Well, er, what it says in the subject line, really. I am aware that Boss introduced the TU12 in 83 ( and I can remember how much I wanted one ) but I'd really like to know who thought up the clip on tuner, and when.
I think that cheap and available tuners are as important as affordable playable guitars in getting people playing: I went to drums partly because I never trusted my ear enough to tune a guitar ( And because I love playing drums, and it meant I got a fair bit of work in a school with only three drummers including me )
Anyone have any historical knowledge on the subject?
Comments
I’ve still got mine somewhere, but I have no idea if it even works now. The sticky pad eventually got unsticky, around the time the TU-2 came out so I just stopped using it. The batteries may well have leaked by now...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
To my surprise, it’s still apparently available...
https://www.mountainviewmusic.com/mobile/product.aspx?ProductCode=708277020003&404;http://www.mountainviewmusic.com:80/product-p/708277020003.htm=
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"The Intellitouch Tuner model PT1 was created in 1995 by Mark Wilson of OnBoard Research Corporation. At the time it was created, it was the first of its kind, and a huge leap of innovation. Using a musical instrument's vibrations to measure pitch by a device that attaches by a clip had never been done before. It allowed for tuning in noisy environments or on dark stages while other musicians were playing. The Intellitouch PT1 eventually became extremely popular and spawned an entire industry of clip-on instrument tuners."
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Something like the Polytune might use the same basic idea but adds a further concept (polyphonic tuning) which adds an inventive step over the original idea and therefore does not infringe the earlier patent.
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