The G7th Capo

The G7th Capo - Reviewed

With so many different capo's already available why market yet another design? The G7th’s designers answer to this is to produce a capo that's better than all existing designs.

The Capo design

As all good design students know, design has two aspects – form and function. In form the G7th capo certainly looks and feels amazing, although its rounded, hi-tech, satin-chrome appearance is, by now, either clichéd or classic, depending on your point of view.
Structurally the capo consists of two cast metal jaws joined by a pivot. The really ingenious part is that the pivot incorporates a unidirectional clutch that allows the two jaws to be squeezed together, but doesn't allow them to open. This clutch action is achieved through the use of a constricting spring, where friction in one direction unwinds and loosens the coils and friction in the other direction tightens them. A short black plastic lever, protruding from the pivot, is provided to loosen the clutch so the jaws can be opened.

The Capo in use

To use the G7th capo you first slip the clutch, by pushing on the lever, so the jaws can be spread open with the fingers. The capo can then be placed over the top edge of the neck and the jaws squeezed together from the lower edge, using the thumb and fore finger of the right hand. The capo is held in place due to the resilience and friction of the rubber lining the jaws and the resilience of the strings. Two large triangular 'teeth' molded into the rubber, lining the lower jaw, help to increase the contact pressure where they meet the neck. These two 'teeth' also help align the capo with the neck, so the upper jaw is putting equal pressure across all the strings.
In use the G7th capo is pretty much faultless, although opening the jaws, particularly when the capo is off the guitar, takes a little getting used to. The innovative clutch system adjusts to the neck and strings, in any position on the neck, so that only sufficient pressure is placed on each string to provide a clean, buzz free, barre. This means the G7th doesn't pull the tuning sharp and it's possible make fine tuning adjustments to each string with the capo in place. Although the manufacturers don't mention it, it is probably best not to leave the capo in position on the neck when not in use, because the rubber on the upper jaw tends to 'remember' the impressions formed by pressure against the strings.

Conclusion

Well designed, high performance products like this, that are sensibly priced, certainly deserve to succeed. Fortunately the G7th capo has been selling like the proverbial hot cakes since its introduction.

© Terry Relph-Knight 01-12-2004

Pros- A beautifully designed device in both form and function. Easy and efficient to use, this capo automatically adjusts to neck size and string tension, eliminating the usual tuning problems.

Cons - Can't be clipped to the headstock when not in use. It's so desirable it's prone to getting nicked at gigs. Although fitting the capo into position is easy and foolproof, opening the jaws, particularly when off the instrument, takes a little practice.

Verdict - A clever and elegant design this is almost certainly the best capo on the market - and it's British !

Availability - www.G7th.com

Capodastra - What they are and how they work

A capodastra or capo as they are usually referred to, is a mechanical clamp that can be fitted to a guitars neck to barre the strings. This is a simple way to change pitch in steps of a semitone and allows the use of a relatively small range of common chord shapes to play in different keys.

Players often use a capo to play in a key that is comfortable for their own, or other singers, voices. Another use is to provide harmonies and a change in tonal colour when double tracking guitar.

A capo has to hold down all six strings behind a fret in the same way that the left index finger is used when playing barre chords. Ideally a capo should provide exactly enough down pressure on each string to produce a clean 'open' note without buzzing. The usual problem with capos is that it's difficult to get all six strings playing cleanly without over pressuring some, or all of the strings and driving the tuning sharp. A general problem for capos is that they don't adjust for fingerboard camber, so very often the middle strings get clamped harder than the outer strings. Usually capo bars are either straight or only slightly curved and they rely on the resilience of the padding material, that comes between the bar and the strings, to spread the pressure across all the strings.

Generally there are two basic capo designs; those that use a spring or elastic band, to provide the clamping pressure and those that use a screw, sometimes combined with a cam action.

The spring type capos are convenient to use, because they don't need to be adjusted to suite the guitar neck at different positions, but they are prone to over pressure and consequent tuning problems.

The screw / cam capos are fiddly to use since they have to be adjusted for each position on the neck.