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History of Capos …ALL you need to know


onewilyfool

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I grew up with old Hamilton capos. I do have a few Kysers around and they work fine. About 20 years ago I took an old Hamilton and made some fairly radical changes. I peeled off the thick cotton part that contacts the back of the neck and replaced it with a piece of curved aluminum about 3/8" thick and capped it with soft leather. I then cut off that clear tubing off the fretboard side, bent the bar that contacts the fretboard into a radius, and padded it with leather.

 

fjkx9f.jpg

 

The leather makes better contact with the board than that clear tubing. The thick cotton on the back side is too mushy. The aluminum bridges the gap nicely and the leather padding doesn't hurt the finish.

 

Not saying it's my favorite capo but it works a lot better now than when it left the factory. It sill has remnants of the price sticker from when it was in my guiitar shop in 1985 with the princely price of $2.75.

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My first capo as a pencil with a rubber band.

 

I have a few store bought ones that came as case candy with old guitars. The oldest actually have teeth that dug in to the back of the neck. If you have ever seen an old guitar where the back of the neck is chewed up at regular intervals this is probably what caused it.

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Well, that's about the definitive capo site as far as I can tell. Hopefully there won't be a capo quiz tomorrow...or anytime soon. I own a Dan Crary that I keep on my J-50 and three Shubbs. I like the look of brass with my acoustic guitars so all my capos are brass. I find that loaning a capo (or a Blue Chip pick) during a jam is the gateway to finding yourself short one accessory, if you don't keep track. And it's hard to keep track after a few beers. People like to, uh, purloin the things, especially if they like what you handed them better than what they own themselves. It's almost comical asking TSA-like questions at the end of the night, or next week.

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I grew up with old Hamilton capos. I do have a few Kysers around and they work fine. About 20 years ago I took an old Hamilton and made some fairly radical changes. I peeled off the thick cotton part that contacts the back of the neck and replaced it with a piece of curved aluminum about 3/8" thick and capped it with soft leather. I then cut off that clear tubing off the fretboard side, bent the bar that contacts the fretboard into a radius, and padded it with leather.

 

fjkx9f.jpg

 

The leather makes better contact with the board than that clear tubing. The thick cotton on the back side is too mushy. The aluminum bridges the gap nicely and the leather padding doesn't hurt the finish.

 

Not saying it's my favorite capo but it works a lot better now than when it left the factory. It sill has remnants of the price sticker from when it was in my guiitar shop in 1985 with the princely price of $2.75.

 

sounds like a neurosis to me!

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I grew up with old Hamilton capos. I do have a few Kysers around and they work fine. About 20 years ago I took an old Hamilton and made some fairly radical changes. I peeled off the thick cotton part that contacts the back of the neck and replaced it with a piece of curved aluminum about 3/8" thick and capped it with soft leather. I then cut off that clear tubing off the fretboard side, bent the bar that contacts the fretboard into a radius, and padded it with leather.

 

fjkx9f.jpg

 

The leather makes better contact with the board than that clear tubing. The thick cotton on the back side is too mushy. The aluminum bridges the gap nicely and the leather padding doesn't hurt the finish.

 

Not saying it's my favorite capo but it works a lot better now than when it left the factory. It sill has remnants of the price sticker from when it was in my guiitar shop in 1985 with the princely price of $2.75.

 

I've one I bought about 1970 and another I found in a used guitar case. Just to provide detail, that isn't cotton, it's wool. Some moths ate holes in my older one! I like your ideas with the leather. These particular capos needed a lot of wiggling to get them to set right. Once I bought a Kyser, I don't think I ever used the Hamilton more than a time or two.

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