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Fully Adjustable Capo

 Ever wish your capo wasn't as restrictive?
 
(0) 		  [vote for,
against]

A partial/adjustable Capo.

In the begining, I thought of the smashing success of the partial capo (basically a standard spring-clip capo, but with enough space for 2-3 srings not to be capo'd (3/4 the length of a standard))

From this came the idea I propose now:

make a capo that straps on, however the trick is that it has 6 thumbscrews as opposed to a flat arm - each screw has a rubber (or other) flat section on the bottom. When the screw is screwed in, the string is capo'd. when not; not.

I'm not sure yet how it would trap on.. I'm thinking something along the lines of a nylon strp like some capos have, but with risers on the outside edge.. Feel free to suggest something different :)

This could work very well with a switch-type button; depress once, it is capo'd, depress twice, the capo is lifted again.

As an illustration:

Screws/pushbuttons
..|
..v....v--- depressed
_T_T_-_T_T_T_
|----------------|
..|_________|

Sorry for the quality, it is ASCII ;) I'll try and a mock-up picture up by the end of the day.

—JackandJohn, Apr 18 2003

KrazyKat Music http://www.krazykatmusic.com/guitar.htm
Guitars, not bricks [roby, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

nobla's link http://www.thirdhandcapo.com
[sufc, Oct 04 2004]

Restrictive capo http://www.usatoday...ovies/godfather.jpg
[thumbwax, Oct 04 2004]

abacus capo http://www.abacuscapo.com
fully adjustable capo [abacus, Oct 04 2004]

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       As I said elsewhere, this would only work while the capo-ed strings are played open. As soon as you fret them, the capo effectively disappears. You cannot use this system as a substitute for de-tuning. Buy a Hipshot Trilogy. With modification, I suspect it could be used on an acoustic.
I keep my main acoustic (Tanglewood Odyssey) in standard tuning and my second (Encore ENC2) in modal D (DADGAD, low to high). When (rarely) I need another tuning, I adjust whichever one of these is closer to the required tuning, so for drop-D, I detune the Tanglewood, and for open-G, the Encore. If I'm just experimenting, I use my old Antoria.
—angel, Apr 19 2003
   

       That's a freaking great idea!!! If you make it, I'll buy two.
—everbret, Apr 19 2003
   

       [ angel ] I'm not proposing this as a replacement for drop-tuning, but as a replacement for a standard capo.   

       The benefit, as an example, would be to partially capo the bottom 4 stings on, say, the second fret.. ou can play as regular, but when played open, or any of the bottom strings are played open, they are higher.   

       If up-tuned, playing the bottom strings would require funky hand positions for standard chords.
—JackandJohn, Apr 21 2003
   

       [unabubba] denn ihn hast du geschlechtlos entmannt! Man sagt er ißt den Täter, wenn er ihn faßt.
—roby, Apr 21 2003
   

       Its all Greek to me.
Why not just use barre chords and learn how to use different tunings. DADGAD is my favourite.I think it is one of the easist to use and get good results from if your not sure what you're doing.
—sufc, Apr 21 2003
   

       Ich ducke mich gleich, Ignatz, aber deine Krazy Kat bin ich nicht. Die mußt du anderswo suchen.
Na, endlich ging das Ding im Kreis und geht's noch mal um Guitarren! (sehe Link)
—roby, Apr 21 2003
   

       //I'm not proposing this as a replacement for drop-tuning, but as a replacement for a standard capo//
I'm sorry to keep harping on this, but let's assume that you capo the bottom two strings on the third fret so your tuning is, effectively, G C D G B E, low to high. You can play now C major on the fifth fret (A-shape chord) without stopping the bottom two strings by fretting x x 5 5 5 3; what else can you do? If a chord inversion requires that the new low G or C strings be stopped, you'll still need to stop them on the same fret as you would without the capo. I'm not trying to be obstructive or dismissive, but I really cannot see how this would help. Perhaps you can describe in detail an example of how you would use it.
—angel, Apr 22 2003
   

       [angel] I understand that it doesn't seem like there is a point, and by the same logic as you have demonstrated, there is no point to a capo.
However.. Necessity breeds invention. There is a reason the capo was invented in the first place (Which is hard to explain in terms of the logic, as it falls outside the scope), and along that vien; I believe that the partial/adjustable capo is a great change.

It doesn't, by any means, make things more efficient, nor does it make standard chords any different, nor does it replace non-standard tuning when that is the effect you are going for, but it is nice to play on, and it can give a very pleasing sound.

