Hi everyone, I have a faith all mahogany naked Venus 6 string. And both my schubb capo and a kyser capo cause the low E string to go slightly flat out of ture. It’s fine when capo is placed on 1st or 2nd Fret but any higher the low E sounds terrible. The rest of the strings sound fine. The guitar is in tune with no fret buzz anywhere on the neck without capo and harmonics at the 12th fret are in tune. So as far as I know is intonanated correctly. Has gauge 11-52 Martin sp strings fitted and have had 11s on since I bought it….any advice much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
cheers Mark.
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It looked like a bit of a faff to me at the time, but guess what I do now...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Tommy Emmanual also says to press down on your strings a couple of times after they’ve been capod and that usually means they become/ stay in tune. It does seem to work well
but I can’t today work out how a capo flattens a tone rather than sharpening it ?
Mine doesn't need a massive amount of tension, just enough to stay in tune.
Are G7 Capos better or just different? - Guitar Discussions on theFretBoard
(I seldom use capos, but never need to retune. I'm using a cheap D'Addario screw capo.)
This, especially with the Kyser - it’s the best position since it doesn't allow the strings to be bent down (and thus sharp) by the capo. The Shubb might need to be further away since it needs a bit of ‘give’ to lock (which is one reason I don’t like them).
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Just a thought, never leave any stone unturned.
If it isn't there's a problem with your guitar's intonation.
If it's in tune all the way up to 12th fret the tuning problems you're experiencing with your capos are because they're pulling your low e sharp (I'm right in thinking we've confirmed it's sharp, and not flat as in the OP?)
This is most likely down to the technique you're using to apply the capo and/or too much tension in the capo. The fact that the problem is exacerbated the farther up the neck you put the capo where the neck presumably gets thicker would partially explain this.
It could also be a mismatch between the radius of your fingerboard and that of your capos. A capo designed for a curved board will put greater force on the outer strings when placed on a flat board.
As Tannin/ICBM said above Kysers need to be applied right behind the fret crown, almost on top of the fret. My Kyser also had too much tension from the factory and was pulling strings sharp. I bent the piece that goes behind the neck ever so slightly and reversed the clear rubber sleeve so the thinner side was against the back of the neck and now it plays really nicely.
With the Shubb, do you adjust the tension screw depending where you're placing the capo? You'll need to loosen it slightly the farther up the neck you go to take account of the increased neck thickness.
Finally, I find it helps to be careful when placing the capo:
With your Kyser held open with your fretting hand place the pad across the strings and use your picking hand to press down on top of the bar that goes across the strings with just sufficient force to fret each string with equal pressure. Make sure the bar is perfectly parallel with the fret and that it is as close to the back of the fret as possible. Now hold it there with all the strings held lightly against the fret and slowly release the spring handle to allow the rear pad to rest on the back of the neck. Carefully does it.
With your Shubb open place the pad across the strings and use your picking hand to press down on top of the bar that goes across the strings with just sufficient force to fret each string with equal pressure. Make sure the bar is perfectly parallel with the fret and that it is fairly close to the back of the fret: 5-10mm. Now hold it there with all the strings held lightly against the fret and slowly close the handle to allow the rear pad to grab the back of the neck. The screw should be tightened only enough to provide sufficient force for the strings to fret cleanly without buzzing. If you can loosen the screw and still have the strings play without buzzing you should. Carefully does it.
Tuners are so cheap and reliable these days there's no excuse to not use them.
Life is too short for playing out of tune. YouTube is full of videos ruined by the player not taking the 30 seconds to tune their guitar before hitting "record". Presumably they've "trusted their ears"and they think they're in tune but to anyone else, who isn't tone-deaf, watching the video it stands out like a sore thumb, or sore ear.
Your ear may be good enough to be "trusted"without the use of a tuner. We're not all that lucky.