffered bypass is useful for boosting a signal along long cable runs or large pedalboards. Elsewhere, the pedal packs the same features as the PolyTune 2, including an ultra-bright LED display, polyphonic and chromatic tuning modes and a +/- 0.02-cent accurate strobe tuner.

More info: TC Electronic PolyTune 3

Headstock tuners don’t get much smaller than this, but the NS Micro Tuner doesn’t sacrifice functionality thanks to an easily adjustable screen, multiple calibration modes and even a visual metronome. It’s easy to attach to the front or back of your guitar’s headstock, too, and will be invisible to all but the most eagle-eyed of audience members. 

There's no problems fitting it to just about any instrument with a headstock, whether that's electric, acoustic, classical, bass, banjo, mandolin, ukulele or upright bass. Its discreet appearance, low price and quick tuning response make it the best headstock guitar tuner around.

Korg's Pitchblack design has been refined many times over its eight-year lifespan - its mini and polyphonic editions being the most notable - but with the Pitchblack Advance, the company reckons it's crafted "the ultimate pedal tuner". Key among its new features is a fantastic 60-hour battery life from alkaline nine-volts, as well as the ability to limit power supply interference via "software control". 

The pedal's slanted design offers improved visibility, aided by high-brightness colour LEDs, which nearly double the size of the note name display and are easily viewable in all light conditions. Accuracy in strobe mode is +/- 0.1 cents, while other meter display modes include regular, half-strobe and mirror mode. True bypass switching is also onboard, as is a low-noise dedicated DC out to share a 9V power supply with other pedals.

Boss created an industry standard with the TU-2 pedal tuner in 1998, and its successor offers a number of improvements on the classic format. The TU-3 is quoted at +/-1 cent over a 23-segment LED display, which means it tunes more accurately. Other functions include drop tuning up to six semitones and bass tuning up to three flats. 

A new high brightness mode means that maximum current draw is up from 55mA (TU-2) to 85mA. Using the recommended Boss supply and a PCS-20A daisy chain, the TU-3 will also pass power to a total of 200mA to up to seven other pedals. Boss is resisting true bypass switching, which may be an issue for the tone-obsessed, but the usual Boss buffered output helps when using long leads and numerous pedals.

A downsized version of the sequel to TC Electronic's groundbreaking polyphonic tuner, the PolyTune 3 Mini allows players to tune all strings simultaneously, while a chromatic strobe option offers 0.-2-cent tuning accuracy. 

True bypass switching, an ultra-bright LED display that adapts to different lighting conditions, and the option of up to five semitones flat tunings only sweeten the deal, and make this the mini pedal tuner of choice when pedalboard space is at a premium.

The AW-OTG POLY (guitar) and AW-OTB-POLY (bass) feature OLED screens for smooth visibility at all angles, while their polyphonic function allows you to strum all strings at once and check they’re in tune. Accuracy is down as +/-0.1 cents, while a strobe feature further improves that figure. 

Other features include 18-hour battery life from one AAA, plus alternative tuning animations “to make tuning fun” - these include a slot machine, bowling pins and a heart monitor-style display. There's also a Chord Finder, which detects what chord you're playing and displays it on the screen.

It's not the first acoustic soundhole tuner we've seen, but D'Addario's Micro Soundhole Tuner is certainly the smallest and least intrusive. Mounted via a non-marking universal mounting clip, the tiny chromatic tuner is concealed within your guitar's soundhole. 

A highly sensitive piezo transducer detects vibrations from the soundboard, promising fast and accurate tuning response, while the bright display makes for easy viewing. The NS Micro Soundhole Tuner is designed for acoustic guitars, basses and ukuleles, and offers an A435-455 calibration range.

NAMM 2020: Every guitarist needs one so it stands to reason that the fiercely contested tuner pedal market is constantly expanding . Now Electro-Harmonix has entered the fray with its EHX 2020, and it's getting competitive on price.  

The $39 / £49 pedal features a surprisingly large colour LED display for a mini size, a tuning range from ultra-low B0 to B7, calibration from 436Hz to 445Hz, as well as three flat tuning modes and true bypass switching.

It even ships with a 9V power supply for the price. 

It's not the company's first foray into the tuner market; Summer NAMM 2019 saw a flurry of activity from EHX in the accessories market and the release of its clip-on tuner. 

For more info visit Electro-Harmonix

While big game hunters can pick up massive savings on high ticket items on Cyber Monday, there are plenty of less glamorous savings to be had in the Cyber Weekend undergrowth.

Here, we've rounded up the pick of the deals in guitar straps, guitar tuners, guitar strings, guitar cases and more...