Most likely if you have no use for a capo, you would have no use for a partial capo.
On that note; if you did want to try a derivative, pick up a spring-mounted capo and cut it to size (3+ springs or it won't stay on); you just might like it :)
—JackandJohn, Apr 22 2003
   

       How about a guitar with configurable pop-up frets that are activated by foot pedals?
—supercat, Apr 22 2003
   

       //by the same logic as you have demonstrated, there is no point to a capo//
Not so. The purpose of a capo is to enable the use of chord inversions which would otherwise not be available in the key in which one is playing. In standard tuning, playing x7x7xx gives a rather nice E7. If you want a similar sound but in a different key, say G7, you would find it difficult to play 3 3 10 3 10 3 (unless your fingers are *much* longer than mine), but a capo on 3 enables the same fingering as the first while rendering the same notes as the second. Your partial capo requires amended fingering for chords which have open strings, and has no effect on those that don't. Sorry again, but I don't see the point.
—angel, Apr 23 2003
   

       angel: The partial capo would make possible chords which could not reasonably be played any other way. It would, however, require reworking the fingerings for many chords that involve open strings. I can certainly imagine that some guitar players would be willing to work out such details if it meant they could get a sound they otherwise could not, but for many I don't think it wuold be worth the effort.
—supercat, Apr 23 2003
   

       That sounds like a great idea, i will buy a few of them, you should look at the floyd rose double locking tremolo, on the nut there is a screw for the little plates that unlock the strings, you could do something on those lines
—bisquick, Apr 23 2003
   

       This is a great idea. I use my capo on 2nd fret, but only 5 strings so low E stays E. I put capo as close to headstock end of space between frets so my finger still has enough room to barre on same fret as capo.This allows a E chord, actually played like a D chord without capo, but with low E. If you play a C chord with a pinky on E string (actually D now with capo) you can play G,C,D on all strings. An E,E min, A Amin chord need to be barred unless you omit low E string.This can be standard tuning by tuninga all strings to D relative tuning. This system is better than drop D because you can play all strings more often. Confused?
—ricchris, Apr 24 2003
   

       I have to agree with angel on this. As with the other, single string capo idea... I cannot envision a circumstance when it would be desirable to capo only certain strings and not all of them simultaneously. One could even argue that were there ever such circumstances, selectable string capos would already exist.
—waugsqueke, Apr 24 2003
   

       Pressaphonic, anyone?
—galukalock, Apr 24 2003
   

       What if capo covered 1st 5 frets. You would have 30 screws or better, push click buttons.Or if that were too many frets covered up, a modular capo where you could add banks of buttons. All of this discourse could be eclipsed by Brian Moore iGuitar that electronically lets you have any tuning you want.
—ricchris, Apr 25 2003
   

       [As with the other, single string capo idea... I cannot envision a circumstance when it would be desirable to capo only certain strings and not all of them simultaneously. One could even argue that were there ever such circumstances, selectable string capos would already exist.] They do exist. Check out the Third Hand Capo (http://www.thirdhandcapo.com), which has inspired many awesome guitar compositions.
—nobla, May 03 2003
   

       you cuold always learn to play the guitar properly.
—peter2, May 04 2003
   

       Hello, We have been working on this problem for a while now and we have a fully adjustable, unrestrictive single string movable capo. We call it the Abacus Capo and photos and details can be seen on our site at www.abacuscapo.com Drop us a line and let us know what you think. Jonathan and Chris
—abacus, May 26 2003
   

       Entirely relevant troll spam - it's the way of the future...
—friendlyfire, May 26 2003
   

       Sold. And I'd definitely experiment with it.   

       This gets you the full croissant.   

       Btw, CGCGCC (low to high) makes my guitar sound a bit like a sitar.
—saker, May 28 2003
   

       Some nice discussion in my long period of inactivity :)   

       To comment on some;   

       [ricchris] "This is a great idea. I use my capo on 2nd... ...often. Confused?"   

       Yes, as a matter of fact I've been confused about most of the comments along these lines.. I don't know standard chords by the names and I play the guitar to create something that sounds good.. All these 'modified this' and 'oh don't mangle the Gx chord!' comments are simply speaking the wrong language :)   

       [abacus] "We call it the Abacus Capo..."   

       Hrm.. you seem to have travelled into the future from the past and used most of my design ideas for your product.. It's ok, I'm not bitter, you used large.. (wood?) things instead of pushbuttons.. I'll let you go with 'derivative work' ;)   

       [autosurgeon] "for those of us whose fingers are less than a foot long and do not have Thingummy Malmstein (is that how you spell it) precociousness"   

       LoL. I was also noticing a bit of this.   

       [saker] "Sold. And I'd definitely experiment with it. This gets you the full croissant."   

       Thank you on both counts :) If I ever make one, I'll let you know :)
—JackandJohn, Jun 30 2003
   

       I just recieved my third hand capo from www.thirdhandcapo.com and it works great. nice design too.
—aramas, Jul 03 2003
   


 

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