One of the artists I play with likes to sing in A flat, which means I have to capo up on the dobro. I have been using a Beard capo, but it really does a number on the tone. What are you all using for capos these days?

Thanks so much for reading my post and for any recommendations you may have.

The Bradley capo-from Elmer Bradley. This one is very good-if you're interested I can dig up his phone number.

The newly redesigned, with more mass Scheerhorn capo from Tim Scheerhorn which can be seen here:
http://www.elderly.com/accessories/items/SRGC1.htm

I have a Beard. They are all tone killers to a certain degree, but somehow when I hear the great players like Jerry Douglas or Rob Ickes use them I don't seem to notice it hardly at all.

I guess it goes back to the old "it's all in the hands."

I never use a capo myself, but I don't normally do a lot of that hammer on/pull off stuff that some Dobro® players do. That's just me, though.

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A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

my e-mail address: tonfeld@aol.com

Thanks for your replies, any further suggestions or "feedback" would be greatly appreciated.

You're right-he pretty much sticks with open G-unlike JerryD who will play a fair amount of songs in a dobro tuned to D, and very occasionally E or even F.

When I saw Rob last December with Joe Craven he capo'd on the second fret during a couple of fiddle tunes that Joe was playing.

Grant-was that the new Scheerhorn capo that I posted the link to? Or was it the old Scheerhorn/Flux capo co-designed with Jerry Douglas. This new one has a lot more mass-and mass is the key word here for decent tone.

The Bradley has a lot of mass.

Gerald-I'll find that number and e-mail you.

All these reso capos seem to leave at least a bit to be desired, even the best ones.

6-string players are usually pretty happy with one or two capos which I guess is related to the fact that they are solidly "anchored" to the guitar neck and it just plain works better.

The whole dobro floating capo concept seems to have an inherent level of compromise to it, and dobroists seem to get on a search for the Holy Grail of capos, and usually end up with a collection of these things. I have a friend that calls it his "capo museum."

I'm still not very comfortable with one-until this year, I never had one, and I have been an off-and-on dobroist since the mid 70's.

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Mark

[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 06 October 2005 at 12:58 PM.]

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Sho~Buds,Fender Steelkings,Twins,Strats and Tele's, Tut Taylor
reso's

I really enjoy the movement of other scales, like open D, with the capo, as in playing in Eb capoed at fret 1. The flow and phrasing is completely different than playing without a capo.

I'm one of the guys with a capo museum, and my favorite is the Deneve. More mass than just about any of them, no little screw to lose like the Beard, and the flip latch is on top out of the way unlike the Bradley (which has a nicer finish, though). It's also one of the cheapest around.

Dick Deneve 1333 Oneida River Rd.Pennellville, NY 13132 315-695-6342

That L bracket thing sounds a little too hillbilly to me-maybe I'm not seeing it in my mind's eye correctly-but it strikes me that the thing could hack up your fretboard, and the side of the neck.

I paid too much for my first string reso to be hackin' up the fretboard!

With the improvement in capos these days, even though they're far from perfect-I can't see reinventing the wheel by going the hillbilly route!

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Mark

[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 07 October 2005 at 10:25 AM.]

A large-diameter screwdriver or similar round shop tool also works well in a pinch, stuck under the strings at the right place.

These home remedies, Kelly Joe autograph models, and hillybilly engineering contraptions sound like too much work.

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Mark

[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 11 October 2005 at 01:39 AM.]