Wireless systems and cables

Guitar strings

Capos

Guitar straps

Guitar tuners

Pedalboard power supplies

Guitar picks

Pickups

Plugins

Bags and cases

Cyber Monday deals from around the web

• Amazon.com - new Cyber Monday deals every day
• Amazon.co.uk - new Cyber Monday deals every day
• GuitarCenter.com - loads of great Cyber Monday deals for musicians
• Sweetwater.com - save up to 74% on gear for guitarists, drummers, DJs & more
• SamAsh.com - score savings on thousands of products
• Zzounds.com - make big holiday savings on music equipment
• MusiciansFriend.com - save up to 15% with code BLACKFRI19
• Walmart.com - great deals on music gear
• Argos.co.uk - top deals on iPads and laptops
• Currys.co.uk - black Tag tech sale now on
• PluginBoutique.com - up to 95% off the latest music-making software
• Waves.com - daily deals, free plugins and more!
• Loopmasters.com - save up to 80% on plugins and bundles

ELECTRIC GUITAR WEEK: Upgraded machineheads can improve ropey tuning, here’s how to properly fit them like a pro.

As with most guitar parts, the tuners that come on your guitar are often not much to shout about. A nice shiny set of machineheads can help out with your guitar’s tuning stability and offer a smooth tuning experience. However, the tuners themselves are not entirely to blame for the guitar’s tuning stability.

In brief, the tuning stability checkpoints are: string wrapping technique, tremolo or bridge, string ball ends, the tuners themselves and friction points. The friction points are string retainers, the nut and the bridge saddle tops. Now we think of it, this deserves a dedicated article on it…

So our point was that the tuning machines/tuners/machineheads (call them what you will) are only part of the equation. Now cheap tuners don’t help one bit as the quality of the gearing lets them down. This lowly Squier Affinity was a very deserving candidate for some fancy-schmancy Gotoh locking tuners. Stay tuned and we’ll try and keep it staying in tune.

Electric Guitar Week is brought to you in association with Fender. Check out the Electric Guitar Week hub page for more tips and tutorials.

Skill level: Intermediate

What you need:

• Lovely new set of tuners 
• Set of strings 
• Masking tape 
• 1.5mm drill bit Drill 
• PH1 screwdriver 
• Set square 
• 10mm spanner

Let’s whip off the old ones. This lovely 10mm ratchet spanner is just the trick.

Your tuners may be different but these ones have a nut on the front only. Watch out in case you have the fiddly mini screws on the back, and spend a bit of time researching the shape/fixings of the tuners you need.

Here’s the nude headstock. The type of tuner we have taken off features two locating pegs with the corresponding holes. 

While we could have swapped them like-for-like, we’ve intentionally chosen new tuners that will cover up all the old screw holes. Have you spotted the sun tan the maple has gotten too?

A simple thing but it’s often done wrong; this is the order you’re going for with the fixings: nut, washer, headstock then the tuner itself on the back. 

These Gotohs had a nice looking side to the washer and a dull side - place it nice side out of course to show off your wares.

Bung them on. For now we’re just doing up the 10mm nuts (and washers) finger-tight and not worrying about them being crooked. 

These Gotoh tuners are also ‘staggered height’ - some are taller than others to compensate for the angled headstock. The taller ones go nearest the nut and the shortest near the headstock tip.

Jack’s Super Hack: use a set square to get the alignment bang on! 

It looks really crappy when tuners are installed wonky so make sure you’re not one of those bodgers. Use the main body of the set square against the headstock top. On a Strat type guitar of course they want to be 90°.

Having lined up the tuners perfectly, fetch your jabbing implement and get jabbing. Be careful not to disturb the tuners whilst you’re a-jabbing. 

This will be the location of our screw holes. If you don’t have a jabber (the real name for it is an awl) you can use a longer screw or knitting needle etc.

Now you have marked the location of all the screw holes, let’s drill them.

The big no-no is drilling all the way through - stick masking tape on the drill bit to mark the depth. Maple is very dense timber so a 1.5mm drill bit for a 2mm screw is a good pairing. If you drill too small a hole the screw will likely shear off.

Steady your hand and drill into the headstock. Remember that maple is a dense wood and very unforgiving.

So be careful not to drill too deep and be extra careful not to snap off the drill bit in the maple. You don’t want to have to excavate a broken drill bit.

Replace the tuners and finger-tighten the 10mm nuts on the front again.

Use a candle to lubricate the threads of the teeny-tiny screws. This will ease them in and ’cos it’s not oil it won’t stain the maple. If you don’t have a candle handy, a bar of soap will do.

Screw them in using a PH1 screwdriver. Blow off the excess wax as it crumbles away.

We recommend a hand screw driver as you can feel the torque and, more importantly, you can feel when to stop. As these screws are so small and fiddly they don’t need much persuasion before they break or strip. Go easy on them!

Nip up the 10mm nuts on the front with your spanner, being careful not to slip and scratch the headstock face or your lovely chrome-coated nuts.

These are responsible for the machinehead’s stability but, again, don’t overdo it. These 10mm fellas can be quite delicate despite them looking pretty hench.

Give the alignment on the back one final check and then string her up!

These locking tuners don’t need any string winds, so pull the strings tight, do up the thumb wheel locks on the back and then tune. We always recommend stretching your strings in even with posh tuners. That should do it!

FoxGear Pedals has unveiled the Multitune, a stompbox tuner for electric guitar that can polyphonically tune your guitar in open tunings and displays sharps and flats.

Indeed, FoxGear says the Multitune is the only polyphonic tuner that works with open tunings in this way. It has a bright digital display taking up around half or more of its enclosure, with a footswitch to turn on and off.

