Hearing set

[gfugal]

If you have a smartphone, you could download a tuner app for free. If you don't have a smartphone you could buy a tuner from a music store for like $10.

[Badger]

   I couldn't make heads or tails of the tone changes, The tuner seems better adapted for a different range, B flat key seemed to work a little better but still nothing I could decipher.

[DC]

I downloaded an app called Tuner Lite. It can hear my bowstring but I don't really know what it's telling me. It's also very sensitive. The room has to be dead quiet.

[gfugal]

I downloaded an app called Tuner Lite. It can hear my bowstring but I don't really know what it's telling me. It's also very sensitive. The room has to be dead quiet.

The tuner will tell you a note and how cents sharp or flat it is. There are 11 notes A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Dd, D, D#/Eb, E, F, G, G#/Ab. If you go left to right you'll ascend in pitch until you loop all the way back to A. The new A will be an octave higher and sound like a higher version of the lower note. If it's sharp that means it's a little higher in pitch than a true A, if it's flat it's likewise lower in pitch. I believe 60 cents in either direction is a new note.

It does have to be relatively quiet. It will pick up the pitch of any sound in the vicinity, but if you hold it real close, it should switch to the bow pitch when you pluck it for a while, then switch back to the ambient noise once the tone dies down in a second or so. 

[DC]

Why does it say 440hz no matter what's going on?  What is the number beside the note? What are the two arrows on the scale at + and- 12(or maybe 13)? Is there an instruction manual or Help?

[gfugal]

Why does it say 440hz no matter what's going on?  What is the number beside the note? What are the two arrows on the scale at + and- 12(or maybe 13)? Is there an instruction manual or Help?

is it the DeTunar Lite app? that's what I have and it works great for me, but that's android, not apple. The hz is the sound wave frequency. 440 is the default and may be what the app is calibrated. If it never changes that either means your phone isn't picking up any sound or it doesn't tell you the hz of the new note just the hz it's calibrated to. If it also isn't showing a new note letter then your mic might be turned off. the number scale on the bottom with + and - is the sharp and flat indications. -20 would be 20 cents flat, +12 would be 12 cents sharp, ect. The number next to the big note letter in the middle is the octave i believe. not sure it's really not that important.

[TimBo]

There are twelve notes (you forgot F#/Gb)!  I do like to pluck the string though, and have been paying a lot more attention to it since reading this thread.

[DC]

It's an Apple phone. The app is P!usadd tunerPTU-2. It's definitely working, when I whistle DoRaMe it goes up one note at a time but the 440 doesn't change. Is 12 or 13 cents a significant number, possibly a "close enough" number?

[gfugal]

There are twelve notes (you forgot F#/Gb)!  I do like to pluck the string though and have been paying a lot more attention to it since reading this thread.

I swore there was 12 then I counted what I wrote down and there were only 11, then a did a circle of fifths and still only counted 11 keys. So I figured I must have remembered wrong. I didn't. I just second guessed myself and forgot about ol F#/Gb. Good catch.

It's an Apple phone. The app is P!usadd tunerPTU-2. It's definitely working, when I whistle DoRaMe it goes up one note at a time but the 440 doesn't change. Is 12 or 13 cents a significant number, possibly a "close enough" number?

12 or 13 cents is pretty close to the note displayed. most things aren't perfectly in tune, and your bow for sure isn't going to hit a note perfectly, so expect many cents sharp or flat. In fact, there wouldn't be any point to trying to "tune" you bow like you tune a guitar, just let it be whatever pitch it ends up being. Like I said it's a spectrum, where 50 (not sixty) cents one way or another is in the realm of a new note. once it crosses that realm it's still 50 cents flat, so I think technically there are 100 cents from a perfectly in tune note to the next note up perfectly in tune.

The 440 Hz must be what its calibrated to. If that's the case don't worry about it. Just focus on the note displayed and the cents

[DC]

My Grand daughter showed me where the Help button is.  :-[I got the free version and if you pay you also get a display of the frequency. I'll take another look at the App store.

[DuBois]

I have 2 tuners. 1 is busted but works for a battery tester. the other is good and I think I'm gonna investigate this more and keep a journal of bow notes maybe.
What about string stretch?

[DC]

I think it would tell you when the string finished stretching but a tape measure will do that. What I'm wondering is how much of a change will it take to notice. For example, if your bow takes a bit of set after shooting it for a year and you have to tighten it a half dozen turns, will that show by a noticable change of pitch.

[DC]

I'm retillering a bow for my son. I set it in the vise and plucked the string a half a dozen times. It was B flat with about 2 cents positive every time. I took 10 scrapes off both limbs and plucked again(the only time you can get away with plucking in archery ). It was B flat with about 35 cents negative. It's looking like this thing can sense very minor (get it?) changes. That was about a 1/2" difference in draw length @ 30#. It would be nice if you could isolate limbs somwhow. HMmm.