Recommend capo for Mandolin??

[roylor4]

My wife has a great sounding Mando - an Eastman MD305. She bought a Kyser Mando capo and has to place it 5-6 times to get all eight strings to play properly. She has used guitar (Kyser style) capos on it to w/the same results. It seems the fretboard radius doesn't like flat(ish) capos.

Any reasonably priced options she should try??

Thanks in advance for your help.

[svea]

You can get the Shubb banjo capo with a radius on it, just be sure you order the correct one. It works fine on my Collings with a radius.

Capos are supposedly a no no for mandolins, according to the mandolin capo police. I haven't found much use for one on my mandolin yet, but it does come in handy on my octave mandolin. The neck on the regular scaled mandolin is not that long, and the capo really gets in the way for me. But your wife may have better luck that I did.

Svea

[roylor4]

Originally Posted by svea

You can get the Shubb banjo capo with a radius on it, just be sure you order the correct one. It works fine on my Collings with a radius.

Capos are supposedly a no no for mandolins, according to the mandolin capo police. I haven't found much use for one on my mandolin yet, but it does come in handy on my octave mandolin. The neck on the regular scaled mandolin is not that long, and the capo really gets in the way for me. But your wife may have better luck that I did.

Svea

Thanks for the recommendation.

hahaha - the mando police haven't caught up to her yet. She mostly plays banjo and is more confident in that role but many of our songs don't adapt as well to a banjo ergo the mandolin. Banjo fits our folk/bluegrass (and a lot of classic rock) stuff but the mando fits better for Radiohead and Alice in Chains. And yeah, we play an eclectic bunch of stuff.

Thanks again.

[Bingoccc]

I've put my G7th Nashville on mine and it worked fine. Just don't set it too deep. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/acces...nashville-capo

[Wade Hampton]

I have capos for all my mandolins, and while it's true that bluegrass mandolinists will openly and verbally scorn you for using a capo on a mandolin, those guys just about have kittens any time you do ANYTHING on a mandolin that Bill Monroe wouldn't have done....

So I don't let their browbeating affect me, I just do what I want.

As for the brand of capo, like Svea I also use and recommend Shubb banjo capos for use with mandolins.

In a pinch, just a regular Shubb guitar capo will work fine on a mandolin, but because it's so much wider than a mandolin fretboard, it DOES kind of look like orthodontic headgear when used that way:

So the Shubb banjo capo does have the advantage of being a little stealthier and less immediately visible when used on a mandolin. Not that that will placate the mandolin police, of course....

Anyway, all Shubb capos have the advantage of being adjustable when it comes to the tension. They are deservedly popular capos, because they work so well and basically last forever.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[roylor4]

Thanks for the responses guys. I just saw this one while I was checking out the Shubb's. Any love for the Paige capo?

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Paige-Ba...22-i2572549.gc

[HHP]

Curious what the practical advantage of a capo on a mandolin would be.

[wrightj]

I use the Paige on my Breedlove and it works fine. A little slow to get on or off or to move, but works well.

[GerryinAZ]

Originally Posted by HHP

Curious what the practical advantage of a capo on a mandolin would be.

The same practical advantage you get using a capo on a guitar, banjo, etc. Key changes. Some folks use them on Zouks and Octaves in partial 2 string capo configs for drone tunings.

The Bluegrass folks are the ones who poo-poo them. The rest of the world of mandolin players gets along just fine using them as desired.

I play Zouk and Octave mostly these days, and I enjoy transposing versus using a capo.

I rarely, if ever, use them on my mandolins, or mandolas. Even the smaller banjo capos are bulky on the smaller necks.

[roylor4]

Originally Posted by wrightj

I use the Paige on my Breedlove and it works fine. A little slow to get on or off or to move, but works well.

Thanks for the input. Is it faster to move than take off/put on?

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by roylor4

Thanks for the responses guys. I just saw this one while I was checking out the Shubb's. Any love for the Paige capo?

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Paige-Ba...22-i2572549.gc

Roylor, I've owned and used Paige capos but prefer the Shubbs. I found that the Paige took me a bit longer to get positioned and clamped in place than the Shubbs, but the main reason I prefer the Shubbs is that the Paige capos knock things a bit more out of tune than the Shubbs will.

So in addition to the small extra amount of time I needed to position the Paige, I needed more time still to get the tuning back to where it needed to be - the Paige tended to make the strings go sharper.

Now, part of the whole routine with any brand of capo is getting accustomed enough to their characteristics and quirks so that you can minimize that sort of downtime, and it well may be that I didn't spend enough time with the Paige to get as fast and accurate with it as I am with the Shubb. But in general, I've found that type of capo, whether the Paige or the John Pearse Ol' Reliable and others of that same general design, do tend to make the strings go sharp more than the Shubbs do.

Since mandolins tend to be a bit more demanding than guitars in terms of getting and keeping them in tune anyway, the additional burden of a capo that causes the strings to go sharp is more than I want to deal with.

But your mileage may vary. You might do well to buy and try both, and then decide which suits you better.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[roylor4]

Wade,

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I think I will see if the local GC has a Shubb for her to check out.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by roylor4

Wade,

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I think I will see if the local GC has a Shubb for her to check out.

You're welcome -I'm glad to be of some help.

If the Guitar Center store has any, they'll most likely be labeled as banjo capos. If they don't have them in stock, any online music retailers that cater to bluegrass and folk musicians should have them.

Elderly has a nickel plated Shubb for radiused fingerboards here:

http://www.elderly.com/accessories/items/C5R.htm

Other retailers carry it, as well.

Hope this helps.


whm

[aphillips]

I use a Paige capo on mine and i really like it. Intonation hasn't been an issue for me and it is easy to tighten it just enough.

[MikeVB]

I saw Darrell Scott using a capo on a mandolin several times. I wanted to pull him aside and tell he'll never get anywhere as a musician doing that, but I just hated to crush his dreams.