The tuner has relay assisted, true-bypass circuitry so shouldn't step on your tone. When you step on the switch the signal is muted and you can tune up chromatically or polyphonically. 

FoxGear use a digital signal processor from AnalogDevices as the brains of the tuner so they can run their note detection software and a digital compressor improves the tuner's performance, which might make it ideal for gentle tune-ups on cranky instruments. 

The Multitune retails for $89. No UK RRP yet but we would imagine this to come in around £89 or less.

See FoxGear for more details.

Korg have partnered with the Pokémon franchise to brighten up the all-too-serious business of staying in tune and staying in time.

For a limited time, you can now get yourself Korg's Pitchclip 2 tuner in a choice of four Pokémon character finishes: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle or Pikachu.

These Pokémon Pitchclip 2 clip-on tuners are just the thing for guitarists of all ages. The bright LED display is easy-to-read, and with this special edition, if you are out of tune a Pokéball appears, which will then light up with a beep when you have arrived at pitch.

And Korg are also offering the MA-2 metronome in Pikachu or Eevee finishes – and, surely, there is nothing quite like being counted in by Pikachu.

If we are being honest, this was one tie-in that we didn't see coming. But given that Pikachu stores electricity in its cheeks, might we see the Korg KA-350 power supply in canary yellow sometime soon?

Over to you, Korg!

The Korg Pokémon tie-ins retail for $25.99 (£22, €24 approx). See Korg for more details.

SUMMER NAMM 2019: Electro-Harmonix has expanded on its accessories range - which already includes guitar strings - with the launch of its own clip-on guitar tuner.

EHX’s clip-on features six tuning modes - chromatic, guitar, bass, violin, ukulele C and D - utilising a “bright, easy-to-read” LCD display.

The tuning range spans A 0 (27.5Hz)-C 8 (4186.0Hz), while there’s the choice of 430Hz-450Hz calibration and two flat tunings.

Otherwise, you get non-marking pads, and the whole lot is powered by an included 3V CR2032 battery.

There’s no accuracy listed for the tuner, which is a slight worry, but given the $15 price tag, you can hardly complain.

Head over to EHX for more info.

NAMM 2019: Ernie Ball has announced, the VPJR, a new space-saving volume pedal and guitar tuner with a built-in touch-screen display.

The combo unit features a chromatic tuner, which appears in the embedded display on the top of the expression pedal itself. Handily, it automatically switches from volume to tuner once the signal drops to a requisite level, though this can be adjusted and preset to either mode via the touch screen controls, as can the tuner calibration.

The display is designed to handle low-light and direct sunlight scenarios. The case is made from aircraft-grade aluminium and its tension/sweep is moderated via a tough Kevlar cord. 

The VPJR is available in four finishes: gold, black, red and white, while pricing and launch date are still not confirmed.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––

NAMM 2019 - all the news

The dust is settling, but our ears are still ringing. You'll find all the stories that counted in our massive news hub. Below, enjoy our editors' findings as we regrouped at the end of the show.

NAMM 2019: Renowned tuner company Peterson has unveiled what it reckons is “the ultimate pedal guitar tuner”, the StroboStomp HD.

The centrepiece of the StroboStomp HD is its large, high-definition LCD screen, which boasts a variable-colour LED backlight and is viewable in direct sunlight or stage lighting.

A mammoth feature set includes true or buffered bypass, 100 ‘sweetened’ tunings, USB connectivity and 0.1-cent tuning accuracy.

We’re big fans of the ability to save tunings to unique colours, plus the fact the pedal auto-orders presets to your most commonly used settings.

Peterson’s iStroboSoft already ranks on our guide to the best guitar tuners, so we’re expecting this pedal version to land a spot before long.

The StroboStomp HD is available from March for £119 - see Peterson Tuners for more info.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––

NAMM 2019 - all the news

The dust is settling, but our ears are still ringing. You'll find all the stories that counted in our massive news hub. Below, enjoy our findings as we regrouped at the end of the show.

Last week, we reported on a potential game-changer for pedalboards: Pedaltrain’s SST Space Saving Tuner is impossibly small (less than 1” tall and 1” wide), but we didn’t know how it worked - until now.

Pedaltrain has finally dished the dirt, revealing the SST’s space-saving secret as a set of cables branching off from the main body of the diminutive tuner, which allows guitarists to tuck the input, output and power connections underneath their pedalboard.

That means you can slide the SST between two pedals on your ’board, although there’s no footswitch - it’s designed to be used with the tuner-out jack on volume pedals.

Spec-wise, it offers +/- 1 cent tuning accuracy, a high-brightness LED display for playing outdoors, plus reference pitches ranging from A438 to A445.

We’re really intrigued to see the take-up on these - we look forward to seeing a few on The People’s Pedalboards. And it may well crop up on our guide to the best guitar tuners, too...

The Space Saving Tuner will cost $59/£55 when it lands later this month - until then, Pedaltrain has more info.

Over the past decade, Pedaltrain has become the industry standard for guitar pedalboards - and it does a nifty line in power supplies, too. But now the company has teased one of its most significant products yet: an impossibly tiny guitar tuner.

