# Please recommend a good B-team capo



## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

I've misplaced my last capo. I know it's in the house and will show up again in a few days or years. But meanwhile, a capo would be nice. The lost capo is a Shubb and it has served me well for at least twenty years. The new capo should a) work without pulling things out of tune, b) be low profile so it doesn't get in the way when I'm playing slide and c) not cost very much. 

Ideas?


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

this is where mine end up....
Now, if I could locate all the tape measures I have misplaced


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## isoneedacoffee (Oct 31, 2014)




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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

Okay, a pencil and rubber band it is.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Just get another Shubb, I did.


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## jdto (Sep 30, 2015)

A few years back, I splurged on a few of the G7 Performance capos and they are wonderful. I keep one in my office permanently, one in the little backpack where I carry cables and miscellaneous practice gear and one floats between whichever acoustic case is currently the flavour of the month. They stay put, they’re low profile and they don’t pull things out of tune. Pinch them on as tightly as you need and the little lever releases. Great design.

I realize they don’t fit the “cheap” criterion, but I love ‘em. Shubbs are great, too, and I keep one at the cottage as a backup.


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

Long time Shubb user but I also have a G7th capo that I like.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

My Elliott meets all your points except the last one. I also have a shubb that I like because I can use it to partially capo the neck which I can't do that with my Elliott.


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## Dru Edwards (9 mo ago)

Get another Shubb Deluxe. Or a Planet Waves NS Capo, or the NS Lite version. Inexpensive and works great.

I have a few of all three and use the NS every day.

$15.25 at L&M (NS Lite):








Planet Waves - NS Capo Lite


Planet Waves - NS Capo Lite




www.long-mcquade.com


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I've got 2 Thalia's which I really like.


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

Doug Gifford said:


> I've misplaced my last capo. I know it's in the house and will show up again in a few days or years. But meanwhile, a capo would be nice. The lost capo is a Shubb and it has served me well for at least twenty years. The new capo should a) work without pulling things out of tune, b) be low profile so it doesn't get in the way when I'm playing slide and c) not cost very much.
> 
> Ideas?











Kyser - Quick-Change Capo for 6-String Acoustic Guitar - Black


Kyser - Quick-Change Capo for 6-String Acoustic Guitar - Black




www.long-mcquade.com


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## Dru Edwards (9 mo ago)

I went through a capo phase a few years ago where I bought some Shubbs, Planet Waves NSs, NS Lites, Paige (I already had a Dunlop trigger). I like the Shubbs and NS the best. 

I've given the NS Lite to students. I still have a few on hand still in the packaging for future students. They appreciate the gesture.


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

Thank you all for your advice. So… another Shubb. Or something else. depending on which way the wind is blowing. 

While I have your attention, what about elastic band capos? Gatemouth Brown does pretty well with his… I wonder what brand it is.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

I have tried quite a bit. A few different Shubbs, G7th, Taylor, Thalia, Paige. Dunlop, Kyser. The best one for me is the Shubb F1 Capo Fine Tuning. It keeps the guitar in tune very well.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

I still have a couple of those Dunlop ratchet strap capos that I got in the 70s .. lol

I find the standard Schub to be adequate and they are not too big; some of those large clip on deals look like some kind of contraceptive device from the Victorian era. I also have a Schub capo which leaves the low E string open.


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

I have 3 of the G7th capos. One is for a 12 string. I find they work better on the 3rd fret and up. On my acoustic, I find they can be just usable on the 2nd fret but too loose to use on the 1st fret. I did have an issue with one of them and G7 sent me a replacement so good customer service.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Here’s what’s on my stand (minus the mandolin, banjo, and uke varieties, this being a guitar forum). Shubb and Planet Waves stirrup capos, regular Shubbs, and cut down Shubbs, Kyser, and Planet Waves for virtual tunings. The big PW with spring tension adjustment is kind of cool because it can be more easily bent for fretboard radius matching than others. The longer Shubb capo is for 12 string, the straight ones for nylon strings, etc.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Mooh said:


> Here’s what’s on my stand (minus the mandolin, banjo, and uke varieties, this being a guitar forum). Shubb and Planet Waves stirrup capos, regular Shubbs, and cut down Shubbs, Kyser, and Planet Waves for virtual tunings. The big PW with spring tension adjustment is kind of cool because it can be more easily bent for fretboard radius matching than others. The longer Shubb capo is for 12 string, the straight ones for nylon strings, etc.
> View attachment 421561


He said a B team capo buddy, not the whole bloody alphabet.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Mark Brown said:


> He said a B team capo buddy, not the whole bloody alphabet.


