Guitar International

By Carlos Martin Schwab

If we divide a semitone into 100 cents, the average human ear can hardly perceive variations of less than 5 cents in a musical context. A standard pedal tuner (such as the BOSS TU-3) has an accuracy of ±1 cent. A strobe tuner has an accuracy of 0.1 cents. Let’s take a closer look at this.

The fundamental difference between a strobe tuner and a conventional tuner lies in the nature of their measurements. While a standard tuner (needle or LED) averages the note’s frequency and displays a visual approximation with an accuracy of 1 or 2 cents, the strobe tuner operates in real time without processing latency.

Instead of interpreting the signal, a strobe model allows the input signal to interact directly with a light or wheel pattern, revealing minute harmonic discrepancies with an accuracy of up to 0.1 cents.

For a musician, this means that the conventional tuner is useful for quick adjustments during live performances, but it may overlook slight detunings that affect intonation. In contrast, the strobe tuner is indispensable for octaving instruments and professional recordings, as its display only stops when the frequency is mathematically exact, offering a level of sound fidelity that a standard digital sensor simply cannot achieve.

These tuners are extremely precise—so much so that they are used more for adjusting the technical intonation of the guitar than for a quick tune-up between songs.

Peterson StroboStomp HD

This strobe tuner is widely regarded as the gold standard in the world of tuning, offering unmatched accuracy of 0.1 cents. This pedal is not just an accessory, but a professional-grade tool that ensures every note is mathematically perfect, thanks to its true strobe technology in a compact and extremely durable pedal format.

Key Features

Configurable High-Definition Color LCD Screen: Features a large screen with customizable LED backlighting, making it easy to view in any lighting environment. The user-selectable colors can be used to personalize the tuner or to improve display visibility in varying ambient lighting conditions, depending on the usage environment. The vibrant screen colors can also be assigned to stock or user presets to significantly reduce menu navigation time and increase on-stage tuning confidence during a gig.

“Sweetened” Tunings: Includes 135 exclusive presets that optimize tuning intervals for specific instruments (guitars, basses, banjos, and even wind instruments). Its low-frequency note detection algorithm (such as for 5-string basses) is the most stable in the industry.

Signal Management: The integrity of your signal is vital, especially if you have many pedals. This tuner offers 3 pop-free operating modes: True Bypass, Buffered output (to maintain tone integrity over long cables), and a Monitor mode (tuning always visible) by setting the mode switch located in the battery compartment.

Power: 9V battery or DC jack. It can power other 9V pedals on your board via the power-through jack.

Professional users unanimously praise its ease of use, noting that the stroboscopic wheel is much more intuitive for fine-tuning than traditional needle meters. They also highlight its versatility, as it allows for firmware updates and the loading of sweetened tunings via USB. Although it requires a brief learning curve, it is the ultimate pedal for those seeking maximum harmonic fidelity both in the studio and on international tours.

Fender Strobo Sonic Pro

This is a high-end strobe tuner that redefines precision on stage. Sharing many features with its predecessor, this device stands out for its impressive accuracy of 0.1 cents, positioning itself as one of the most reliable tools on the market for ensuring perfect intonation, even in demanding studio setups.

Key Features

Its rugged aluminum design houses a 2.3-inch LED display with automatic brightness adjustment, ensuring full visibility in both dark stages and broad daylight. It offers two display modes: strobe (for maximum precision) and needle (for quick visual reference). A significant technical advantage is its bypass versatility, allowing you to choose between True Bypass, Buffered Bypass, or an always-on monitoring mode. Additionally, it features space-saving top-mounted connectors and power via 9V or USB-C.

Professional users praise its response speed, which eliminates the annoying lag found in other digital tuners. It does not have sweetened tunings, but it does allow you to calibrate the reference pitch between 430 Hz and 450 Hz. Reviewers agree that it is a direct competitor to the industry standard (Peterson), surpassing it for many in terms of ergonomics and ease of use. Its high-definition color LCD screen, which is its most useful feature, is extremely smooth and offers different display modes (including one that mimics an oscilloscope). It is, arguably, the most beautiful tuner display on the market.

