Guitar Sense GS-T1 Tuner Review

There are a lot of small, inexpensive tools that make guitar life much easier - a capo, a guitar string tool, a metronome.  But an absolutely indispensable one of these tools is the guitar tuner.

The New Clip-On Guitar Tuner

I recently had the chance to try the

by Guitar Sense in the UK.  This is one of the new round-faced, small profile, clip-on tuners that have become popular in recent years.

These guitar tuners function by sensing vibrations through the headstock, eliminating the need for cables.  Lightweight electronics and tiny batteries make these tuners very portable and unobtrusive, often beating out even guitar tuner apps for ease of use.

I'll start with the bottom line and say that I was pleasantly surprised.  It was easy to use and accurate, and I had it working a few minutes after opening the box.  The display is easy to read, and the clip and build feel sturdy.

A solid, simple guitar tuner well suited for beginners or advanced players who just need a tuner to keep handy in their case.

Ok, now for a few more details:

Pros

• The GS-T1 comes with a new battery out of the box.  You have to put the battery in yourself, which I actually prefer.  The alternative is that the battery is already in there and you're not sure if it's half dead already.  (Or I suppose the other option is you get no battery at all!).
• The display is exceptionally clear and bright.  This makes it easy to read at a glance, even in dim light.
• I experimented with tuning against some other tuners and the accuracy was very high.
• It's extremely simple to use.
• The packaging is very nice, from the box to the plastic wrap to the instructions.

Cons

• Even though I said I liked putting in the battery, it actually took me a couple minutes to figure out how.  Turns out you have to twist the back panel.  And it's slightly counter-intuitive since it sounds like you’re twisting it too far.  (TIP: Guitar Sense sends you a PDF set of instructions via email.  I missed this somehow, hence my confusion.  If I'd seen the PDF, the battery installation would've been clear.)
• The angle of the screen means you're always looking at it sideways.  It would be nice if the face rotated so that you could position as desired.  It's not a big issue when the clip is on the front.  It's mostly just annoying if the clip is behind the headstock.

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A Quick Note...

The GS-T1 also has preset modes for tuning ukelele, bass, violin.  Since I was reviewing for The Guitar Journal, I did not test the accuracy of those tunings.  The Amazon reviews (LINK), though, indicate that the tuner performs well for those instruments.

Where to Buy

Interested? The Guitar Sense GS-T1 tuner is

for $10.95.