OCD kicks in at weird times, doesn't it? Just offering alternatives.


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## Dru Edwards (9 mo ago)

Wardo said:


> I still have a couple of those Dunlop ratchet strap capos that I got in the 70s .. lol
> 
> I find the standard Schub to be adequate and they are not too big; some of those large clip on deals look like some kind of contraceptive device from the Victorian era. I also have a Schub capo which leaves the low E string open.


Wardo, do you mean one of these? I have one from the '80s. I didn't even know they were still in production but apparently L&M has then in stock. I think I'll pass.


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

My local music store didn't have any elastic capos and the next cheapest were D'Addario Artists at $22. So that's what I got. Seems to work fine, nice and light, easy to move. Pity it's so ugly.










It even has an extra doodad to attach a tuner and a little slot to hold a pick. I don't use a pick so maybe I'll use the slot to hold business cards.

I'd still like to try an elastic capo.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

Dru Edwards said:


> Wardo, do you mean one of these? I have one from the '80s. I didn't even know they were still in production but apparently L&M has then in stock. I think I'll pass.


Yeah, that’s it. I have one that’s flat and the other one has a bit of radius on it. I don’t remember them as being really all that bad and they were small and didn’t get in the way which is always a good thing.


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

Doug Gifford said:


> My local music store didn't have any elastic capos and the next cheapest were D'Addario Artists at $22. So that's what I got. Seems to work fine, nice and light, easy to move. Pity it's so ugly.
> 
> View attachment 421824
> 
> ...


Well,… I found the Shubb (I forget where) but I keep using this one because _it just works_. Kind of obtrusive and ugly but you put it on and the strings are clamped but still in tune. Gotta like that.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Schubb and nothing but

and get a couple more for spares if you tend to misplace them and have them turn up weeks later in a goofy place


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)




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## Eric Reesor (Jan 26, 2020)

Guitar101 said:


> I have 3 of the G7th capos. One is for a 12 string. I find they work better on the 3rd fret and up. On my acoustic, I find they can be just usable on the 2nd fret but too loose to use on the 1st fret. I did have an issue with one of them and G7 sent me a replacement so good customer service.


If you put a G7th capo on the third fret you don't get a G7 though. For that one would need to tune the guitar E, B, E, G#, B, D and possibly watch your guitar explode if the A and D strings are mediums or harder.
I started out at 14 years old on the guitar using asymmetric tunings and learning how to play melodies to the weird chords that one can produce. I was not that concerned with learning traditional harmony just making interesting combinations of sounds in rhythm patterns. I was on a planet of my own though and had to hide away to do it. I got a new set of strings and a strapo capo for Christmas in 1966. BIG MISTAKE the noise was horrendous, and my mother and father decided that amplified guitar was not going to happen very much longer in the house. It drove our cat Smokie nuts. But then again taking the easy way out on the guitar was not my idea.

That being said the technique of using a capo on a classical to shorten the scale length and play in a different key is a good way to learn difficult first position pieces of music before you play them in the open position.
It is a very good thing to be able to hear and read in every key in every position and modulate freely. Very good ear training the same as learning a tune in the major key and then transposing the melody into the minor and vice versa.

But if you need speed and easy chops the capo can prove to be a blast in open tunings but has some serious musical limitations unless you create something totally new and different like Bo Diddley did. In short capo is great for musical inventiveness on the guitar but can become too much of a crutch if how best to use one is misunderstood.

For sure get another Shub, I swear by them, other less adjustable cheap crapos tend to get sworn at and are best used to close large garbage bags IMO. One corntraption capo put a ding on the bass side of the neck on my old Tama years ago, then I got a Shub and have never looked back.


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