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Woody's
N-TUNE ONBOARD DIGITAL GUITAR TUNER 
Installation Page

Having an always-available digital tuner that cannot be forgotten or misplaced,
does not clip on to the headstock or sit on the floor seems like an ideal design. 
This unit is available on the Internet for about us$40.
On a standard passive-pickup guitar, installation might take about two hours.
On an active-pickup guitar, installation is officially not-supported 
due to the likelihood of custom wiring and 
may take several hours plus tweaking.

Tools and materials used during installation

LEFT: Suggested tools for an installation of the N-Tune onboard digital tuner 
(Radio Shack resisters and capacitors required for "active" systems only)

If you are not handy with soldering tools or pliers, I would suggest that you hire a competent luthier or music store to do the installation for you.

Click on a picture to enlarge it for a closer view - The bigger your window, the bigger the picture

INSTALLATION OBSERVATIONS: 
The N-Tune unit uses signal from a pickup and not vibrations from the wood.
I would suggest keeping the original pot in the case with the guitar 
should you (or a future owner) ever want to restore the guitar 
to it's original configuration.

Below are four sections:
How I added this tuner without drilling any holes onto my
* Heritage Millennium 2000 Limited Edition,
* Fender American Precision 4-string Bass,
* Fender American Deluxe Jazz 5-string bass with Active Electronics (pickups)
and my
* Gold Tone EBM-5 Electric Banjo

INSTALLING AN N-TUNE ONTO THE 
HERITAGE MILLENNIUM GUITAR
The goal here was to install an N-Tune Onboard digital guitar tuner onto my
Heritage Millennium Limited Edition guitar (below)
This used the 500k POT assembly

The finished product

Click on a picture to enlarge it for a closer view - The bigger your window, the bigger the picture

The front of the box of the 500k POT N-TUNE ONBOARD GUITAR TUNER The back of the box of the N-TUNE ONBOARD GUITAR TUNER The top of the box of the N-TUNE ONBOARD GUITAR TUNER
One of the two volume controls (two on left) would be your choice You will need easy access to the controls Open up your access port 
This is what things looked like before work began With a soldering pencil, unsolder and remove original volume ("pot") control For me, I decided to make a wiring harness out where I could better reach.
This is my completed "harness" ready to install I used a few scraps of wire to make the wiring harness Connecting the ground wire
Connecting the capacitor Using the supplied special split washer, carefully feed the wire through the hole with the shaft Make sure to position the circuit board so that all the LED lights can be seen as the player looks down from above..
Select which color cover plate you want and set it onto the circuit board Find a place to set in the required 9 volt battery
I chose to use a fresh name-brand battery		 This is the finished look.
Pull up on the knob to engage the tuner
Wow - It worked first test! Here is the finished product  
 

Click on a picture to enlarge it for a closer view - The bigger your window, the bigger the picture

INSTALLING AN N-TUNE ONTO THE 
FENDER AMERICAN PRECISION 4-string 
BASS GUITAR
The goal here was to install an N-Tune Onboard digital guitar tuner onto my
Fender American-Made Precision 4-string Bass Guitar (below)
This used the 150k POT assembly

Here:  The before (top two) and after (bottom two)

The installation process

How Woody found the original wiring of the PBass
More to follow...  There was not enough room under the pick guard to put the 9-volt battery
At this point, it is in it's holder held onto the top of the pick guard with Velcro.
I do expect to route a space under the pick guard and move it there eventually

There was not enough room under the pick guard to put the 9-volt battery
At this point, it is in it's holder held onto the top of the pick guard with Velcro.
I do expect to route a space under the pick guard and move it there eventually



 INSTALLING AN N-TUNE ONTO THE 
FENDER American-made 
DELUXE JAZZ V 5-string BASS GUITAR 
with Active Electronics
The goal here was to install an N-Tune Onboard digital guitar tuner onto my
Fender American-Made Deluxe 5-string Bass Guitar (below)
This used the 150k POT assembly.
This bass has the now-older style preamplifier/equalizer circuit powered with a 9-volt battery.

Note that installation of an N-Tune tuner onto a guitar with "active electronics" 
(the pickups require a battery to produce an output to an amplifier) 
is not "officially supported"
In 2011, however, I successfully added an N-Tune onboard digital guitar tuner to the Jazz Bass.
I carefully removed the original Volume Pot from the active electronics 
(pre-amp / equalizer board) and ran (green) wires to the (new) N-Tune pot.
Due to the active electronics this was not an easy task and 
should be performed only by a skilled electrically-competent luthier

 In my original work, I had a 220k ohm resister in the circuit but 
found made it harder for the tuner to hear the Low-B string so I removed it.
I have modified my wiring diagram (below) to reflect the current setup.

  Tools and materials used during installation  The wiring that I used to install this tuner in the 2000-series Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass
The original wiring setup for the 2000-series Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass 5-string guitar The original wiring setup for the 2000-series Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass 5-string guitar The modified wiring setup for the 2000-series Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass 5-string guitar
The modified wiring setup for the 2000-series Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass 5-string guitar The modified wiring setup for the 2000-series Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass 5-string guitar

Click on a picture below to enlarge for closer viewing

INSTALLING AN N-TUNE ONTO THE 
 GOLD TONE EBM-5 BANJO
An N-Tune Tuner was added to the EBM-5 banjo in 2011.
 This used the 150k POT assembly
This was a fairly simple installation accomplished by replacing the pot closest to the bridge.
There is no really good place to put the 9-volt battery without routing something so
I have velcroed the battery (using the N-Tune supplied bracket) the heel of the neck.

Woody drew this diagram of the wiring the way he originally found it This is the wiring of the banjo when all was finished This shows a string is in tune!
Woody braced the pocket knife on a paper towel to pull of the three knobs. All three knobs came off easily by prying them straight up with the pocket knife Removing the three nuts to allow the POTS to come out from the back
After removing the screws, the pocket knife assisted in lifting the tight-fitting cover The original wiring lays neatly in the trough
The three POTS come out easily together The original POT wiring The N-Tune replacement POT is wired into the circuit
The modified wiring harness The lower nut was removed and the split washer added before POT installation The circuit board
The circuit board and cover are in place The wires are a bit tight but can be easily stretched over the NTune's taller POT assembly POT reinstallation
Although the wiring fits... there is just not enough room for the 9-volt battery Here the NTune goes through a power up sequence The string is N-Tune !
The Gold Tone EBM-5 banjo with the N-Tune tuner in place


STANDARD DISCLAIMERS:  
Just because these installations worked for me does not mean they will work for you.
I assume no responsibility, liability, or culpability for success or failures of anyone 
else who tries any of these installations (but I sure have no regrets doing them).

The Fender Deluxe Active Jazz V Bass was really slow and time-consuming to do.
Only those experienced with electronics should try adding one of these 
to an instrument bearing "active electronics."
Lastly: The N-Tune does struggle to read the open Low-B (5th) string.

If you have additional thoughts on this issue, 
please CLICK HERE to email me (Woody).

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Contact WOODY for questions or comments about this page via  email. 
All personal comments, pictures copyright 1996-2011 - R. Linwood (4L RANCH)
LAST MODIFIED:


Since 21 May, 2011:


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