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[Original Spies]

So I bought a capo a couple of weeks back. It's a Dunlop 'Acoustic' one, cost £20, which I thought was a little steep for a capo, but apparently not. Told the chap in RnB it was to be used on an electric, but he said this one would be fine.

It's a spring loaded one, so I can't alter the tension at all. I'm finding it clamps the strings a little too tightly, meaning the notes are a little sharper than they should be. It also clamps down the G and high E tighter than the rest of the strings, meaning chords are sounding horrificly out of tune.

Is this kind of thing the case with all capo's, or am I better off with the one I screw down, rather than the un-adjustable spring one that I have? The notes seem to be perfect (according to my TU-2) if I strum the strings openly whilst ever so slightly loosing the grip with my hand, but obviously, I can't really do that all the time, unless I grew a third arm...


Capo wisdom please.

[Lucky Rathen]

I like the black ones wrap around and "hook" in at the back. They give the best sound I think, I have a big metal one that is not adjustable and doesn't fit my electric, or one of those shit elastic ones that just give you dead notes for the open E and A strings.

[Dave-IRL]

I'm having a fair few problems capo wise at the moment too, although its also linked into an inherent tuning problem on my guitar as well. I'm playing a '62 re-issue telecaster c/w Bigsby and find I'm having to retune my guitar every time I use a capo. The guitar has some major tuning issues as well at the mo, whereby an open E is almost sounding an F at the 12th fret, which obviously doesnt help when a capo is thrown into the mix...

I have a variety of skill-compensators (my old mans nickname for the wonderful capo) including a Shubb, G7th Performance (pretty crap for the money!) and a couple of trigger style capos (my preferred capos) as well, but none seem to be curing my problem on the telecaster (not that I'm expecting them to sort the tuning issue at the 12th, but even putting the capo on at the first involves a retune). Never had a problem using a capo on an acoustic guitar, although I generally use a trigger one for the higher tension.

So, thats probably not helped a lot, but I'd steer clear of the G7th 'performance' capos, they may look pretty but I find them awkward to use and pretty ineffective. My old man just bought one the the G7th 'Nashville' ones that look almost sculptural in their styling, but they're not really sized for a pair of jeans pocket!

[Bigsby]

I have a Shubb, with one of the screws so you can adjust it depending on the neck.

Never had a problem with it over many years and Shubb seems to be the choice of a lot of pro players. Used it on lots of different sized necks, from basball bat on my 54 Les Paul reissue to skinny and wide on my Burns electric 12 string.

[Original Spies]

What's the damage for a Shubb usually?

[Bigsby]

Dunno, I bought mine about 10 years ago I think and it was 15 quid or something. But it's a sturdy bit of kit and works well, so worth it I guess.

[Chris]

I've got a shubb as well, never had any issues with it at all.

A quick google indicates between £12 and £15 for them.

[Original Spies]

Not a bad price. RnB's top of the range one they were trying to push on me was £35. Cripes!

[Elizabeth]

eBay's prolly the best place to buy.

[Huw]

It's pretty un-pro i guess, but sometimes putting it at an angle helps, Ross often does that when playing and it works pretty well if you get it right though. Definitely recommend getting a good capo.

I find i get the same with my dunlop one.