Readings, not verdicts
Guitar testing
Testing here means measuring a pitch or a spectrum and writing it down. It does not mean a pass-fail stamp on your instrument. The pitch detector names a sounding note. The intonation tester compares a chosen fret with equal temperament. The analyzer shows where the energy sits, fundamental and overtones together.
Tools in this section
Guitar pitch detector
Read the fundamental in hertz, the nearest note and how steady the last frames were. Not locked to string targets and not a spectrum view.
Guitar intonation tester
Pick a string and a fret. The expected pitch is the open frequency times 2^(fret/12). Log cents error. A reading is not a setup diagnosis.
Frequency analyzer
An FFT view of the microphone plus a waveform toggle. Open-string pitches are marked as landmarks. A strum is many peaks; a single note shows a fundamental and harmonics. Not a chord namer and not a tuner.
What a microphone cannot see
A high nut, a worn fret, a loose brace or a dry fretboard can all change the note you hear. The browser only has the air in front of the mic. If a reading looks wild, try another pluck, another position in the room, and then a person who can look at the guitar. The disclaimer on the intonation page is the whole policy.
How the three tools differ
The tuner wants you on a target. The pitch detector does not care about a target — it reports hertz, note and how steady the last few frames were. The analyzer is for seeing a string’s overtones or a noisy room, not for naming chords. Polyphonic strumming will look busy and the pitch tools will get lost. One note at a time.
Questions
- Is this a setup report?
- No. You can carry the numbers to a technician. The page will not tell you how many turns on a screw.
- Do I need a special mic?
- A phone or laptop mic is enough for a clear single note. A fan, a compressor and two strings at once are the usual reasons a reading lies.