Best capo for a Weissenborn?

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 19 May 2013 7:22 am

I've never played lap steel, Dobro or Reso with a capo but want to try it out. What's a good capo for Weissenborn? Will any Dobro Capo do the job - I would think so. The G7 capo for standard guitar is quick, easy and works flawlessly. That's what I want for the Weiss.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 19 May 2013 7:53 am

Andy, here is a thread from last fall to get you started on the subject:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... f0b9de91f4

Steve Lipsey · Post by **Steve Lipsey** » 19 May 2013 8:22 am

Andy-
I started that other capo thread (so that, rather than real knowledge, entitles me to reply)...

I ended up deciding that the Weissenborn was just meant to be played in the tuning it was in and I didn't need a capo to play in any key....the tone is more delicate and I figured it would suffer from a capo....and I used a lot of closed positions anyway, up and down the neck

And I'd guess that many Weissenborn players are playing solo and can just decide what key to play in...open D seems to be the key for solo playing...

On the other hand, I ended up selling it and getting a dobro, and got the Beard Wave, and am very happy with it...sounds nothing like real open strings, but on a dobro you just can't do those hammer-on/pull-off dobro licks without a capo, so it makes more sense.

If you want those dobro licks, you have to have a capo....otherwise, maybe not.

I seem to buy a standard capo every few years, decide I don't need it, and give it to a guitar player who doesn't know how to transpose keys, which I am positive is not your problem...

Would be curious to hear from other Weissenborn folks whether capos are common...

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 19 May 2013 9:10 am

In my years as a jazz snob, I always kind of looked down on capos for standard guitar but came to appreciate what good players did with theirs and their effectiveness for transposing while retaining open string sounds.

I bought one for standard guitar a while back and enjoy it. On Weissenborn, as you say, I usually play in open D and its variants or find things that work in the keys of A or E but it might be nice to access hammer ons in say, F#, so I was wondering what others have done.

Bob Blair · Post by **Bob Blair** » 19 May 2013 10:48 am

In that earlier thread I mentioned the Bradley. Since then I've used a Scheerhorn Flux and found it worked quite well. Both Dan Tyack and I used the Flux on my Benoit Cajunborne in our performances at the Phoenix show. I thought Dan sounded fantastic with and without it (its harder to judge your own sound, at least for me, but people with better ears than me said it sounded good in my set as well). On one blues tune Dan took it up to F, which is about has high as you could get away with. The Flux is light and compact.

Steve Lipsey · Post by **Steve Lipsey** » 19 May 2013 11:12 am

Easy to find posts both for and against any capo, but here is a tip for the Flux

http://www.reso-nation.org/forum/miscel ... work-great

Bob Blair · Post by **Bob Blair** » 19 May 2013 11:22 am

Andy, while it is true that most capos made for reso will work, the Shubb capos that clamp around the neck of a squareneck won't work on a Weissenborn style guitar. You need the kind that floats on the strings.

Peter Jacobs · Post by **Peter Jacobs** » 20 May 2013 4:58 am

I use either a Leno or a Scheerhorn (not the Flux, the newer one). They both work fine. The Leno is a little easier to get on. I like to play in D while using G tuning, so if the songs in E, I can keep my open strings.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 20 May 2013 5:49 am

Thanks folks

Tony Francis · Post by **Tony Francis** » 20 May 2013 3:45 pm

The problem with a capo on a Weissenborn is that it will suffer from a lack of bass and sustain. The 'sustain killer' moniker is true of ANY capo on a Weissenborn, however there are some better than others.

As mentioned above this mostly because of the common floating designs which offer no feedback of string energy to the guitar compared to a regular string nut.

Friend and member here (James Williamson) mentioned the Martin Gross capo. Martin is a great guy and made one for me, which is similar but much more refined to the model on his website. He also has some Weissenborn specific designs. Worth checking out.

James Williamson · Post by **James Williamson** » 21 May 2013 5:07 pm

As Tony mentioned I'm a big fan of the Martin Gross Capo...far and away the best I've ever found.

He's his link describing the design.

http://www.martingross.com/capo.htm

Good Luck,

james

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 21 May 2013 6:05 pm

What do Martin's capos cost?

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 21 May 2013 7:44 pm

If you have an original old Weiss, you will find that the strings are a bit low for most of the dobro "clamped-mass" capos out there. But I found that the Beard capo with the bone saddle on it works well.

John Pelz · Post by **John Pelz** » 21 May 2013 7:53 pm

Andy Volk wrote:What do Martin's capos cost?

I paid €60 (about $76 US) for my Martin Gross capo in August 2012. It's the only capo that I've used since!

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 22 May 2013 4:50 am

The capo on this clip seems to be constraining the instrument's tone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... In5M1nUZBQ#!

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 22 May 2013 6:45 am

That is probably the biggest disadvantage of a capo - it will constrict the tone of your instrument to some degree. A capo is extremely helpful if you're trying to use hammer ons and pull offs that you'd normally play in open position, but in a different key. The trade off is a difference in tone from your open position strings.

Some capos do better than others at minimizing this difference. Greg Booth did a demonstration at ResoSummit last year with a whole bunch of capos, showing how easy they were to put on and take off and playing examples of how they affected the tone.

James Williamson · Post by **James Williamson** » 22 May 2013 1:32 pm

Hi Andy,

I thnk the tone on that clip you posted would be a little thin no matter wheather it had a capo or not...the guitar is off axis to the mic so far from optimal sound...and don't know what that capo is...with the Martin Gross Capo, just think of sliding a new nut up the neck.

Tony Francis mentioned a Weissenborn specific design and I'd like to add that that design is meant to solve the neck width problem on a Weissenborn (since they flare around the 7th to 9th frets) but if you don't plan to use a capo that high up on the neck, his regular design is perfect and the advantage to the regular design is that both the high and low strings can be "tuned" with the nut/bolt combination to give you very fine adjustment for tuning (kind of one time adjustment).

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