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Automatic guitar tuner’s tiny motors
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31/10/2006
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A product launched recently at the Frankfurt Music Show will help guitarists to solve one of their greatest headaches – tuning.
The device, the S 440 tuner, was developed by Somerset-based ATD. It uses a set of tiny gears and motors to adjust all six strings in a single strum – and displays the accuracy on an LED screen.
To be commercially successful the tuner must be almost unnoticeable to the guitarist (except when it is needed of course). On a standard Stratocaster, it fits neatly into the space left by the original bridge – and even uses the original screw holes.
“We supplied a block of six gearheads, to which the motors in the device are fitted,“ said Keith Ellenden, CEO of Maxon Motor UK.
The gearheads are made using metal injection moulding technology.
ATD managing director Richard Whittall said: “We have been developing the product for 10 years, and had created a prototype by 1998, but converting that into a marketable product has only been possible thanks to Maxon’s expertise.”
A more sophisticated version of the tuner is in the pipeline and ATD is looking to apply the same principle to other instruments.
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Author
Lou Reade
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