What does fine tuners mean in music?

The instrument

Fine tuners

Also: adjusters

Fine tuners are small screws on the tailpiece that alter a string’s tension by a tiny amount, allowing precise tuning without turning the pegs.

A peg turns through a large angle for a small change of pitch and can slip or jam; a fine tuner moves the pitch by a few cents per turn and is easy to control. The working method is to use the peg for anything more than a small correction and the fine tuner for the last part of the journey.

Steel E strings on violins almost always need one, because the string is so tense that a peg cannot be controlled finely enough. Beginner instruments often have four; advanced players frequently keep one, since gut and synthetic strings tolerate peg tuning better.

Turning a fine tuner all the way down until it touches the instrument’s top is a real hazard, it will dent the varnish. When one runs out of travel, back it off fully and retune with the peg.

Metronome: A metronome is a device that sounds a steady pulse at a chosen number of beats per minute, used to establish and gradually increase tempo in practice.
Intonation: Intonation is accuracy of pitch, on a fretless string instrument, the ongoing skill of placing each finger so the note is in tune with the harmony around it.
Cents: A cent is a unit of pitch measurement equal to one hundredth of an equal-tempered half step, used by tuners to show how far a note is from true.
Bridge: The bridge is the shaped piece of maple standing under the strings that transmits their vibration into the body of the instrument, and it is held in place by string tension alone.

Every term in this glossary is taught in context somewhere in Arco's curricula, on the staff, on the keyboard, and on your own fingerboard at the same time.

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