G7th Newport 12 String Capo.
Update: This report applies to the New G7th Newport 12 String Guitar Capo with
Compensated String Pad. See below. For a bit more explanation, see
reply #4.
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I was one of the grateful recipients of the G7th Newport 12 string capo giveaway. Here is my initial finding. Warning: Wildly favorable!
Received my G7th capo earlier in the week, but here in Boston the humidity has been excruciating (nearly 70% on my Oasis hygrometer) with temps in the 90s and a heat index of well over 100. So I didn't feel that conditions were right for a fair test; in fact, not even right enough to play at all. Today with temps in the 70s and the relative humidity at 45, I broke out the capo and checked it out, including a short trip to the G7th site for background.
Dive In Test Time. First I took out my Taylor 458e-R, let it acclimate, and played a bit. Sounded OK, so I didn't check tuning. I keep it tuned down a half step to D#. Armed with little practical info I just dove in and applied the capo on the third fret. No reason, just did. After adjusting the screw and the capo position a bit, It sounded pretty good just noodling. Maybe a touch off, but no worse than when I was playing 12 string guitars before digital tuners were invented. Or it might have been because there were no true 'open' strings being sounded. I reset the capo to the first fret to compensate my half step down, and played some pieces, hopefully in close to concert pitch.
Contrary to what I stated in the other thread, I did not do "Here Comes the Sun" first, but one of the songs I had played earlier before I applied the capo, "Walk Right In" with vocal. Hey, guitar sounded pretty good with the capo on. I did a couple of Lead Belly pieces as instrumentals, "Midnight Special" and "Keep Your Hands Off Her", along with Stones' "Factory Girl", followed by a "Roundabout / Pipeline" instrumental medley. Then "Ghost Riders in the Sky", "Urge for Going", "Tambourine Man", "Stairway", and "Sunny Afternoon", all with vocals. Very pleased with the capo.
OK, now time to do "Here Comes the Sun", capoed on the 8th fret (includes my half step) to play D-form in A. Testing capoed strings, it didn't sound so good, so I reset the capo and it sounded much better, but a tad different. Not sure why. Anyway that worked out OK; time for lunch.
Post lunch, put off because this is not the fun part, I tuned up the guitar to D#. Turns out some strings were ever so slightly sharp, but overall pretty good, so I will generally uphold my 'Dive In' test results as valid. Then I capoed on the first fret and checked the tuning. Everything slightly sharp except the 'g' and 'G' strings. Relatively correct and certainly in the ballpark, and not really enough to matter, and played a bit to be sure. Checked capo on the third fret with similar results. Then I went to the 8th fret for "Here Comes the Sun-down". Well most of the strings are a bit more sharp, but all relatively OK to each other except the 'g' and 'G' strings again, which are almost not sharp at all. Still overall sounds OK, but curious. So I tried the capo at the 7th fret, and while the 'g' and 'G' strings were still a hair flat relative to the others, overall it sounded even better than when capoed on the 8th fret. I also noticed that the capo seemed pushed to the limit of it's jaws at the 8th fret, so that may be an issue. I was unable to ascertain the neck radius for the 458e-R, and the Taylor site is useless for searching. Returned 258 results for "neck radius" query.
So the real question is did it work? It was supposed to work without having to re-tune the 12 string, and it passed that test right off the top. I made no tuning corrections for my first test, and some small ones before the 'scientific' test. Overall this is a quality product and does exactly what it was supposed to do. And the anomaly of the g string pair may lie in my poor use of the capo, or perhaps be due to the radius of the neck. Even then, it was way more than acceptable as is.
So my overall first impression is "
Highly Recommended", with no reservations.
Some basic background stuff. I do not have air-conditioning, so the humidity was an issue for a few days delay. I use a Korg CA-1 Chromatic for tuning all my instruments. I play fingerstyle and use my own nails as picks. I did not test this using finger or flat picks. The nut width on the Taylor 458e-R is 1 and 7/8 inches, or 1.875". I was unable to ascertain the neck radius for the 458e-R, and the Taylor site is useless for searching. Returned 258 results for "neck radius" query.
Susie previously did a great review of this product,
http://www.unofficialtaylorguitarforum.com/index.php?topic=9090.0I wrote this independently, and was happy to see that I took a different tack and avoided stepping on her 'literary' toes. Sorry if it was 'wordy', but I wanted to show my thoroughness, trying to utilize a personal touch. Also sorry about picking any nits. My conclusions are the same, maybe even a bit stronger in the plus column. I still use a Shubb capo for 6 string and ukulele, but will not be needing my Shubb 12 string capo again.
I am in no way affiliated with the G7th Capo company. I used the one I got in the contest to test and report on the product. In fact, I am now thinking about their Heritage 12 string Guitar Capo, the one with the Adaptive Radius Technology.
I may revisit this again if I gain any new insights.
No animals were harmed in production.
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Update alert: This report applies to the New G7th Newport 12 String Guitar Capo with
Compensated String Pad.
So if you wish to get one of these, please make sure you get the one with the '
Compensated String Pad'. It does state "Compensated String Pad" on the packaging.
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Don
