Planet Waves CT-10 Headstock Tuner

If you are looking for a cheap but good tuning solution, check out this nice little piece from Planet Waves. This is not your typical tuner as it doesn't sit in a rack, on a pedalboard or even on a table. This little baby just clips on to the headstock of your acoustic, electric or bass guitar. Press the little power button and you're ready to tune. It uses the vibrations from your guitar's neck when you pluck a string to figure out where you are tuning-wise. You do not have to have any volume in order for this tuner to work.

I have been using these for 6 months or so now and like it so much that I actually just leave one attached to my main electric gigging guitar...even while on stage playing. I can quickly check my tuning between songs and it allows me to keep a space open in my rack or on my board for other things. While it works great on my Strat's headstock, it doesn't seem to hold as well on an Ovation 12 string or even a Les Paul type guitar. It holds but if you move around too much, it may fall off.

The display is a bright green so you will see it easily on dark stages. When the battery gets low, it will turn to a red color. It seems to work fine on most of my guitars but on guitars with odd shaped headstocks or headstocks that are really thick, you might have trouble keeping it locked on. In that case, using it in a live situation is probably not a good use for you. However, it can still serve a valuable function if you don't feel like carrying around a bigger, heavier counterpart. This tuner is light as a feather.

I highly recommend this as a budget friendly all around tuner!