According to the company’s Instagram account, it’s called the Pedaltrain PT-SST Space Saving Tuner, and measures less than 1” wide and 1” tall, meaning you can squeeze it between two pedals on your ’board.

But that’s all the info we have for now; we’ve dubbed it ‘impossibly tiny’ because we can’t quite figure out how it works: where do you plug in? How is it powered? What’s the accuracy on this baby?

We’d wager it doesn’t mute the signal owing to the lack of a footswitch, but hey, we’d love to be proved wrong.

The good news is that the pedal lands later this month, so we’ll have the answers very soon indeed. We may well have to make space on our buyer’s guide of the best guitar tuners...

You might remember Soundbrenner - the San Francisco company was responsible for the Pulse vibrating metronome, and has now updated the format with the Core, which might just be the ultimate watch for musicians.

The Core combines four essential tools: like its predecessor, it’s a vibrating metronome, but also serves as a magnetic headstock tuner, decibel meter and, naturally, a good-looking watch.

That vibrating metronome features vibrations seven times stronger than smartwatches, and can be synced with up to 10 devices worn by other musicians - it also integrates with Soundbrenner’s own metronome app to create and share setlists.

Cunningly, the Core can twist off from its base and magnetically attach to stringed instruments, utilising a built-in piezo contact microphone to detect pitch.

That decibel meter, meanwhile, warns you when you’re exposed to potentially harmful levels, while the watch is capable of receiving push and call notifications from your iOS or Android smartphone, too. Nifty!

Two models are available: one made of polycarbonate and aluminium, and another from stainless steel - both are IP66-rated, making them water- and dust-resistant.

The Soundbrenner Core is available now from Kickstarter for the early-bird price of $159.

Besides boasting one of our favourite product names in recent memory, the original Rimpitch was a nifty little guitar tuner that slotted into an acoustic guitar's soundhole - and now Korg has announced its successor, the Rimpitch-C2.

Unlike the original, the Rimpitch-C2 is fully chromatic, so supports alternate tunings, as well as reference pitches from 438 to 445Hz.

Otherwise, the design is much the same, with a rubber-cushioned chassis that mounts on to 100mm-diameter soundholes, and uses a piezo pickup to detect pitch.

Tuning precision is +/- 1 cent, while battery life is 36 hours - although you’ll have to fork out for one of those CR1620 lithium batteries to refuel it.

The Rimpitch-C2 will be available from October for £21.99. See Korg for more.

SUMMER NAMM 2018: As well as a host of new Vox amps (see our stories on the AC30S1 and Superbeetle), Korg has announced the Pitchclip 2 clip-on guitar tuner.

Changes this time around include a thinner, larger display; improved low-frequency detection accuracy; a 140% improvement in clip holding power; and 24-hour battery life.

Detection accuracy is +/- 1 cent, as before, and the tuner works with electric and acoustic guitars, basses and ukuleles.

The Pitchclip 2 is available from July 2018 for £13/€15 - but will it rank as one of the best guitar tuners?

Head over to Korg for more.

NAMM 2018: With every NAMM comes a refresh of Korg’s tuner line, and this year has brought a “revolutionary” OLED display polyphonic offering, updated clip-ons and a limited-edition Pitchblack Advance stompbox.

AW-OTG POLY and AW-OTB-POLY

The AW-OTG POLY (guitar tuner) and AW-OTB-POLY (bass) feature OLED screens for smooth visibility at all angles, while their polyphonic function allows players to strum all strings at once and check they’re in tune.

Accuracy is down as +/-0.1 cents, while a strobe feature further improves that figure.

Other features include “astoundingly long” 18-hour battery life from one AAA, plus alternative tuning animations “to make tuning fun” - we can’t wait to see those, although we already dig the whole heart monitor vibe.

The AW-OTG POLY and AW-OTB-POLY drop in April for £69 each - we’re intrigued to see how they stack up to the best guitar tuners on the market.

Korg AW-OTG and AW-OTB

Like their polyphonic cousins, the AW-OTG (guitar) and AW-OTB (bass) both feature OLED screens for easy visibility.

The AW-OTG packs a chord finder function, which will automatically display the chord being played - handy to follow and recognise chord progressions.

There’s a secret weapon in the AW-OTB, too: a tempo finder, which shows the tempo at which a bassline is being played, plus a circuit designed to recognise frequencies below 100Hz.

Other specs are similar to the POLY units, with tuning accuracy at 0.1 cents, alternate tuning animations and up to 18 hours of use from one AAA battery.

The AW-OTG and AW-OTB are available from April for £59.

Korg Pitchblack Advance MG Limited Edition

Yes, it’s a new limited-edition tuner, but we must confess that the Pitchblack Advance looks rather dashing in that metallic grey.

Otherwise, it’s business as usual, with 0.1-cent tuning accuracy, four meter display modes, true bypass switching, DC out and up to 60 hours of battery life.

The Korg Pitchblack Advance MG Limited Edition is available from April for £69. For more details on all of Korg’s new tuners, head over to the company’s website.

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Check out our constantly updated NAMM hub for more news and on-the-spot video from Anaheim

NAMM 2018: Leading D’Addario’s accessory charge this year is an ingenious design from the Ned Steinberger-designed NS range, the Clip-free Micro Tuner.

