Two different methods of orienting piezoelectric crystals are described. One method depends upon the symmetry of the phase velocity of elastic surface waves as a function of propagation direction in a crystal face. The other method utilizes the symmetry of the piezoelectric coupling strength. Measurements in theZplanes of &agr;‐quartz and LiNbO3reveal accuracies better than 10′ for the determination of the nonoptic axes.