Thalia Capos: A Better Mousetrap

Wildgift · #1 10-21-2014, 11:21 PM

These guys are tearing up Kickstarter with a clever and beautiful take on the capo. They just hit a stretch goal and are offering black chrome. Check it out. A great story and compelling product.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...a-guitar-capos

CyberFerret · #2 10-21-2014, 11:43 PM

There has been another 4 page thread discussing this project here:

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=360714

I personally think it is a good idea and supported their project with a contribution. Great to see that they have met their stretch goals and are doing more...

cotten · #3 10-21-2014, 11:55 PM

They have my support. Will they be better in practice? We'll see, but I like see for now.

cotten

rz1 · #4 10-22-2014, 09:39 AM

I pledged as well.

jgmaute · #5 10-22-2014, 10:06 AM

I also posted this in the other thread that is running about this capo. I asked them this question this morning

Quote:

The capo looks great however I'm concerned about the weight. I currently use a G7 which seems heavy compared to my other capos. I just weighed it and it weighs 2.7 oz. You state that the Thalia is about 1/2 pound, which would be 8 oz. How does that impact the balance of the guitar? Thanks for your help. Joan

This is the response I got (fairly quickly I might add.)

Quote:

Chris & Thalia Bradley
Oct 22, 2014

I must have mis-weighed the capo when I said that in the design video because I just reweighed it and it is 90grams or 3 1/4oz. So yes, it is heavy in comparison to other capos that are made of aluminum; and a tad heavier than the G7. But i have never had anyone complain about the weight, usually they like the sturdiness of the feel. If you feel the G7 is too heavy then ours will definitely feel heavier than that.

Thanks
Chris

P.S. I just updated the project to highlight the correct weight, so thanks for helping me figure out that I had made an error.

ronmcc4 · #6 10-22-2014, 10:12 AM

Glad to see the correction. I couldn't imagine an 8 ounce capo.

ThaliaCapos · #7 10-22-2014, 10:19 AM

Hi everyone!

I am the co-inventor of the Thalia Capo and I wanted to thank those forum members who have backed our kickstarter campaign and given us a shot. I know that there are a lot of questions about our new capo design. So I am happy to answer any questions that you might have here directly... (assuming this is appropriate. I have signed on as a forum sponsor but I must admit that I am new to this forum so if I am violating anything by responding directly in this thread please let me know

Also, we know that there hasn't been much video of people actually using our capo to date. We aim to solve that in the next 24 hours. We invited over 9 great guitarists yesterday, gave them a Thalia Capo for 15 minutes to play with and then shot video of them using it. This includes guitarists from a wide variety of styles including: Flamenco, Brazilian, Rock, Blues Slide, Jazz, Country, Folk, etc. We even threw in some banjo... We are editing this now and hope to start releasing some new videos today so that you can see it in use and hear from guitarists what they think. So hopefully that will shed a bit more light on the functionality and usability of our design.

If you have any questions for me, I am happy to answer.

Thanks,
Chris Bradley

Kip Carter · #8 10-22-2014, 12:04 PM

Chris,
Glad you joined us as a sponsor! A lot of excitement about your capo.

ronmcc4 · #9 10-22-2014, 12:15 PM

Hey Chris - welcome! I'm in as a supporter. Those look a lot better and easier than what I'm using now. :-)

kydave · #10 10-22-2014, 12:19 PM

That capo seems to be bucking the trend of small-is-better.
I think the trend is good.
I don't see making a fairly bulky capo as a solution.

Toby Walker · #11 10-22-2014, 12:28 PM

Always like to see someone getting their business off the ground. Best of success to you Chris.

One question: I tend to bend my 2nd and 1st strings up a half to a whole step. Will your capo keep the strings from sliding from underneath?

ThaliaCapos · #12 10-22-2014, 01:17 PM

As far as going against the trend by being a bulkier capo, I guess we are guilty as charged. There are at least 3 reasons for this:

1) We wanted something that would be comfortable to squeeze when placing on and off the neck and having it too thin was just not as 'comfy. We started with something about the thickness of a Kyser and it just didn't feel that good. The part that you squeeze with your thumb has been sized so that it just feels right on your thumb.

