There are plenty of guitar tuners on the market. Expensive, rack-mounted models. Cheap clip on models. Any possible variation on those two themes sandwiched somewhere in the middle. While Fender’s FCT-2 falls closer to the cheap clip-on model side of things, it’s been packed full of features that make some far more expensive tuners blush with envy.
Now, I realize at the time of this posting, the FCT-2 appears to have been replaced with the FCT-12, but I’ve been testing this model for some time and will share my thoughts on it. They are still readily available online and are one of the more compact form factors I’ve come across.
First of all, I’ve used a bunch of inexpensive tuners with mostly positive results. I have found certain models more accurate than others, and some more limited than others as far as how they function. Some require dead silence, most can tune a guitar in a room full of angry bison. The FCT-2 falls into that category. Bring on the bison herd. The more ornery, the better.
To start, the aesthetic is nice – it’s a one inch square that’s a half inch thick. It weighs less than an ounce and a half, and it looks great. It has a dual hinge design that allows total freedom when it comes to mounting the tuner to a headstock. Put it on either side, squeeze it onto the end of the headstock, use it with tiny ukulele heads…wherever. It’ll fit and you’ll be able to view the readout. It even found a spot to grab onto my Kiesel headless guitar.
The second thing that jumped out at me, was that it was capable of helping put a range of instruments in tune. I was invited to review a Fender Montecito Ukulele and I needed a hand. I know the old “My Dog Has Fleas” tune we used to tune our ukes to as kids, but I had never been called upon to put a high quality ukulele into proper tune for a review. Lucky for me, the FCT-2 has a Ukulele tuner setting built in. It also has presets tuning modes for guitar, bass, violin and a chromatic tuning mode so you can dial in your alternate tunings accurately.
As for setting itself apart, there was one other area where I had become a bit disenfranchised with digital clip-on tuners. Many of the ones I’ve used have had issues where the screens worked brilliantly for a short period of time, but quickly faded and were unreadable in anything but the deepest ocean abyss. Not being particularly fussy on SCUBA, I got sick of treating $20 tuners as disposable. Once you throw half a dozen of them out, you start wondering why you didn’t buy one of those fancy expensive tuners. Fortunately, the Fender FCT-2 has a bright, easy-to-read color LCD screen that has been working brilliantly for the better part of a year without sucking it’s single CR2032 battery dry and without fading even slightly.
When tuning the FCT-2 has an easy to see and understand tuning needle that wanders toward the center of the screen to indicate tuning perfection. I’ve found it to be accurate and easy to use. It’s calibrated to A440 and has a tuning range of B0-B7. The only confusion came early on when I hadn’t learned what button to press when. I found myself trying to tune a 1979 Anniversary Strat into violin tuning. It took me a second to figure out that this device did more than just tune guitars for crummy players like myself. It was actually a handy device for a wide range of musicians.
Clocking in at less than $20 at most retailers, this isn’t just a recommended purchase – this is something you need to have in your gig bag, or resting on top of your amp in the practice room. I’m looking forward to trying out the FCT-12 and Fender’s new California series FT-004 tuners to see if they measure up to the high bar set by the FCT-2.
This is the one digital tuner that, for me, isn’t a throw-away.
PROS:
Great screen
Amazing battery life
Dual hinge system works perfectly
CONS:
I wasn’t smart enough to figure out the modes on the first shot