Aiming to provide “the ultimate in discreet tuning”, the guitar tuner screws directly onto guitar machineheads (and yes, screws are included), for quick, always-onboard tuning.

It also features a full-colour display and metronome.

The NS Clip-free Micro Tuner is available post-NAMM for $34.95 - and there’s more D’Addario news to come…

• Read more: the best clip-on guitar tuners

TC Electronic has made some of the biggest advances in bells-and-whistles tuning technology in recent years, so it's a pleasant surprise to see it unveiling a straight-forward clip-on tuner, in the UniTune Clip.

The new guitar tuner nonetheless still offers a few useful options including a choice of chromatic and strobe tuning (the former being faster and the latter slightly more accurate), quick adjustment of reference pitch, responsive orientation (i.e. a display that changes according to your position) and an 18-hour battery life. 

Like the Danish firm's previously-released PolyTune Clip, the UniTune Clip promises ± 0.02 cent accuracy with the strobe tuner, which compared to the ± 0.1 cent of rivals like the Korg Custom Shop Sledgehammer Pro, remains impressive.

Street price is looking like a tidy £29.99 to boot.

TC Electronic dominates our list of the best guitar tuners in the world today, but it looks like we need to make room for another new entry, the PolyTune 3.

The third entry in the PolyTune line boasts a built-in BonaFide Buffer, which offers players the choice between all-analogue buffered bypass and true bypass, adjusted via internal DIP switches.

Elsewhere, the pedal packs the same features as the PolyTune 2, including an ultra-bright LED display, polyphonic and chromatic tuning modes and a =/- 0.02-cent accurate strobe tuner.

The PolyTune 3 is available from May for $99/€99. Head over to TC Electronic for more info.

MUSIKMESSE 2017: The world of guitar tuners is hotly contested - as our round-up of the best examples attests - but D'Addario has used its considerable tuning pedigree to enter a new mini pedal guitar tuner into the fray.

Besides its lightweight, compact build, the imaginatively named Chromatic Pedal Tuner features a vertical-sweeping LED pitch display for a “clearer, more intuitive read”.

D'Addario is bigging up its 32-bit chip, which has four times the processing power of a regular headstock tuner for a faster, more accurate readout, with a smoother display.

True bypass switching and 9V power supply operation are also onboard.

The D'Addario Pedal Tuner is available from 1 June for £92 in the UK, and 1 May for $119 in the USA. See D'Addario for more.

In August last year, Fender unveiled its very first app, Tune, which, as you'd expect, is a guitar tuner. We lamented the fact it was only on iOS, so we're thanking our lucky stars that it's now available for Android.

As per the iOS version, Fender Tune promises an intuitive, easy-to-use interface that makes it easy for newcomers to get their instrument in tune, while also covering basic tone tips, including strumming and setting up amps.

The app detects notes from acoustic guitars and amplified electrics, and offers auto tune, chromatic and manual tune modes, including alternate tuning options and the ability to create custom tunings.

Fender reckons its DSP technology delivers spot-on accuracy, as well as offering nifty adaptive feedback bubbles.

You can download Fender Tune now absolutely free from Google Play.

Tune is the first in Fender's forthcoming "ecosystem" of apps, and we're eagerly awaiting whatever's next...

The Sonic Research range of true stroboscope guitar tuners has been praised
 for its units' instant response and extreme accuracy, featuring an LED ring driven directly by the guitar signal and electronically strobed.

The ST-300 Mini tuner puts that technology, with a stated accuracy of 0.02 cents, in a pedal the size of TC's popular PolyTune 2 Mini.

Of the six modes, chromatic mode displays the pitch of the plucked string, but there are also guitar and bass modes with a string number instead. Both of these and the remaining three are custom modes, so you can program and store altered tunings.

For drop tunings, a facility lets you lower the pitch of all notes below the regular tuning from one to six semitones, but there's no pitched-up capo tuning facility.

In use

The display of red LEDs circle faster the more out of tune the note is, but remain still when the correct pitch is reached.

Note detection is fast and the display is intuitive, but it's a matter of personal taste whether you prefer spinning LEDs or getting a stable green light as found on other tuners.

If you're after a tiny tuner for your 'board, but don't need that polyphonic capability to show you which string is out of tune at a glance, and you also use altered tunings, then this may be the one for you.

Korg's Pitchblack design has been refined many times over its eight-year lifespan - its mini and polyphonic editions being the most notable - but with the Pitchblack Advance, the company reckons it's crafted "the ultimate pedal tuner".

Most notable among its new features is a 60-hour battery life from alkaline nine-volts, as well as the ability to limit power supply interference via "software control". Intriguing.

The pedal's slanted design offers improved visibility, aided by high-brightness colour LEDs, which nearly double the size of the note name display and are easily viewable in all light conditions.

Accuracy in strobe mode is +/- 0.1 cents, which puts it on a par with TC Electronic's PolyTune, while other meter display modes include regular, half-strobe and mirror mode.

True bypass switching is also onboard, as is a low-noise dedicated DC out to share a 9V power supply with other pedals.