2) When you slide it, we wanted something that you could easily grab onto and something super thin again didn't work nearly as well. That said, the fret pad comes down to an apex even though the body is wide so that the part that makes contact with the strings is actually narrow. Players have remarked that they really like this feature as is is very easy to see where you are placing the capo.

3) Ok, you can raz me all you want for this 3rd reason, but yes we wanted it a bit wider than most capos because we wanted a nice inlay area for our wood and shell inlays.

Now to the question of whether it will move the strings when bending...
I will answer that in my next post. Have to run!

Thanks!

Chris

Wildgift · #13 10-22-2014, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThaliaCapos

Hi everyone!

I am the co-inventor of the Thalia Capo and I wanted to thank those forum members who have backed our kickstarter campaign and given us a shot. I know that there are a lot of questions about our new capo design. So I am happy to answer any questions that you might have here directly... (assuming this is appropriate. I have signed on as a forum sponsor but I must admit that I am new to this forum so if I am violating anything by responding directly in this thread please let me know

Also, we know that there hasn't been much video of people actually using our capo to date. We aim to solve that in the next 24 hours. We invited over 9 great guitarists yesterday, gave them a Thalia Capo for 15 minutes to play with and then shot video of them using it. This includes guitarists from a wide variety of styles including: Flamenco, Brazilian, Rock, Blues Slide, Jazz, Country, Folk, etc. We even threw in some banjo... We are editing this now and hope to start releasing some new videos today so that you can see it in use and hear from guitarists what they think. So hopefully that will shed a bit more light on the functionality and usability of our design.

If you have any questions for me, I am happy to answer.

Thanks,
Chris Bradley

Chris, thanks, and welcome. I think it's not only permissible but awesome that you answer questions here. I'm a backer (Peter Rustin) and am very happy to find you here. You will find that there will be skeptics, but you also find a lot of support. I hope that your sponsorship here on AGF benefits your company and gets the puppy!

Best,
Peter

ThaliaCapos · #14 10-22-2014, 02:08 PM

So the question about whether this holds the string while bending is a good one. The answer is yes and no.

We realized we needed to get a lot more videos of guitar players using our capos so I invited 9 great guitarists (from all different styles, using all different kinds of guitars) over to my house on Monday (10/20/14) for a capofest of sorts. The premise was that none of these guitarists had ever seen the Thalia Capo before. So we gave it to them and let them play with it for 15 minutes and then we shot some video of them playing with it and got their reactions. We will be releasing these videos over the next week and hopefully some later today!

I immediately noticed that for a few of the players who do a lot of full step bends, that the strings were moving just a bit; but they were also moving back since the fret pad is slippery; so they were not as fully clamped down as on rubber clamp style capos. So you will have to evaluate what you feel about this. i specifically asked some of these players what they thought about this and they said that they didn't notice; they were bending by ear and not by feel. What they did say afterwards was that they were amazed that their guitar stayed in tune when they moved the capo. They said that they were used to having to retune every time they moved the capo and that ours was doing a way better job in that department than others they have used. SO while we will have to really study this I suspect that the reason for this is because the strings are "fretted" by our capo instead of truly clamped since the strings can slide just a bit.

So I'm sure this capo will not be for everyone, but from the feedback that I have received thus far, there are a lot of cool things that you can do with this capo that you just can't do with anything else.

Now, we also have some other things up our sleeves, that will allow us to meet the needs of a range of players and playing styles that we might not be able to hit with our standard capo... We have a capo "tuning kit" in the works that will allow you to easily swap out the fretpads on our capos. What this means is that you can swap out our standard sliding fretpad, for a traditional rubber clamp style if you prefer. We will also have fretpads for classical, 12-string and for guitars with extreme fretboard radiuses, such as 7.5inch or 16inch. This will be our approach vs. having a dozen different capos and will ensure that you can get a perfect fit for your guitar, banjo or whatever.

Thanks!

Chris

Kip Carter · #15 10-22-2014, 02:24 PM

Okay now I'm really getting excited about this.. I play a 12 string regularly and currently use a Kyser gator style capo. First thought when I saw yours was wow that looks a lot like G7's style only nicer. Then I saw that it was spring based vs cam of the G7 and realize they were totally different cats.

The Kyser works 'okay' for me. That is to say that it does the job intended but it is clumsy to put on and take off. Can't wait to try on of these on my 12 string.