More info: www.petersontuners.com and www.fender.com

Carlos Martin Schwab would like to thank Bob Potsic (Peterson) and Gabriel Madera (Fender) for their help in writing this article.

Press Release

Source: Deko Entertainment 

This 8-song collection by Linc Bloomfield (also known as Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield Jr.), longtime bass player for Kelakos, showcases his songwriting, singing and overall musicianship, along with his studio engineering skills. After remixing and re-releasing the 1978 Kelakos album in 2015 as Kelakos Uncorked, Linc produced Kelakos’ second album, the 2023 Deko double LP release Hurtling Towards Extinction in which the collection of accompanying videos have racked up over one million views.

Echoes of Dreamwold is a true solo project. With the skillful studio work of two great drummers, Carl Canedy and Andy Hamburger, a sweet country pedal steel track by Billy Cooper on ‘No Second Chances’, and a classic lead guitar track by George Haberstroh on ‘(Got to) Save the World’, Linc sang all the vocals, played all the guitar, bass, keyboard and percussion tracks, and mixed every song, before they were mastered by Blaine Misner.

Listen to Echoes of Dreamwold here: https://push.fm/fl/nhz0a3fg

This album is meant to be played over and over, in the tradition of the sixties’ and seventies’ legends who inspired and influenced LB Junior’s own songwriting. No two songs are in the same genre. As he explains the origins of each of the songs

“Walk Away My Girl” is a soft-rock tale of heartbreak, originally written on his dad’s 1917 Steinway baby grand piano, on which he recorded this smooth, melodic track.

“Alive” explores the insecurity that holds many people back. Against a lively track derived from the reggae sounds heard on local radio on the island of Kauai, the lyrics are about coming to terms with self-doubts.

“Shot Down”, the first song Linc wrote after leaving Kelakos, in 1978, is a lively pop song featuring bright acoustic guitar harmonics and chords, and a story about how not to try and meet women.

“Greedy Child”, also written years ago, captures the sadness as the giants from the golden age of rock and pop music pass from the scene and along with it, a generation for whom their music was the soundtrack of their lives.

“(Got to) Save the World” reflects Linc’s life’s work promoting international security. This fast-paced rocker featuring George Haberstroh’s lead guitar and Andy Hamburger’s relentless backbeat, is a wake-up call to do something about armed conflict, mass shootings, and environmental destruction, and realize what is at stake.

“The (2nd) Fiddler’s Song” is a personal message set to a soft acoustic track, in which LB JUNIOR explains why contributing to something worthy and necessary is more satisfying than chasing personal glory.

“No Second Chances” is a country song, pure and simple, featuring Billy Cooper’s pedal steel licks and the distinctive rich tone of Linc’s 1955 Gretsch Country Club guitar.

Linc Bloomfield

“Sand in My Hourglass” completes the 8-song set with a blues song, inspired by the recent pandemic, and showing LB JUNIOR’s chops on his 60s Les Paul guitar – inspired long ago, in 1968, when teenage Linc saw a memorable performance by bluesman Mike Bloomfield accompanied by Al Kooper and his whipping Hammond organ sound. This one is a real ‘echo’ of late sixties’ Dreamwold, as Linc’s earlier band Emergency Exit used to perform Kooper’s classic tune with Blood, Sweat, and Tears, ‘I Love You More than You’ll Ever Know’

Dreamwold was a grand estate built in 1901–1902 by financier Thomas W. Lawson in Scituate, Massachusetts. By the late 1960s, the ballroom had become a popular venue for live music. One of the regular performers was Emergency Exit, from nearby Cohasset, that included Linc, George Haberstroh, and Mark Sisson, who would later join Carl Canedy to form Kelakos. The band had a homemade light show, black lights, and a vintage Kustom P.A. system wrapped in sparkling Naugahyde. The Dreamwold estate was eventually redeveloped into condominium residences.

Order the vinyl of Echoes of Dreamwold while supplies last:  https://www.dekoentertainment.com/inthesquare/lb-junior

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