Korg may have covered all the bases with this one, but we still don't know when it will hit stores or how much it will be, with price and availability set as TBC.

Will the Pitchblack Advance make our list of the best electric guitar tuners? Watch this space…

Never one to pass up the opportunity to refinish a tuner, TC Electronic has unveiled a black version of its PolyTune Clip polyphonic clip-on guitar tuner.

Touting the new design as the "black belt of all things tuning", the PolyTune Clip Black boasts a discreet design for stealthier tune-ups.

Otherwise, it's business as usual, with polyphonic/monophonic adaptive tuning, a 0.02-cent accurate strobe tuner, super-bright flippable screen and padded clip.

The video above has left us with two non-PolyTune-related questions, though: 1. Is that a shimmer reverb? 2. Is TC making a shimmer reverb?

The PolyTune Clip Black is available in November for $49.99/€49.99. As for that shimmer reverb, we'll wait and see.

If you're keen to get in on the PolyTune action, you can snag yourself a free Clip (in the original stainless steel finish) by subscribing to Total Guitar - get all the info here.

If our Facebook feeds are anything to go by, bands are getting robbed of their precious gear on an increasingly regular basis. It's a depressing trend, but it's one that a guitar tuner pedal might just help to combat, thanks to an onboard GPS tracker.

Invented by Gigbox founder and St Louis guitarist Jesse Caron, the Smrt Roadie works in a similar way to the Find My Phone iPhone app: if the product is stolen, users can log in to an app and see where it is on a map.

The GPS element of the pedal is charged whenever it's connected to a pedalboard, and will last up to 10 days without power.

When it's eventually released, the pedal will cost around $149.95, and although it looks a little chunky by modern pedal tuner standards (and that footswitch needs some work), we're it'll be shipshape by the time it hits Kickstarter in the coming months.

For now, we commend the Smrt Roadie and any (legal) efforts taken to fight gear crime.

Ibanez's Iron Label range continues to go from strength to strength, and the latest batch of guitars to join the line offers upgraded, made-for-metal takes on the quintessential Ibanez outline, the RG.

Like the recently unveiled Iron Label S Series models, the new RGs boast Gotoh locking tuners and super-speedy Nitro Wizard necks, paired with EMG active humbuckers and Black Flat finishes.

We're liking the looks of these very much indeed. Head on through for specs on all five of the new models…

• 3pc Maple/Bubinga Nitro Wizard neck
• Mahogany body with Multi binding
• Jumbo frets
• Bound Rosewood fretboard
• Gotoh locking tuners
• Gibraltar Standard II bridge
• Kill switch
• EMG 60 neck pu
• EMG 81 bridge pu
• BKF (Black Flat)

• 3pc Maple/Bubinga Nitro Wizard neck
• Mahogany body with Multi binding
• Jumbo frets
• Bound Rosewood fretboard
• Gotoh locking tuners
• Edge-Zero II bridge
• Kill switch
• EMG 60 neck pu
• EMG 81 bridge pu
• BKF (Black Flat)

• 3pc Maple/Bubinga Nitro Wizard-7 neck
• Mahogany body with Multi binding
• Jumbo frets
• Bound Rosewood fretboard
• Gotoh locking tuners
• Gibraltar Standard II-7 bridge
• Kill switch
• EMG 707 neck pu
• EMG 707 bridge pu
• BKF (Black Flat)

• 3pc Maple/Bubinga Nitro Wizard-7 neck
• Mahogany body with Multi binding
• Jumbo frets
• Bound Rosewood fretboard
• Gotoh locking tuners
• Edge-Zero II-7 bridge
• Kill switch
• EMG 707 neck pu
• EMG 707 bridge pu
• BKF (Black Flat)

• 5pc Maple/Walnut Nitro Wizard-8 neck
• 27” Scale
• Mahogany body with Multi binding
• Jumbo frets
• Rosewood fretboard
• Gotoh locking tuners
• Gibraltar Standard II-8 bridge
• Kill switch
• EMG 808 neck pu
• EMG 808 bridge pu

BOSS is bringing its chromatic tuning technology to iOS and Android with a new free tuning app that takes visual cues from its TU-3 pedal guitar tuner.

Designed to provide "accurate on-the-go tuning for guitar, bass, ukulele, and other instruments," the BOSS Tuner app can also be used by vocalists as a visual pitch-checking tool.

BOSS has a long history in the guitar tuning market, releasing the TU-12, the world's first automatic chromatic tuner, back in 1983. However, this is the company's first foray into the world of smartphone- and tablet-based tuning.

The app features a 21-segment meter and note display that are designed to provide visual feedback, while two arrow indicators show you when a note is in tune. If you'd rather tune by ear, you can do so via the audible reference pitches.

You can download the BOSS Tuner app now from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

It's not the first acoustic soundhole tuner we've seen - that would be Korg's Rimpitch - but D'Addario's Micro Soundhole Tuner is certainly the smallest and least intrusive.

Mounted via a non-marring universal mounting clip, the tiny chromatic guitar tuner is concealed within your acoustic guitar's soundhole.

