Built-in solid body tuner ?

[Bruce Penniston]

Hello - I'm new to this forum. I'm strictly amateur, retired, and enjoy several hobbies including music and woodworking. BTW - this forum is very easy to use - Kudos to the administrators !

I would like to build a tuner into an 8 string lap steel guitar that I’m attempting to build. This would be similar to doing so in any solid body guitar. I haven’t heard of any guitar manufacturers including such a feature in their solid body offerings, so I'm wondering if it's even possible. I would need a tuner that’s small, back-lit, (so a battery would be necessary), with the ability to connect to the pickups, and to pass the signal onto an output (1/4”) jack for further processing via the volume pedal, effects boxes, and amplifier.
Has anybody got any advice ? Is it possible ? Who sells such items ?

[Barry Daniels]

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/accesso ... itar-tuner

[Barry Daniels]

Looks like they are currently out of stock. Interesting gizmo though.

[Bob Gramann]

The clip from any clip on tuner could be removed and the tuner embedded or attached to the body. You wouldn’t need a connection to the pickups. The vibration ought to be sufficient. There will be spots where it works better than others.

[Bruce Penniston]

Thanks for the reply. I've heard that solution before, but I don't have an appropriate solid body guitar to try it out on. However in the not too distant future I will, because I intend to do a trial run on the building of the lap steel, using a piece of 2"X10" spruce - cheap and effective. I'll see what happens. Should that work, the problem will be solved, but why wouldn't that be a common solution for lots of solid body guitar makers ?

[Bob Gramann]

I just took one of my tuners, folded back the foot and pressed the side, then the bottom, then the back to my telecaster-like solid body in several different places. It worked in all configurations and locations. (The telecaster is one of my builds and has a solid poplar body.)

[Bruce Penniston]

Well, that was quick. Thank you. Sure glad I joined this forum. Nice to know that there's builders / people that will share their expertise. Again - Thanks.

[David King]

I used to build a lot of these: http://wittmanspinscom.ipage.com/?page_id=4 into my solid body basses starting in the mid 1990s. They were cool when they worked but eventually the displays would short out or things would come undone in the control cavity and they would stop working. Like everything electronic it will eventually be supplanted by a better thing which is why I keep electronics to a minimum.