Capos for lap steel guitars

Some people are surprised you can get a capo for a lap steel guitar so I thought I'd add this page to the site.

Beard

The first one I bought was a Beard brand. It seems to be brass construction with a bone "nut" but it could be synthetic. The problem with this design is that it has to be taken completely apart (see photo at right) in order to fit it to your instrument. So during a performance it can't be done really quickly and there's a very high risk of dropping the screw and losing it on a dark stage.

It measures 62mm x 24mm and weighs 91 grams.

GM

Then I discovered this GM brand capo, which is much easier to get on and off the instrument beacuse you simply slide it on and tighten the screw. This one weighs 149 grams. The main part measures 64mm x 28mm but the handle adds an extra 36mm to the length and substantially more to the weight.

Other recommended brands

When I posted the above info on a slide guitar Facebook group a few other members recommended other lap steel capos to me.

One is a custom made design by Martin Gross. They need to be custom made for individual instruments because the size is determined by the exact string height, so that the base of the capo can rest on the fingerboard thereby improving the tone and sustain. Frustratingly there are no contact details on his web site so I have no idea how you'd get hold of one.

Another recommendation was Charlie's Slide Pro Capos. The standard ones are for 6 stringed instruments but he can also build capos for anything up to 12 strings, you just need to provide the neck width.

Another recommendation was the capos made by Tim Scheerhorn, who also builds resonator guitars. Frustratingly, this guy does not even seem to have a web site so I have no idea how to order one.