A highly sensitive piezo transducer detects vibrations from the soundboard, promising fast and accurate tuning response, while the bright display makes for easy viewing.

The NS Micro Soundhole Tuner is designed for acoustic guitars, basses and ukuleles, and offers an A435-455 calibration range. It's available now for £19.90.

MUSIKMESSE 2016: In addition to its new TU-3W and TU-3S stompbox tuners, Boss has revealed two smaller, slightly retro-looking entries in its 2016 guitar tuner line-up: the TU-01 clip-on and TU-30 tuner/metronome.

Boss TU-01 Clip-On Chromatic Tuner

Taking on the likes of Korg and TC Electronic, Boss's TU-01 offers a bright display with digital meter and note indicator, plus two lights that indicate when you're in tune.

Four modes are available - chromatic, guitar, bass and ukulele - while battery life is a solid 25 hours and there's an auto-off function to preserve power. Tuning accuracy is +/- 1 cent.

The Boss TU-01 is available in May for £15.

Boss TU-30 Tuner & Metronome

The TU-80 has been a go-to tool for musicians for decades, and the TU-30 brings its features to a more compact format.

So, that means you get Boss's Accu-Pitch function, which sounds when you've reached the correct pitch; multiple tuning modes; rhythm patterns; reference pitch sounds and more.

The unit runs on two AAA batteries, and features an instrument input, as well as a built-in mic for acoustic instruments.

Boss's TU-30 is available in May for £22.99 street.

MUSIKMESSE 2016: For decades, Boss has been the go-to name in guitar tuning, and its latest offerings seek to retain the crown at all price points, while the VE-8 Acoustic Singer effects processor furthers its foray into vocal effects.

Boss VE-8 Acoustic Singer

Aimed at acoustic singer-songwriters, the VE-8 acoustic multi-effects pedal promises studio-quality vocal and guitar processing, including real-time harmonies and looping.

Vocals effects on offer are a basic reverb, choice of four harmonies (with automatic key detection and doubling effect), electronic and distorted sounds, as well as the mysterious Enhance setting, to add “clarity and control”.

The guitar channel, meanwhile, claims to remove piezo ‘quack’ via the Acoustic Resonance dial and fine-tune your tone with the Notch control, as well as add reverb, chorus, octave, mod delay and more. There’s a handy built-in tuner, too.

A dedicated footswitch controls the built-in looper, which can loop guitar, voice or both, while patches can be stored in any of 50 memory locations.

As you’d expect, the VE-8’s rear is jacked up to the hilt, with guitar and XLR inputs, phantom power, plus stereo XLR and 1/4-inch outputs for integration with PAs and acoustic amps. Both vocal and guitar channels offer three-band EQ and low-cut filter, and you can use the VE-8 as an interface via USB at home, too.

Phewph, that’s a lot of features - the VE-8 looks to be a very practical, well-considered package for acoustic guitarists. It's available from May for £269. Then there are those new tuners…

When Boss started pimping out its existing - and in some cases, discontinued - pedals, we have to admit we didn’t expect a tuner to be one of them, but the TU-3W is the latest recipient of its high-end Waza Craft treatment.

Key to the pedal’s mojo is “redesigned circuitry” for pure signal transfer and switchable premium signal buffer or true bypass switching - the actual tuning functionality remains exactly the same as the existing TU-3, with +/- 1 cent accuracy and switchable cent and stream modes.

The TU-3W will set you back £115 in July. It looks cool, though, right? That’s not the only new tuning in the offing, either…

Woah, they cut a TU-3 in half! Yes, the TU-3S is essentially a TU-3 without the footswitch, designed for use with switching systems such as Boss’s ES-8 and ES-5.

Otherwise, this tuner is exactly the same as its full-fat forebear: chromatic and guitar/bass modes, high brightness visibility options, drop tuning support and the ability to pass power through to other pedals.

The Boss TU-3S will be available in June for £75.

MUSIKMESSE 2016: We've said it before and we'll say it again: it just wouldn't be a trade show without a new Korg clip-on guitar tuner, and the Sledgehammer Custom 100 is the company's most luxurious yet.

Part of Korg's new Custom Shop Series, the Sledgehammer Custom 100 offers a whopping 100 hours battery life using one AAA battery, as well as a new illuminated shuttle switch.

Elsewhere, specs are in line with the rest of the Sledgehammer series, with a natty 3D visual meter, three meter display modes, auto power-off and +/-0.1-cent tuning accuracy.

The Sledgehammer Custom 100 is available in black and limited-edition red and blue models from May for £46.80.

Picture the scene: you've removed your guitar's old machine heads, ready to fit shiny new ones, only to discover the holes don't align - and the last thing you want to do is drill new holes in the headstock of your prized axe.

Fortunately, Graph Tech has a solution in the Inviso-Match Mounting Plate System, designed for the company's Ratio Balance Geared Machine Heads: the set of plates match with most mounting screw configurations, allowing the Ratio Machine Head to be clipped in and tightened using a grommet on the other side.

The system is bound to make machine head-replacing life easier - provided you're keen on Graph Tech's Ratio tuners, of course.

Inviso-Match plates are available now in brushed aluminium (£4.79/$5.95); chrome, black, nickel (£7.49/$9.95); and gold (£14.49/$18.95) finishes.

