dpm99 Posted April 16, 2009 Report Share Posted April 16, 2009 This seems like a stupid question I should know the answer to, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. Why does a capo work well on my acoustic guitar, but not on my electric guitar? Is it the strings, or is there something I haven't discovered about the shape of the neck or what? Anybody know? Thanks, Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borge Posted April 16, 2009 Report Share Posted April 16, 2009 define 'works well'? As electric necks are often thinner maybe the capo cant clamp tight enough so fretbuzz occurs on the new 'zero fret'. of course this only applies to spring/elastic based designs, the shubb (?) type adjustable roller have no such problem. It could also be the capo is designed for flatter radii and doesn't work well on 7.5, 9, fender radii. IME the spring loaded ones are crap, the thicker the neck (either from guitar to guitar, or along the neck) the tighter the spring clamps and the sharper your tuning becomes, of course, only really a problem when playing with others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted April 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2009 I didn't think about the radius. I bet that's it. I know what you mean about the spring loaded capos, but that's what I use anyway. I have to get it on and off in a hurry most of the time. Thanks borge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted April 16, 2009 Report Share Posted April 16, 2009 The spring loaded capos are often designed to put enough tension to handle the often higher string gauges and possibly higher action of an acoustic - I find they clamp too tight on my electrics, making everything go sharp. My favorite capo is now this one: http://store.daddario.com/category/146490/Dual_Action_Capo It goes on and off with a squeeze of the handle, like the Kyser ones, but you can dial in the tension so things don't go sharp or get buzzy by not being tight enough. Since switching to that one, I don't have to deal with re-tuning everytime I capo. This works quite well too: http://store.daddario.com/category/146486/NS_Capos And is so small it never gets in the way, weighs nothing (helpful if your guitar is already neck-dive prone) and has a similar adjustable tension setup. But it's not as quick to go on and off. I do like that I can put this one on upside down, and slide it to the side a bit, and not capo my low E, if I want that low note for drone tones. (I have a notched Kyser capo for that purpose on acoustic, one of these days I'll mod one of the dual action ones to do that on my electric.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted April 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 The dual action one is interesting. I never thought about dialing in tension, but it makes sense. I've used a bunch of different capos over the years, but I keep coming back to the plain old Kyser I've had since the early nineties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted April 17, 2009 Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 Or if you already have some kysers or the like sitting around (like me) you can just put enough rubber bands around the handle to lessen the force of the spring so it doesn't pull it out of tune. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted April 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 I have one, but it's almost twenty years old, so the spring is probably not as strong as a new one. That might be why I hate all the other capos I've tried too. They were knew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.