Tuner Features
CAUTION: INSTRUMENT FINISHES. READ
THIS BEFORE USING THE SNARK TUNER.
The general rule is: Do not leave any item
attached to your instrument longer than necessary.
We recommend you remove the Snark tuner from
your instrument as soon as you finish tuning. Please
be aware that any lacquer type finish can be
adversely affected by rubber or vinyl if those materi-
als are in contact with the finish for a period of time.
Some finishes are more likely to be damaged by
attaching a tuner to them, hence it is important that
you DETERMINE WHAT FINISH IS USED ON
YOUR INSTRUMENT...BEFORE using the SNARK.
SNARK advises NOT to use its tuner with any
instruments having these types of finishes:
Nitrocellulose Lacquer, Polyurethane, French Polish
(scratches easily) unless you are willing to accept
the possibility there could be denting of the finish on
some instruments.
Attaching the Tuner to Your Instrument
Use the clamp to attach the Snark to your
instrument. Take care to avoid damaging the finish of
your instrument. Do not attach the tuner to your instru-
ment if any of the rubber pads are broken or missing.
For guitars, attach the clamp to the headstock
(placing the body of the tuner either in front of or
behind the headstock). For other instruments, find
the location that allows best pick up of sound while
allowing you to view the display easily.
After attaching the tuner to your instrument, adjust
the “banana” shaped arm that connects the tuner to
the clamp for optimum viewing of the tuner display.
Also, the tuner body rotates 360 degrees so the
display can be placed right where you want it.
Power Up & Pitch Calibration
Once you have attached the Snark to your
instrument, turn it on by pressing the power switch
on the face of the tuner.
The Snark defaults to the tuning reference of
A-440Hz. To set the Snark to another tuning
reference, push the round “PITCH CAL” button on
the back side of the tuner and immediately press
either the up or down triangular buttons to choose a
new tuning reference. The pitch reference can be
set anywhere from 415 – 466Hz. Pressing the
power switch on the front of the tuner resets the
tuner to A-440.
Tap/Met
Tap/Met
Pitch Calibration
User installable rubber
pads applied here
Battery Door
Ball Joint
LCD
Readout
Power
Down Arrow
and
Instrument
Clamp
Up Arrow
Tuning
The Snark is now ready to help you tune your
instrument. As soon as you play a note, the Snark’s
color display will indicate the note you are playing
and how close to pitch you are. The left side of the
display (red) indicates flat, the right of the display
(yellow) indicates sharp.
If a red needle is lit, it means the note played is
flat. If a yellow needle is lit, it means the note
played is sharp.
You are in tune if the green needle (at center of
meter) is lit.
If the green needle is lit and the adjacent red or
yellow needle flashes just briefly, it means the note
is very slightly out of tune. Adjust instrument pitch
just a bit to dial in a perfect tune.
As the Snark is chromatic, you can easily deal
with non-standard tunings. The Snark will read any
note you play.
Transpose Feature
For guitar players using a capo, you can use the
Snark’s flat tuning feature, engaged by pushing the
“ ” triangular button on the back of the Snark. Press
the “ ” triangular button once and the front display
To provide optimum
gripping of the clamp, we
have included 2 round
black rubber pads. These
are adhesive backed and
can be attached to the
“finger and thumb”
detents on the 2 sides of
the clamp.
snark inst SN11_pagesREV2 8/8/12 10:44 AM Page 6
