Electronic Harp Tuner

[Christian Frederick]

…. OK… I know this subject has been discussed before. Recently I downloaded the Strobo Soft by Peterson APP on my iPhone. Wow! This is an incredible tool! It is only $9.99. Just remember…. these tuners are NOT designed to tune your entire harp… I just tune the middle two octave and do the rest by ear (octaves). This is one area I feel proficient at because I’m a recovering piano tuner (still looking for a 12-step program for that issue). In my wildest dreams, I never thought I would be tuning my harp with my cell phone…..

[tony-morosco]

On my phone I use Celartunes which can actually tune all but the top octave on my harp. Normally I use an actual Peterson VSII. Great tuner, but it takes getting used to.

[Sam Karlinski]

The Strobo Soft Peterson App can easily tune my entire harp. Everything is spot on, even if it wasn’t designed to tune an entire harp.

~Sam

[barbara-brundage]

Ditto to what Sam said, although I find cleartune also works well and is a bit faster since you don’t need to wait for the pattern to stabilize.

For anyone used to a match needle system, cleartune is easier if you don’t understand strobe patterns.

[Christian Frederick]

… it took me about a dozen tunings to get used to the strobe patterns. I have always used a needle or lighting system. At this point, I think the strobe pattern is superior, one reason it lets you know when you have a string that is giving you false patterns, which

[kathy-chanik]

Christian, can you tell us a bit more about those really advanced tuners?

[william-weber]

As a piano tuner-technician I can say that the tuning system I use on pianos (TuneLab Pro runing on an Acer Aspire netbook) produces a better tuning on my Markwood-strung Caitlin than my Korg CA-30 tuning meter ever could. At close to $700, though, it may be a little steep for a harp tuner.

[David Ice]

Ah—-and then somebody opens a door or a window, and you’re out of tune again….

[Christian Frederick]

Hi Kathy,

When I studied piano tuning (31 years ago), I learned the traditional way with a tuning fork and listening to beats with intervals such as 4ths, 5ths, and octaves. I also got in the ground floor with the original Sanderson Accu-Tuner I. Since then, there have been huge advances. Here’s a link to their products.

http://www.accu-tuner.com/productmain.html

It is my opinion that the harp is relatively easy to tune compared to pianos. I think getting the middle two octaves solidly mathematical, then tuning the top and bottom octaves by ear, by octaves, is sufficient. The shorter and thinner the strings are stretches the overtone system sharp, and the longer and thicker the strings are stretches the overtone system flat.

That said, I would love to hear on this forum from someone who currently tunes pianos to experiment with these advanced systems on harps and give us a report back.

OK… that’s all for now.

[Christian Frederick]

William, do you have access to experiment on a concert grand harp?

[william-weber]

Not at the moment. The music director at my church knows someone but I have no idea of her schedule.

[Sid Humphreys]

Tony,

I use this Ap as well now. Try plugging in your hands free headset and dangle the microphone inside the back of the harp. You should be able to get a reading not only for the 1st octicve C but the 00G will also show up (if just for a second)! In fact I’ve been using this more than my regular tuner these days.

Sid

[Christian Frederick]

fyi…..
the Accu-Tuner IV is $1,500.00. I think this is probably the best tuner out there.

[kathy-chanik]

Christian, that Accu-tuner is fantastic-but maybe a bit above how complicated I wanna get while tuning.

[Christian Frederick]

I agree… the Accu-tuner is an overkill for the harp. I just would find it interesting if a working accomplished piano technician could tell us how it would work on the harp.

I have no real opinions about the other tuners… but… it you have a smart phone such as an iPhone or one of the others, there are several apps with tuners on them. Tony, do you know what they are called? I remember running across different tuners at the iPhone app store, some were for free and some were a nominal cost….

[Author]

Posts