Tuner behemoth Korg has shrunk its ever-popular Pitchblack guitar tuner pedal into a mini format, joining the ranks of TC Electronic, Hotone and Mooer.

What sets the Pitchblack mini apart is its ability to take a nine-volt battery inside its tiny chassis, as well as operate from standard nine-volt power supplies.

Elsewhere, the pedal retains similar functions to its larger siblings, with a large LED display, three meter display modes (regular, strobe, half-strobe), +/-0.1-cent tuning accuracy, adjustable calibration and true bypass switching.

Plus, for any guitarists worried about flipping mini pedals with hefty stomps, the PB mini even comes with slide-type stabilizers on its rear - nifty.

The Korg Pitchblack mini is available from April for £52.

NAMM 2016: It just wouldn't be NAMM without a new Korg guitar tuner or two, and as ever, the Japanese tech giant hasn't disappointed, unveiling the petite GripTune headstock tuner and a limited-edition Brushed Nickel Pitchblack pedal offering.

The GripTune is the latest in Korg's line of headstock tuners, and promises “casual yet precise” tuning, with +/- 1 cent tuning accuracy and a highly visible display screen despite its ultra-compact design.

Weighing in at just 13 grams, even the most finicky of players are unlikely to notice the GripTune on their headstock, while the screen's adjustable angle ensures ease of tuning.

As well as a simple-to-use clamp, the GripTune can attach to just about any guitar and also features an auto power-off function.

The GripTune is available from February for £14.39 – but that's not all…

Yes, for a limited time only, you can get Korg's popular Pitchblack tuner pedal in a snazzy Brushed Nickel matte finish.

Otherwise, it's business as usual, with true bypass switching, 436-445Hz calibration adjustment and +/- 1 cent tuning accuracy.

The Pitchblack Brushed Nickel is available from February for £70.

The Clip is the world's first polyphonic headstock/clip-on guitar tuner. Based on the PolyTune pedal tuners the Clip is little longer than a nine-volt block battery, about half the thickness, and is attached to a stainless steel clip with rubber pads designed to protect the headstock you clip it to.

Its jaws are wide, too - even thick classical guitar headstocks are no problem. The tuner moves through one plane - it doesn't swivel 360 degrees - but the display does reorientate depending on if you have it on the face or rear of your headstock.

In Use

In PolyTune style, you strum all the strings to instantly tell which ones are sharp or flat. When you start tuning the individual notes it displays in either needle chromatic mode (with an accuracy of +/-0.5 cent), or the strobe mode (+/- 0.02 cent). You can change the standard A440 reference and you can switch to bass mode (not polyphonic).

The only oddity is that when you've tuned up according to the chromatic or strobe displays, the polyphonic display says you're still not 100 per cent in tune.

Mere weeks after the announcements of the PolyTune Clip and PolyTune 2 BlackLight, TC Electric is furthering its polyphonic guitar tuner dominance with the introduction of the PolyTune plug-in.

Based on the PolyTune pedal line, the plug-in offers a polyphonic mode that reads all six strings at once, as well as a speedy +/- 0.5-cent chromatic tuner, five semitones of flat tunings and adjustable pitch reference.

A mute button enables silent tuning, while the plug-in is compatible with Audio Units, VST and AAX file formats.

The PolyTune plug-in is available now from the TC Electronic webshop for an introductory price of $39 (later rising to $49).

Korg has launched a raft of new guitar tuners and a redesigned amp for 2015, starting with the latest in a long line of Korg clip-ons, the PitchCrow-G.

The PitchCrow is 20% smaller and lighter than its predecessors, with three times longer battery life (up to 24 hours), but still features a full-colour LCD display and +/-0.1-cent accuracy.

Elsewhere, the tuner features a first string over-wind warning to prevent string breakage, plus a stronger and more reliable clip.

The PitchCrow is available from July for £17.99 – scroll through the gallery for more new Korg products…

Paying tribute to the Vox AC amp legacy, the AC Clip Tune offers a colour LCD display and “high precision” readings, plus a flexible clip mechanism.

The AC Clip Tune is available from July for £17.99 – scroll on for more…

Vox has given its Pathfinder practice amp a very British makeover, adding a worn Union Jack grille cloth.

Elsewhere, the amp features the same 10-watt output, 6.5” speaker and dual-channel setup as the original Pathfinder 10.

The Pathfinder 10 Union Jack will be available from July for £82.80. Also check out Vox's new VX I and VX II modelling amps, and head over to Korg and Vox for more.

We hesitate to describe a tuner as sexy, but the PolyTune 2 BlackLight might just be TC Electronic's best-looking product yet.

The pedal's black metallic enclosure packs a super-bright blue-and-white LED display, which features an ambient light sensor for easy viewing.

Otherwise, the BlackLight features the same features as the standard-issue PolyTune 2, including a +/-0.5-cent chromatic tuner, +/-0.1-cent strobe tuner and, of course, polyphonic tuning capability.

The PolyTune 2 BlackLight will be available from the end of June for £65/$99.99/€89. For more info, head over to TC Electronic.