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MGR/Derek Mok « Planet Waves NS Capo »
Published on 09/04/06 at 15:00Primarily a singer, I've been playing guitar for about 10 years, been in a band (drummer!), and have continued to record and play with other musicians on a non-professional basis. My styles range from folk to hard rock, with heavy power-pop leanings -- Big Star, not Green Day.
I first read about this new capo design in the UK magazine Guitar & Bass. The description seemed to fit exactly what I'd been searching for this past year, so I picked it up at Guitar Center for $16.
My God...this is one great piece of gear. The concept behind the design is so simple you wonder why nobody else had come up with it before. Two of my guitars -- a Telecaster and a Taylor T5 -- have been giving me problems with capos because most of them clamp down so hard they pull the strings out of tune.
On recommendation from a Sam Ash employee, I'd bought a Shubb S series, but it still didn't do the job. This Planet Waves NS Capo (the initials stand for the designer, Ned Steinberger of headless Steinberger guitars fame) did the trick instantly. The action on the dial is smooth, and its boast of "ultra-light aerospace-grade aluminum" is no lie: At first I'd wondered how it would mattered, but the difference was clear once I'd clamped it onto the guitar. Most capos, thanks to extended arms and other mechanisms, make your guitar neck feel more awkward. The NS Capo is so efficient and light that you don't feel it's there. And you can get it to clamp down hard or softly, so the rubber pad would probably last longer.
The Guitar & Bass magazine accurately pointed out that, since you can adjust this capo to have a very light touch, it can also fall down if set like this. So you must clamp it with the dial on the bass end of the back of the neck, so the capo clamps down. But other than this barely relevant limitation, there's nothing I don't like.
I don't know what this capo's durability is like, and given the aluminium construction, my worry would be heat, and whether this capo might warp under hot stage lights or if put on top of a powerful amp. But time will tell.
This may just be the best capo I've tried. As long as it holds up on the durability front, I might just replace my Kyser capos with this unit. Ned Steinberger is indeed a design genius.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I first read about this new capo design in the UK magazine Guitar & Bass. The description seemed to fit exactly what I'd been searching for this past year, so I picked it up at Guitar Center for $16.
My God...this is one great piece of gear. The concept behind the design is so simple you wonder why nobody else had come up with it before. Two of my guitars -- a Telecaster and a Taylor T5 -- have been giving me problems with capos because most of them clamp down so hard they pull the strings out of tune.
On recommendation from a Sam Ash employee, I'd bought a Shubb S series, but it still didn't do the job. This Planet Waves NS Capo (the initials stand for the designer, Ned Steinberger of headless Steinberger guitars fame) did the trick instantly. The action on the dial is smooth, and its boast of "ultra-light aerospace-grade aluminum" is no lie: At first I'd wondered how it would mattered, but the difference was clear once I'd clamped it onto the guitar. Most capos, thanks to extended arms and other mechanisms, make your guitar neck feel more awkward. The NS Capo is so efficient and light that you don't feel it's there. And you can get it to clamp down hard or softly, so the rubber pad would probably last longer.
The Guitar & Bass magazine accurately pointed out that, since you can adjust this capo to have a very light touch, it can also fall down if set like this. So you must clamp it with the dial on the bass end of the back of the neck, so the capo clamps down. But other than this barely relevant limitation, there's nothing I don't like.
I don't know what this capo's durability is like, and given the aluminium construction, my worry would be heat, and whether this capo might warp under hot stage lights or if put on top of a powerful amp. But time will tell.
This may just be the best capo I've tried. As long as it holds up on the durability front, I might just replace my Kyser capos with this unit. Ned Steinberger is indeed a design genius.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com