psikes - Posted - 12/12/2023:  15:54:20

I already posted a review on this capo but I’m not sure how many folks venture into the review section so I wanted to post a short one here as well. I have tried many capos and been happy with several of them including the Walworth, Scheerhorn, Bradley and now the Charlie’s Slide Pro. Of those 4, the Charlie’s capo is far and away the winner for me. It is to my ears simply sonically invisible. By that I mean it is hard to hear a difference with it installed or removed. Crystal clear notes, great intonation and for me, very easy to install in tune.

I’m not getting rid of the Bradley or Scheerhorn but the Charlie’s is my go to capo at this point. Simply amazing.

Phil

PancakeBillW - Posted - 12/13/2023:  06:25:12

I had the Beard for many years and switched to the Charlie. I don't often use it, but when I do, I really appreciate the ease and sound.

doug662 - Posted - 12/13/2023:  07:00:41

Loving my Charlie's

Bigred - Posted - 12/13/2023:  11:16:52

I have 2 Charlie's,a Sheerhorn, and an old Leno...Charlie's is a clear winner to my ears.

sbaumann - Posted - 12/13/2023:  12:32:13

I'll let you know Christmas morning. 

WGale - Posted - 12/14/2023:  07:26:57

I used a Leno for many years then the Beard Wave. Both worked very well. Now I use the Charlie's Slide Pro which in my opinion is superior in tone and ease of installation (one handed).

LukeL - Posted - 12/15/2023:  10:52:21

Charlie’s is the best there is in my opinion.

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 12/15/2023:  13:44:10

As fellow longtime member badger likes to say, many of us have dobro "capo museums" at home. 

The squareneck dobro has always been chasing the flattop acoustic guitar in regards to having high performance accessories like capos and pickups. It's simply a more difficult instrument to deal with in those situations 

There are dozens of flattop capos that do a fine job and are barely noticeable to the listener.

With dobros it has been a long journey to try and build a better mousetrap. I don't think there is any question that if it works with your particular guitar, the Shubb dobro capo is the best of the lot because of the clamping mechanism that goes under the neck because it's the closest thing to a flattop capo. But it can be a pain in the a$$ to get it dialed in. Compared to the typical simple to operate flattop capo, it is in the realm of a Rube  Goldberg invention. It has sort of a "steampunk" vibe. 

So the "floating" capos where the unit is affixed above the strings have usually become the preferred  dobro capos  for ease of operation. 

As far as transparency  with Charlie's and hearing no difference in tone vs. not using a capo - I don't buy it.  I have read where some players say it's transparent several frets up the neck and it sounds the same to them with the capo in place and played open as compared to barring the same fret.

I know my ears aren't what they used to be as I continue to add birthdays to the calendar. "Can you turn the TV down - it's pretty loud!" I have been getting that one in my household more in recent years. 

I coined a phrase on one of the dobro forums a bunch of years ago  - we're trying to "limit tone death" when we use a "floating" capo.  

In other words, to my ears anyway - all of the floaters contribute at least a little to tone death. IMO tied for first place are Charlie's and the Bradley. I put on Charlie's probably more often than the Bradley - I think it might have an edge in ease of use.  I like them both. 

But I can still hear a touch of tone death with either of them.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong. 

Edited by - MarkinSonoma on 12/15/2023 13:46:23

va picker - Posted - 12/15/2023:  17:08:35

I've used a Beard Wave capo for a long time but decided last year to buy a Charlies Capo. I find that the Beard is faster for me to change in a band setting, maybe because of it being smaller. I also think that the Charlies Capo may sound better but I may be fooled by its mass thinking that it sounds better because it's bigger.
In the end, I keep both in my guitar case & use both from time to time. I'm happy with either.

