Fender FCT-2 Professional Clip-On Tuner

The Fender FCT-2 Clip-On Tuner is a must-have for any musician. It’s incredibly compact and fits easily in my gig bag or pocket. The display is bright and easy to read, even in low light, and the tuning is fast and accurate for a variety of instruments. I love how it swivels and clips securely without damaging my headstock. Whether I’m at home, in the studio, or on stage, this tuner delivers consistent performance. Fender nailed it with this one!

THIS IS THE BEST ACOUSTIC GUITAR TUNER I HAVE EVER OWNED - VERY DURABLE - EXRTEMELY EASY TO USE AND VERY VERY ACCURATE - A BARGAIN AT THE REGULAR PRICE - THEY WERE OVER 50% OFF SO I ORDERED 2 - THIS IS WHAT I CONSIDER TO BE THE BEST ACOUSTIC GUITAR TINER ON EARTH - !!!

I've avoided getting one of these for many years since I can tune my guitars by ear, but sometimes the strings go out of tune ever so slightly, which I can hear while playing along with a song, but then when trying to fix those microtunings I have to spend more time than I like on it. This tuner saves me a lot of time. And I love the fact that it works on the guitar even if it's an electric guitar and not plugged in. More specifically, I use it for my bass, since I primarily play the bass guitar. I put it on, turn it on, and within a minute or two my bass guitar is perfectly in tune. And then a few days or a week later it might be very slightly detuned, and I just put this tuner back on and it's done.

For context, I have limited experience playing the guitar. I dabbled a bit in college (15 years ago), but am no musician. We got my son a Loog Pro guitar for christmas (small 3-string acoustic guitar for kids) and I ordered this tuner to go with it. I assumed you would set it to Guitar mode (G) for a guitar and tried to tune it. It absolutely would not work. I was so frustrated. As I adjusted the tuning pegs in attempt to tune the guitar, the tuner consistently registered the same note, even as the pitch of the string fluctuated significantly. I only kept trying for so long because I was assumed I was doing something wrong. Eventually, I came back to Amazon and read through reviews hoping someone else had experienced this issue and written about it. (After all, how could it have such high reviews if it didn't work?!) Thanks to another reviewer, I learned that apparently it needs to be set to Chromatic (C) for an acoustic guitar. I changed the mode and the tuner instantly worked and I was easily able to tune the guitar. All of this frustration could have been prevented if there had been instructions to put it in chromatic mode for an acoustic guitar on the box or on the small piece of paper inside the box. Not everyone who purchases a tuner is already experienced enough to know something like that. So it works great, but knocking off a star for a frustrating experience that could have been prevented with some instructions.

Just received this Fender FCT-2 tuner today (Imagine that: delivery on Easter Sunday!). This is a great little tuner and far exceeds my expectations. It replaces my ancient Fender X-1000 tuner which has always been difficult to use. This is easy to use and very accurate.If you're considering this tuner, here are a couple things that might help you. First, you'll have to install the CR2032 battery. To do that, you'll need to remove the small phillips screw at the top of the tuner using a #0 phillips head screwdriver (photo 1). As you turn the screw counterclockwise, it will lift the top of the tuner up from the body revealing the battery compartment, a small circular pocket (photo 2). Pull the top out and insert the battery with the + side facing you (photo 3). Now, re-insert the battery compartment into the tuner, engage the screw, and tighten it until the top is seated against the body of the tuner (photo 4). Press the power button on the front of the tuner. In my case, the first tuning mode to appear was G (for guitar), but you can continue to press the power button for other modes.

Such a great little simple tool. Teaching my daughter the base, we just plopped this right on the end and gets her started off right every time she picks it up. Nothing fancy about it, just nice and easy.

It works great for tuning my guitar.

Fender FCT-2, it works well with my mandolin. For those unfamiliar with mandolins, use the violin setting, both have the same tuning on the four string positions. The mandolin uses two strings tuned the same in place of one violin string position. I like that the display has enough contrast and a simple needle type scale so that I do not need reading glasses to use it. I also like that once i set the 'violin' mode, it will remember so that the next time I turn it on it is ready to go.Disclaimer: I am only a casual musician, not professional at all. I have been playing with an acoustic guitar for better than 40 years. I had an arm injury about four years ago that made the mandolin a lot less painful for me to play than a guitar. Strings are strings, I now enjoy picking on a mandolin. ;)