Conn StroboTuner: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This tuner was made by C.G. Conn Ltd. in Elkhart, Indiana, 1960s. It is a StroboTuner, model ST-6, serial #39356. It has a bronze painted metal case with a hinged front panel that opens to reveal a control panel consisting of a scanning disc with octave band numbers, pilot light, signal input, gain control knob, tone selector knob, operate/calibrate switch, power switch, and tuning knob with pointer and scale. There is a detachable microphone clipped on the inside of the front panel. On the top of the tuner is a brown plastic molded handle. The tuner is marked:

The StroboTuner was used for piano and organ tuning, and instrumental and vocal music teaching. It was especially popular among electric guitarists as its user could plug the instrument directly into the signal input as the tuner provided an accurate visual indication of the frequency of a sound or an electrical signal.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1960s
• manufacturer: C. G. Conn Ltd.
• Object Name: tuner
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: glass (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 22 cm x 28 cm x 19 cm; 8 11/16 in x 11 in x 7 1/2 in
• place made: United States: Indiana, Elkhart
• ID Number: 1999.0210.01
• model number: ST-6
• serial number: 39356
• accession number: 1999.0210
• catalog number: 1999.0210.01
• Credit Line: Gift of McCormick's Enterprises, Inc. (through Brian D. Anderson)
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.