How does a dobro capo work?

Ron Victoria · From: New Jersey, USA

I went to the folk festival today and saw Joe Wills play with his band. You may have seen his announcement posts. Anyway, he was playing dobro. For a few songs, he put on a capo. We showed it to me after playing but I still can't understand how it does the job w/o blocking under the strings. I've seen lap capos which actually create a solid bridge under the strings but can't understand how this works w/o any chatter. He let me try playing his dobro which was a first for me. I sat in the grass and played it like my lap steel. I'm not ready to give up my Stringmaster yet!!!!

Ron

Jerry Erickson · From: Atlanta,IL 61723

Ron, I've got one and I'm amazed that it works! I'm guessing that it works because it's stopping the string from vibrating behind it,thereby shortening the string lenght and raising the pitch of the string(s).

Mark Eaton · Posted 29 Apr 2006 11:34 pm

Yes-I would think it's stopping the string from vibrating behind it, and the theory I have heard extolled is that the better dobro capos have more mass than the not-so-good.

Like the Bradley, and the new Scheerhorn capo, which is heavier and thus contains more mass than the old Scheerhorn/Flux capo.

Since there is no clamping mechanism to the neck like a regular guitar capo, that exerts pressure, then a certain amount of mass must be involved to do the job.

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Mark

[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 01 May 2006 at 10:37 AM.]

Archie Nicol R.I.P. · From: Ayrshire, Scotland

Here's a Beard capo.
Hopefully you can see how it works from the picture.

[This message was edited by Archie Nicol on 30 April 2006 at 03:35 AM.]

Don Sulesky · From: Citrus County, FL, Orig. from MA & NH

I have this capo and like it much better than the Shubb I had before. This capo will also work with the lower string heights found on some Regals. The padding behind the bone nut dampens the harmonic overtones.
Don

[This message was edited by Don Sulesky on 30 April 2006 at 03:49 AM.]

Steinar Gregertsen · From: Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.

Here's a pic of the Beard from another angle:

Steinar

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"Play to express, not to impress"
www.gregertsen.com
Southern Moon Northern Lights

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

There are a couple of brands of Dobro capo that actually do clamp to the neck, but they require the string clearance to be pretty much exact, and don't fit every brand.
Most of the others work on some principle of clamping to the strings, while not touching the neck, as in the Beard photos here.

I have a number of different brands, and prefer the Bradley and Deneve for the mass and inability to lose the little screw, since they both work with a cam and lever. The Deneve is pretty massive, and sounds best to me.

There's also a brand called the Riden capo, shows up on ebay, which is basically a plastic bar just over the width of the string height, which you tilt into position under the strings just behind the fret. Good idea, but the plastic material robs tone.

Charles Davidson · From: Phenix City Alabama, USA

I bought one from Bobbe a few years back that worked great ,it was a shubb.Very easy to use.Check his site out,think he still has them.

Mark Eaton · Posted 1 May 2006 9:44 am

Shubb is the most well-known of the clamping dobro capos, and no doubt this is one of the brands that Mark Van Allen was referring to, and I neglected to mention these types in my post above.

That is because unless you have just about the perfect string height, which apparently Charles does on his guitar-they don't work very well-and this is why you don't see them very often on pro players dobros. Actually, I have never seen a Shubb on a top pro's dobro. Shubb apparently does a good job on distribution, because you find these capos in a lot of walk-in retail guitar shops, whereas just about all of the other capos have to be purchased mail order.

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Mark

Charles Davidson · From: Phenix City Alabama, USA

Mark,You're right the string height has to be right for the shubb capo to work,My strings were a tad high,but no problem at all lowering the nut to make it fit right.The shubb is a little expensive but worth it.

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