AK Slider - Posted - 12/15/2023:  17:34:38

I don’t disagree with any of Mark’s post…especially the part about any capo not changing the tone. I can hear the capo sound immediately, even Charlie’s which I like and use on my DoubleShot equipped dobros. Fortunately when the bar is down the capo sound is out of the equation and for me that is most of the time. I’ve conducted capo contests at ResoSummit over the years and to my ears the one that compromised tone the most was the Walworth! The lightest weight and most “tone death” of them all. My favorite is the Shubb if it fits like Mark says. Unfortunately the DoubleShot roller bridge is too high for the stock Shubb but I haven’t given up yet, somewhere I have the special piece for 1/2” high action.

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 12/15/2023:  19:25:09

I think some players  may not be too consciously aware of the tone death because of the songs where capos are often used. 

A typical scenario is something like a fast fiddle tune in the key of A where it's ballpark 150 BPM. In those fast numbers you're not spending much time at all on an open string with the capo on the 2nd fret. 

People say "Rob Ickes doesn't use capos, or he rarely does." True about the rarely part, but I've seen him use capos at different times throughout his career. But it would be on something like a fast  fiddle tune in the Blue Highway years or some high speed extravaganza these days trying to keep up with Trey Hensley. 

On the real fast numbers with good players, tone m death on the capo'd opens strings aren't very noticeable - it's almost like dobrolic "sleight of hand."

If you just gotta have open string licks available on a slow ballad in the key of A that runs about 60 BPM instead of playing the song without a capo, then you might be more conscious of tone death due to longer duration of notes. 

Edited by - MarkinSonoma on 12/15/2023 19:26:33

Lounge Primate - Posted - 12/16/2023:  08:15:52

quote:

---

Originally posted by AK Slider

I don’t disagree with any of Mark’s post…especially the part about any capo not changing the tone. I can hear the capo sound immediately, even Charlie’s which I like and use on my DoubleShot equipped dobros. Fortunately when the bar is down the capo sound is out of the equation and for me that is most of the time. I’ve conducted capo contests at ResoSummit over the years and to my ears the one that compromised tone the most was the Walworth! The lightest weight and most “tone death” of them all. My favorite is the Shubb if it fits like Mark says. Unfortunately the DoubleShot roller bridge is too high for the stock Shubb but I haven’t given up yet, somewhere I have the special piece for 1/2” high action.

---

Greg, have you at Reso-Summit, or elsewhere, conducted a capo tone test on dobros electrified (Nashville - Aura set-up) to see if the different models make any difference?

On my electric lap-steels I've noticed that I can't tell the difference between my Charlie's, Scheehorn, or Walworth. 

Edited by - Lounge Primate on 12/16/2023 08:16:40

AK Slider - Posted - 12/16/2023:  08:37:17

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lounge Primate

quote:

---

Greg, have you at Reso-Summit, or elsewhere, conducted a capo tone test on dobros electrified (Nashville - Aura set-up) to see if the different models make any difference?

On my electric lap-steels I've noticed that I can't tell the difference between my Charlie's, Scheehorn, or Walworth. 

---

No I haven't done a comparison with dobros plugged in. The result may depend on what type of pickups are in play. Piezo pickups like the Nashville pick up everything including pick noise so I expect capo tone would come through loud and clear. I'm not surprised that a floating capo has little effect on a steel guitar. Most of what you hear from a lap steel is the string vibrating over a magnetic pickup. No pick noise, much less bar noise compared to a mic and a dobro. 

Lounge Primate - Posted - 12/16/2023:  10:00:31

Thanks Greg. Makes sense. I like the Charlie’s on my dobros , but much prefer the Walworth on my lap steel, because it’s little, pops on so quick and will clamp behind the nut on a diagonal for storage—always there for a quick grab. I’ll have to record the walworth vs. charlie’s thru the Nashville-Aura system and see what I get.

Interesting word, *capo*.  I looked it up:

"short for capotasto, from Italian, literally, head of fingerboard"

i think I'll come up with an Italian pasta dish called Capotasto. "Can't really tell if this tastes quite right"  ;-)

Edited by - Lounge Primate on 12/16/2023 10:09:34