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by Wolfpack on April 29th, 2005

Wolfpack

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On a Seiko ST100 guitar tuner, where is the needle supposed to point to when you are adjusting your tuning a half step down? I understand about how to tune using the 6th fret A string and tuning low E acordingly down to a E flat.

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Answers. 3 helpful answers below.

  • by Tom on May 14th, 2009

    Tom

    I couldn't find info on a ST100, but I did find a Seiko SAT-100, and if this is what you have, it doesn't have the ability to tune down a half step. You would need a chromatic tuner to do that. The SAT100 only tunes to the notes E-A-D-G-B-E.

    I you had a chromatic tuner, you would tune the string until you saw one of the following notes show up on the display (depending on the brand of tuner):
    Eb-Ab-Db-Gb-Bb-Eb or D#-G#-C#-F#-A#-D#, and then the string will be in tune when the needle is in the center or "0" position.

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  • by jmacbops on October 6th, 2005

    jmacbops

    I can’t find the specs on a Seiko ST100 tuner but it appears to be chromatic, i.e., you don’t set it to a particular note, you play a note and the tuner detects which note you are playing and indicates how close to pitch the note is. For example, if you were to tune the low 6th string down, the display would indicate E, Eb, D, Db, and so on. Right?

    If so, the way to tune a half step down (to play along with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, etc.) would be instead of tuning E-A-D-G-B-E low-to-high to tune your strings as follows (low to high):

    Eb – Ab – Db – F# – Bb – Eb

    The display should indicate the note (e.g., Eb) and the needle should point to the middle, i.e., on pitch. If you are tuning down from E to Eb, the needle will first show flat on E and then jump to sharp on Eb. How smoothly this happens depends on how fast the ST100 tracks the note but you get the idea.

    Alternatively you could tune to standard E-A-D-G-B-E with a capo on the first fret or fret each string by hand at the first fret and tune up until the needle shows you are on pitch. When you let go of the string you will be a half step down. But try to tune without a capo or fretting if you can since fretting a string changes it’s pitch.

    And even if you are tuning down a half step be sure to tune each string UP to pitch. If for example you tune down from E to Eb you would leave slack in the string at the tuning peg. Your guitar will go out of tune quickly. To get from E to Eb, loosen the string until it is slightly below the note you want and then tune it back up to Eb.

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  • by TheStuff on May 9th, 2005

    TheStuff

    I am not familiar with this model of guitar tuner. However, to tune down a semitone using just a tuner, you are going to need a tuner which either allows you to specify flat tuning or a chromatic tuner, which allows you to tune to any note you like. It sounds like this tuner does neither.

    The problem is that the calibration function for most guitar tuners only goes from A435 to A440, when you need to set it to A415 (which is A flat if A is 440). Also, the needle for most guitar tuners goes from -50% to +50%, and you need it to be -100% (a whole tone down). Also, I suspect the needle scale is only really accurate near the 0% (in tune) region.

    My advice would be to tune to standard pitch with a capo on the first fret and then remove the capo. Adjust the capo such that it has the minimum possible down-pressure on the strings and place it not right up against the 1st fret, but a little back. Both of these things should minimise the pitch error involved from the capo.

    Alternatively, you could use your fingers rather than a capo, but I think the error would be slightly greater.

    Hope this helps.

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