Guitar Tuner As Belt Tensionmeter

Has anyone tested those ubiquitous guitar tuners (say a snark hz) against a belt tensionmeter for accuracy? I'm thinking something like that could be very handle/simple and cheap alternative to those expensive tools that just measure frequency.

They are deadly accurate on my guitars and very easy to use.

I read some threads about using a laptop and microphone or maybe even an Iphone but this seems so much easier.

SNARK® HZ-1 | SNARK

 

My snark tuners will give certain notes, but not frequency. I have tested an iPhone app iAnalizer and directly compared it to a Ducati frequency meter. No special mike needed, can't get easier. I used it for my 360 cam and accessory belts, 5k miles ago.

IMHO frequency shouldn't need a "special tool" and I actually tried my old school Analog guitar tuner before using the iPhone app. Problem I had with that is the belt doesn't sustain like a guitar and it was impossible for me to get a reading. The app captures a waveform, and you can scroll it to check the frequency. A few min learning curve but worked perfectly as verified with the Ducati tool loaner from my buddy who is a Ducati mechanic.

 

Correct. It should not. But, whatever tool you're using should be accurate in the frequency range you're measuring. The Ducati tool you reference is indeed quite accurate in the ranges we need for these cars. Measuring accuracy can be greatly compromised if all the associated fasteners (pivots, locks, sliders, etc.) are not tightened prior to measuring the belt frequency.

 

The snark hz shows results in hz and in a wide range of numbers. The sustain issue is interesting. I wonder how those expensive tools deal with that? I like the idea of recording it and playing it back.

 

The Ducati tool just temporarily stored displayed one number for the frequency each time used.

 

Probably the first read. That would make sense. So snark might not work as it probably constantly remeasures for tuning changes. You would need something more like a wave recorder with playback like the iPhone app.

 

Checkout Smart Tension app for your iPhone.

 

What frequency are you looking for, and for what belt across what span?

I've used tension gauges per the book, and they come out loose (X Kgs applied mid-span results in Ymm deflection). I usually wind up going back in to increase tension. And btw, I did observe the new/used belt spec's.