Hi. I’ve owned numerous electronic tuners over the years and they all end up getting loose and falling apart after a few years. What is the best one that won’t come loose from its foundation after a few years. I usually buy a spark, but this problem keeps happening with them.
What’s the Best tuner that won’t fall apart?
i really like the Snark tuners, and just touch a dab of epoxy in the joint to keep it from coming apart. Seems to work real well.
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I would say definitely don’t get another regular Snark; they’ve been quite prone to problems in my experience. Snark did start making the Silver Snark, which apparently has an improved, sturdier design. I’ve not tried one of these, though. I use the D’Addario NS Micro tuner on my banjo primarily, and the Peterson Stroboclip HD on mandolin and guitar. Both of these have been very reliable in my experience, though I don’t use a tuner very often (I usually tune to whomever I’m playing with).
Another option is to use the banjo bracket mount for the Snark, which I loved until both my Snarks decided not to pick up notes anymore. It’s a really handy place for a tuner!
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I’ve had a Fender tuner for years, and it’s worked well.
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Probably the most accurate tuner is the Peterson Strobe tuner. My favorite is the Daddario Micro tuner though. It’s super handy and there’s lots of different mounts including a banjo mount. I have one with the banjo mount but I like them clipped to the headstock as well. Never had one fall apart
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Hi all,
Took me a while to recall the first tuner I Bought it was a Boss TU 12 now that is some vintage and only started being problematic last year after so many years of service it outlived some of my guitars. But it was brick and took a 9V battery and was probably quite an outlay at the time.
The last few years being sat in front of computer screen I have used online Apps and those clip on items. I even bought a clip on to go in each case which are stored at the right temperature but each one has failed in short order.
So bought BC-700T Chromatic Tuner to just kick around the desk/table/ music room. Now bear with this comment Not as strong as it looks in the Picture but does Ok. Not fancy and inexpensive think it was about 7 US when I bought it. MIC and Guitar IN but NOT through.
Made in China branded by Gear 4 Music in UK/US and just looked $10 now but figure its out there in other outlets.
Boy I rabbit on at times!
This is my “new” choice. With the exception of the snark mounted on the banjo. I moved from snarks to the NS micro 3 or 4 years ago. I have had one failure, and that was on a soundhole one that got hit by picks often. They seem tighter tuned to my ear as well.
@Michael_Mark, what are your thoughts on the Peterson? I have debated getting one, but wasn’t sure if it would do any better for me than the NS micros.
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Maybe i should start using a Peterson, i’m still using an old Snark with some epoxy in the joint to keep it from falling apart, but it’s really worn out. I got one of the grey ones but was really disappointed at how bad the note sensitivity was.
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I would say it’s not much of an improvement for me on banjo, since I typically just get one string in tune, tune the rest of the strings to that, then do it one or two more times until I get in tune.
For guitar, the best thing about it for me is that I can tune with it in a noisy environment, or an environment when I can’t tune loudly, and trust that the results are going to be solid (thanks to the tempered tunings and preciseness of the wheel). Same with mandolin. Those two instruments are the hardest for me to get tempered by ear, so I like the tuner a lot for those. I still tune by ear 90% of the time though, probably just because I’m super lazy and don’t like having to put the tuner on my headstock. 
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Thanks!
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The mount can be interchanged easily. I keep the old mounts after the battery runs out just in case of a mount failure, or if I need to change it from guitar mount to fiddle (different sizes).
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You probably new but the batteries can easily be replaced in those tuners
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sorry, but i absolutely refuse to buy the wrong coin battery for something yet again. Clerks at radio shack even get them wrong! 
Much less stressful to buy another tuner or two.
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For banjo I’m a fan of the regular Snark on a snark bracket mount. I’m not a fan of the Silver Snark. The added material to make it more robust cuts down on the tuner sensitivity.
For guitar, the D’Addario soundhole tuner is hard to beat, and also hard to keep in stock. https://store.banjobenclark.com/products/daddario-ns-pw-ct-15-soundhole-tuner
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Ha! I forgot about the sound hole tuner…guess my guitar has been in it’s case for too long…
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