A Bit of History: Which Company Made (Or Introduced) the First Clip-On Heastock Tuner?

Dcotorstewie

Well, er, what it says in the subject line, really. I am aware that Boss introduced the TU12 in 83 ( and I can remember how much I wanted one ) but I'd really like to know who thought up the clip on tuner, and when. 
I think that cheap and available tuners are as important as affordable playable guitars in getting people playing: I went to drums partly because I never trusted my ear enough to tune a guitar ( And because I love playing drums, and it meant I got a fair bit of work in a school with only three drummers including me ) 
Anyone have any historical knowledge on the subject? 

Winny_Pooh

Snark?

ICBM

There was a *stick*-on tuner made by Sabine in the early 90s - same basic technology, but you put it on the guitar body not the headstock. It had a non-permanent sticky pad on the back.

I’ve still got mine somewhere, but I have no idea if it even works now. The sticky pad eventually got unsticky, around the time the TU-2 came out so I just stopped using it. The batteries may well have leaked by now...

Fez

I can't remember the name of the manufacturer but there was one in the seventies. It was mechanical rather than electronic. It had six metal tongues which were tuned to each string and vibrated in sympathy with the string when it reached the relevant pitch.

Dcotorstewie

Cheers folks: Fez that one sounds fascinating, and ICBM: I had heard of the Sabine one - was that the one that went over one of the control pots? I must be a total spanner because I really do find all this completely fascinating. 

ICBM

Dcotorstewie said:

ICBM: I had heard of the Sabine one - was that the one that went over one of the control pots?

No, it’s a flat unit that you stuck on near the neck joint if possible.

To my surprise, it’s still apparently available...

https://www.mountainviewmusic.com/mobile/product.aspx?ProductCode=708277020003&404;http://www.mountainviewmusic.com:80/product-p/708277020003.htm=

Jimbro66

The first I ever saw was the Intellitouch over twenty years ago so I looked it up today and found this:

"The Intellitouch Tuner model PT1 was created in 1995 by Mark Wilson of OnBoard Research Corporation. At the time it was created, it was the first of its kind, and a huge leap of innovation. Using a musical instrument's vibrations to measure pitch by a device that attaches by a clip had never been done before. It allowed for tuning in noisy environments or on dark stages while other musicians were playing. The Intellitouch PT1 eventually became extremely popular and spawned an entire industry of clip-on instrument tuners."

Dcotorstewie

Thanks Jimbo! These things must have seemed to be almost miraculous. 

crunchman

Jimbro66 said:

The first I ever saw was the Intellitouch over twenty years ago so I looked it up today and found this:

"The Intellitouch Tuner model PT1 was created in 1995 by Mark Wilson of OnBoard Research Corporation. At the time it was created, it was the first of its kind, and a huge leap of innovation. Using a musical instrument's vibrations to measure pitch by a device that attaches by a clip had never been done before. It allowed for tuning in noisy environments or on dark stages while other musicians were playing. The Intellitouch PT1 eventually became extremely popular and spawned an entire industry of clip-on instrument tuners."

I've still got an Intellitouch.  It's on my desk about 6 inches from the keyboard I'm typing this on.

The Snark came later and does track better - but isn't as robust in my experience.

Jimbro66

I wonder how the Intellitouch principal came to be copied by so many other companies so soon? Was the original not patented or were there ways of circumventing it? Whatever the reason the creators lost their market lead in a relatively short time. OnBoard Research Corp did release a number of other innovations but sadly ceased trading at the end of last year. They leave quite a legacy.

Dcotorstewie

Jimbro66 said:

I wonder how the Intellitouch principal came to be copied by so many other companies so soon? Was the original not patented or were there ways of circumventing it? Whatever the reason the creators lost their market lead in a relatively short time. OnBoard Research Corp did release a number of other innovations but sadly ceased trading at the end of last year. They leave quite a legacy.

That in itself would be interesting to know. It is a real shame. 

vale

ICBM said:

There was a *stick*-on tuner made by Sabine in the early 90s - same basic technology, but you put it on the guitar body not the headstock. It had a non-permanent sticky pad on the back.

I’ve still got mine somewhere, but I have no idea if it even works now. The sticky pad eventually got unsticky, around the time the TU-2 came out so I just stopped using it. The batteries may well have leaked by now...

some of the 1960s vox guitars came with an onboard E tuner that when pressed generated a little electric E pitched whine you could tune top and bottom too. pretty kooky.

ICBM

vale said:

some of the 1960s vox guitars came with an onboard E tuner that when pressed generated a little electric E pitched whine you could tune top and bottom too. pretty kooky.

Yes, and the frequency tended to drift over time as well! Just like the Vox Continental keyboards - it may well be the same circuit.

guitars4you

Jimbro66 said:

The first I ever saw was the Intellitouch over twenty years ago so I looked it up today and found this:

"The Intellitouch Tuner model PT1 was created in 1995 by Mark Wilson of OnBoard Research Corporation. At the time it was created, it was the first of its kind, and a huge leap of innovation. Using a musical instrument's vibrations to measure pitch by a device that attaches by a clip had never been done before. It allowed for tuning in noisy environments or on dark stages while other musicians were playing. The Intellitouch PT1 eventually became extremely popular and spawned an entire industry of clip-on instrument tuners."

the Intellitouch is the first I can ever recall stocking - mainly acoustic players brought them as most electric players were on floor pedals or similar 

thermionic

Jimbro66 said:

I wonder how the Intellitouch principal came to be copied by so many other companies so soon? Was the original not patented or were there ways of circumventing it? Whatever the reason the creators lost their market lead in a relatively short time. OnBoard Research Corp did release a number of other innovations but sadly ceased trading at the end of last year. They leave quite a legacy.

They might have licensed the patent to other companies. This often is the best option for a small company who doesn’t have the manufacturing capability to produce tens of thousands or whatever per month of something that sells for anything between $5 and $30.

Something like the Polytune might use the same basic idea but adds a further concept (polyphonic tuning) which adds an inventive step over the original idea and therefore does not infringe the earlier patent.

Jimbro66

thermionic said:

They might have licensed the patent to other companies. This often is the best option for a small company who doesn’t have the manufacturing capability to produce tens of thousands or whatever per month of something that sells for anything between $5 and $30.

That's a good point. Vast numbers of clip-on tuners have been marketed since the Intellitouch was invented and if they have all had licenses that should have made OnBoard a very buoyant company indeed but they packed up last year. Perhaps the licensing fees stopped after 20 years? It would be interesting to know. Or perhaps they made so much money that everyone employed by OnBoard bought a small pacific island to retire to

iain.reverb

Dcotorstewie said:

Well, er, what it says in the subject line, really. I am aware that Boss introduced the TU12 in 83 ( and I can remember how much I wanted one ) but I'd really like to know who thought up the clip on tuner, and when. 
I think that cheap and available tuners are as important as affordable playable guitars in getting people playing: I went to drums partly because I never trusted my ear enough to tune a guitar ( And because I love playing drums, and it meant I got a fair bit of work in a school with only three drummers including me ) 
Anyone have any historical knowledge on the subject? 

I think it was perhaps an intellitouch clip on tuner. Thats certainly the first one I remember retailing, there may have been other high end ones prior to this, but the first ones I sold in any decent numbers was an intellitouch, from memory it reatiled for about £30