i was going to play a song in F today on my Weiss. So I grabbed a Beard Wave Capo and tightend it up. But the third string was dead. I couldn't tighten it enough. I have never capoed my Weiss before, but Capo my Reso all the time. I checked string diameter and height and everything checks out. The Capo works fine on the Reso. Any ideas?
5 Comments |
 | Bob Blair says:
12/11/2016 7:53:36 AM
That's one of the reasons I had Neil Russell make me a shorter scale instrument that I could tune up to F or even G. I just don't get the level of sustain out of a weiss with a capo. Sometimes I like the sound and I do it for particular tunes, but it's a different instrument with a capo on. I just sat down with my Benoit Cajunborne and used three different caps to bring it up to E and F. The best in terms of the dead string issue is the Charlie's Slide Pro. My results with the Wave are similar to yours, and the same goes for the Flux.
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 | Niels Andrews says:
12/11/2016 9:11:18 AM
I guess it must be an issue with the string diameter dropping from the A to the F#. The Beard does the top three and bottom three in different groups. But yes it does kill the sustain more so than a reso.
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 | Slidennis says:
12/16/2016 8:37:50 AM
I have the same issue on the Weissenborn when using the conventional Weissie string sets. It is caused by a mismatch between the design of the capo and the string sets we use. Yes, the basic issue is the string gauge/diameter as you suspect.
You can either place a small piece of extra material (rubber or vinyl maybe) to hold that string more firmly in the capo or use a larger diameter string. Tightening won't alleviate the issue on any of the capos I have tried. That'll just compress the windings/wraps on the other strings, eventually killing those strings.
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 | hollowneck says:
1/9/2017 10:32:22 AM
A capo does compromise the tone, even with lower timbre 2nd and 3rd fret positions. The only reliable solution is to have a custom capo made for your specific instrument. See my photos here on the forum for my Martin Gross custom capo (go to my "photos" in my Avatar). I use capos only for special tunings and only on a few tunes - and it works beautifully. The capo in my pics is a custom one that permits me to have alternate open 1st as well as 6th string tunings- which are truly unique.
For reference, I tune to A=415 (not 440) and also most of my playing is in open F and chordal variations (6th/9th/11th/dim, etc.). Some of these require a Peterson Strobe tuner for better intonation BTW. My string sets are all Pearse Weissenborns with subs on the second string typically (a phosphor bronze wound 18). I use different string sets across 5 instruments - all tuned differently. I am a retired pro audio guy and 30 year Weissenborn composer and tone has been at the very top of my playing/composing priorities. Gear certainly matters and a custom capo will help with higher neck positions - however, the two most important characteristics of musicians (regardless of instrument) are intonation (bar AND right hand technique for us lap players) and timing. The first will be achieved with consistent practice. Timing can't be; you either have it - or you don't.
Search Martin Gross in this forum- or in Google. Martin is in Germany, speaks English and he'll make you a custom capo for your instrument! Hope this info is helpful.
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 | Liz Williams says:
3/28/2017 5:04:37 PM
Bob, what string gauges do you use to get up to F and G on your short scale? I've got a Bear Creek Kona Rocket (23" scale) I'd like to tune higher.
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