Check your Snark tuners

[FretFiend.]

My Snark clip-on tuners only cost about ten bucks apiece and have served me well for several years now, requiring only an occasional replacement battery.

 

They come in several colors. The two that I have are (were) blue.

 

Now, I see that the blue color is just paint, covering gray plastic underneath... and the paint is now deteriorating, turning into a sticky goo. That crap can get all over the liner of your case or on your guitar.

 

Yeah, you can just toss them and buy new ones... they're cheap enough. I'm cheap too though, and I hate giving the Chicoms any more money than I have to, so I found that a little mineral spirits, a rag, and an old toothbrush will remove that crap.

 

This rant has been a public service announcement. :-)

[Idunno]

Thank you FF. Paint. Very odd. One would assume it costs more to employ another process (men, money and machines) to paint various colors rather than divide the injection molding automation between hoppers of different colored plastic media.

 

This has been a common sense PSA from SH!T (Stupid Human Idiot Tricks) watch.

[DeepEnd]

Thanks. One of my tuners is a blue Snark and I wondered why the part of the clip that you squeeze was sticky? I thought something might have gotten on it somehow but apparently not. The paint hasn't gotten on my case yet but I keep it in the little bag it came in. I wonder if waterless hand cleaner would work? If not I'll try mineral spirits.

[Mikeo]

I have a bunch of tuna options.

 

I actually have one of these, but don't use it very often.

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I have a boss TU2 on my electric board pedal set up.

 

The Fishman Spectra DI and the Baggs Venue, both have built-in tuners.

 

Then I have 2 Intellitouch PT20's that are grab and goes. Still working and in good shape 10 years running.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DeepEnd]

I have a bunch of tuna options. . . .

Sure, tuna on white, tuna on whole wheat, tuna on toast, etc. I'm playing electric in worship these days and my amp has a built-in tuner; for that matter, there's a piano handy or I have a set of reference tones I made in my phone. But in the case of the blue Snark it's kinda the principle of the thing. A device made to be handled shouldn't be covered with paint that dissolves.

[DeepEnd]

. . . Now' date=' I see that the blue color is just paint, covering gray plastic underneath... and the paint is now deteriorating, turning into a sticky goo. That crap can get all over the liner of your case or on your guitar. . . .[/quote']

Sure enough, the first layer came off with waterless hand cleaner. I was able to remove the rest of the tacky stuff with a wet rag and Comet. Do you by chance have toxic skin? I do, I corrode cheap watches. They have to be stainless steel to last. Gold would probably be okay but I'm cheap too. I noticed the worst spot on the paint was in the indentation where my thumb naturally gravitated, suggesting skin oils or whatever might have been the issue. Of course, it could also just be cheap paint.

[daddymack]

has anyone advised Snark of this? I have two blue Snarks, never had a peeling issue...I also have about a dozen or so black ones [every axe that doesn't have its own tuner gets one...] and aside from the plastic teeth on the back that holds the stem breaking out, never had an issue...

I'm with Idunno, from a manufacturing standpoint, pigment in the plastic would seem far more efficient and economical.

[daddymack]

ah, the Peterson Strobe...overkill, but stylish, looks good in the repair shop.

I have a couple of Sabines, Korgs, and some others, including an A440 tuning fork and the Martin tuner app on my Samsung...plus a crapload of Snarks

[DeepEnd]

has anyone advised Snark of this? I have two blue Snarks' date=' never had a peeling issue...[/quote']

Not a peeling issue, at least not in my case. The paint is tacky like it's being dissolved. I originally thought I'd gotten something on it until FretFiend started this thread.

[Glenn F]

Yep, I had my first one go off like this a couple of years ago. I thought I'd gotten something on it, and it was just me. I think I ended up throwing it out.

[MrHarryReems]

Good to know.. I usually buy those things a few at a time, now I know to stay away from the multi-colored ones. Anything like that melts down out here on the island. The knobs on my interface have even turned to goo!

[Mikeo]

Overkill ain't word.

 

Looks good on m desk too.

[Emory]

FWIW I have had same problem with red and black ones.... thought it was beach climate here in Thailand. I used to joke "even plastic corrodes in this environment" but now it is no joke... I like the display (could read in bright sunlight) but does tend to easily break if in gig bag & on/off switch easy to turn on by itself. Too bad as it is a decent tuner

[Verne Andru]

I've run into the same problem with my red one. Thanks for the thread.

 

Here's another Snark PSA - from a "build" POV the weak spots, and part that has broken on a couple of mine, are the "claws" that hold the various parts together. You know the ones - one part has a ball end which snaps into the "claws."

 

Over time and use I've found these "claws" will break off meaning the parts won't stay together anymore.

 

Solution: Electrical tape. Cut a strip of electrical tape to the width the "claws" stand off and wrap that around the claws (with the ball end in place) several times (before they break).

 

The tape provides enough additional support that I've not had any more breakage. I used red tape so you have to look hard to even see it.

[DeepEnd]

Update: Used mine yesterday in rehearsal and today in worship and the parts I scrubbed are fine so far. Apparently the deterioration or whatever it is doesn't go very deep because I'm not down to plastic yet. A couple of spots where I touch the thing when turning it so I can read it are mildly tacky but not enough to get me to scrub them yet.

[Tony Burns]

Mine seems fine ( have a black one and a blue one )

But a few years ago REVERB had their tuners for like 3 bucks ( free shipping )

and i bought a bunch of those -they seem to be very acurate and use the same batteries

as the SNARK - which when you buy like 10 of them are very cheap from Amazon

[LiveMusic]

Thanks for the PSA. I bought several years ago for, like, $6 each on a special deal but I lucked up and they are black. Some still survive and function.