The Steel Guitar Forum

I've had mine over a month now (purchased at Resosummit). I use it exclusively, replacing my Scheerhorn and Beard Wave capos. It does the job.

Mine had its first outing last Sunday at my steel club meeting & I don't believe I'll be going back to anything else.
It caused considerable interest amongst the other members.

Still happy with mine. Haven't gotten the knack of using it one handed, but then I've always been maladroit.

Eugene Cole wrote:Would any of you that now have one of these capo's care to comment on your longer-term impressions of this capo?

After getting some gig use and practice sessions with it, I still like mine a lot. I've had problems with some capos getting the positioning right and having to adjust and readjust for intonation. This goes on quickly and sits where you think it ought to sit. If it needs fine tuning, that's a breeze. I love not having to turn a center pull screw and there seems to be a fairly wide range of tension on the pull that works for a clean sound. Works on all my lap steel, too. I think it's a keeper.

I got an email in December from Charlie. He had read my Post and he wanted to to try building a Capo which would fit my Dobro. A few emails and some delay on my part later I sent him payment via PayPal.

By the way: Charlie offered me a full refund if I did not like the Capo.

I received the Capo from him in the mail today and this evening I tried it out.

I have a G-M Capo from the U.K. which I ordered shortly after I got my current Dobro. This capo works OK but took some time to adjust so that the pressure bar applied pressure across all of the strings so that I did not get string buzz.

The new Capo slipped on pretty easily and sounds better than the G-M capo I had been using.

Below are pictures of both Capo's for comparison.

This capo is a keeper.

Impressive!

I've been gigging with mine a lot. Works great. I find there is a sweet spot on the cam force. Squeeze it tight, but not too tight.

Also, my Charlie capo was very effective at putting a dent in the face of my new NatiHorn when I dropped it about 3 feet onto the guitar. Duh! Oh well, now it's really mine. : )

I like the usability and sound of mine a lot...it is the best capo I have ever seen or used.

The only difficulty I have is that it sticks up quite a bit and gets in the way when I'm playing fast fiddle tunes on the 1st or 2nd fret...I assume the solution is more practice...

Don Barnhardt wrote:...I use a homade gadget that works on the the old church key method and I'm up and running...

You can just slip a short piece of rod under the strings. That way you can slide back over the rod if you want to, and a short piece of rod, or a suitably-sized tone bar, would save some money.

Dane Carlson wrote:...The only difficulty I have is that it sticks up quite a bit and gets in the way when I'm playing fast fiddle tunes on the 1st or 2nd fret...I assume the solution is more practice...

With a short piece of rod you don't have that problem.

Alan Brookes wrote:With a short piece of rod you don't have that problem.

Yeah....there's only the small problem of "Tone Death"...

not necessarily. i use an under string brass capo i made many years ago that sounds pretty good.

And if you've got an under-string rod arrangement that through a notch, little feet or a fretless fretboard can be positioned exactly under the 5th, 7th, 12th or 19th fret, you can then pluck or beat on the strings behind the "capo" and pretend you're a hammered dulcimer player. The dulcimer, not the player. Hammered, that is.

Hi you'll.Charlie here.I'm trying to gather information on string widths for different brands of dobros(resos) and lap steels.I need the measurement across from the first string to the last string at the nut and at the 7th fret.I need the measurements mostly for 8 string and 10 string instruments unless there is a 6 string out there that is unusually wide.I sure would appreciate any responses.You can send them to me via my contact page at charliescapo.com or post them here.Thanks.

Have my Charlies capo now for a week or so. It's great. Clever design, well executed.

My thanks to Troy for starting this thread. First I'd heard of it.

I was offered to check out Charlie's capo by another player at the SPBGMA bluegrass festival in Nashville this past weekend. I really liked the capo after playing it and asked where the vendor was located as I was going to buy one. Needless to say, Charlie wasn't there but I have his card to order one. I don't use a capo all that often but I do like the design.

I love my Charlie Capo, I've had mind about a month.
It is the fastest to put on or take off and easy to adjust. I to thought it was a little high priced until I got mine now I thank it's very fair prices.
Thanks Charlie. Leon

Hi you'll Charlie here.Will have a booth at resogat this year.Should have plenty of my capos for anyone to try out.

My Clinesmith reso came with inlays instead of frets, Ala Weissenborn, therefore I have only been able to use floating capos. After 7 to 8 months playing with my Charlie Capo it still feels close to not having a capo on. Charlie is a craftsman with a neat idea and I am glad to have spent the money.

I have been using my Slide-Pro for a couple of months now. And I still love it.

I really do not use a capo much as they are unnecessary except when one is using open strings in combination with barred strings like the Bluegrass style players do.

That said this is best Reso capo I have ever owned.

I am grateful to Charlie for offering to make one that would work on my Dobro. That kind of going the extra mile is pretty rare these days.

Still delighted and still glad to have it.

I have one also it is fantastic.

I just received my Charlie's Capo today and a quick test yielded outstanding results. Super quick to use and sounds really good, far better in both departments than my Beard Wave capo.

I just found this old thread through another post. This capo's been out for a while now. Would anyone care to update it's use?

Ease of installation is not really a huge issue for me. I'm primarily interested in how it affects tone and volume. There is a noticeable roll off of ea. on all the ones I've used. Out of all of those, the old Leno is my favorite so far.

Shoving a tone bar under the strings beats any capo, and you can do that on Dobro, lap steel or pedal steel. What's more it allows sliding down to the capo position, without anything in the way of the tone bar.

It's pretty darn unanimous amongst the pro players that have reviewed the different brands of capos: Charlie's Capo is the best--best tone, easiest to use, best built.
I bought mine from Rob Ickes. robickes.com

chris ivey wrote:not necessarily. i use an under string brass capo i made many years ago that sounds pretty good.

update this to....i got mine from charlie and it's the best!