Posted by jefferylong on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Has anyone ever tried the cable-tie fiddle capo? Curious if it works and how it works?
Rene Says:
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @2:55:34 PM
You tell us :)
jefferylong Says:
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @8:31:23 PM
I'd love to, but I've never tried it. Just wondering if anyone else had?????
fiddleiphile Says:
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 @3:10:21 AM
If it works, It won't work well or more than once, Good luck getting it off of your fiddle without causing damage.
KCFiddles Says:
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 @9:03:01 AM
Why in the world would anyone want a fiddle capo? I can understand a capo for Bluegrass guitar wannabees who can only play in G position and are still working on E minor and A minor chords, but even on a guitar it gets in the way like training wheels on a bicycle. It would be absolutely useless and in the way on a fiddle, IMHO. So, as to how it works, I never tried one, but I would bet it works poorly or not at all.
jefferylong Says:
Thursday, June 21, 2012 @12:38:30 PM
I like the easy doublestops in D and A tunings. Thought the capo might make it possible to play the same doublestops in other keys? I am just a beginner though? Thanks for your comment.
KCFiddles Says:
Thursday, June 21, 2012 @3:26:10 PM
You don't sound like a beginner. You won't have any trouble with double stops in other keys if you just start doing them. Far, far easier without messing with a capo.
sophiabrugman Says:
Friday, June 22, 2012 @9:56:27 AM
why?? why?? fiddle has the sweetness of voice,,, why ?? crimp its style?? double stops ?? perhaps cross tuning is your way around great sounding chords,,,, open tuning,,, just saying ; )
fiddlepogo Says:
Monday, June 25, 2012 @8:14:21 AM
I have a friend who told me about a fiddle capo made from a slice of credit card (for a moveable nut) and a banjo capo bent to the shape of the fingerboard. The banjo capo was the old fashioned type where it was just a stamped staple shaped bracket where the part corresponding to the pointed parts of the staple were bent out into hooks to hold a spring behind the neck.
Anyway, IF you had something to substitute for the nut, this cable tie thing MIGHT work.
Another possibility would be just keeping another fiddle tuned that way with VERY light strings to allow playing higher without putting a lot of extra tension on the fiddle... in fact, you might be able to get a 3/4 size for cheap, and do that... the shorter scale length would allow you to get higher pitches with less tension.
It's easier to grab another fiddle than futz with retuning, and MUCH easier than futzing around with a kludgy capo.
BTW, I totally understand why you're after this. The open stringed drones give a totally different sound and feel than a fingered note. Even if you CAN play the same notes fingered, it won't sound the same.
irfiddler Says:
Monday, September 24, 2012 @12:08:36 AM
I have heard of it - but never tried it. Let's face it - it takes most of us many years to be able to transpose improvised fiddle breaks on the fly into some of the more difficult keys such as B and A flat - or whichever key the vocalist calls for. At least it's taking me many years:)
Some well known teachers recommend playing a closed position break and using our first finger as a capo, and If this cable tie capo works - it would give us another option and I'm all for that. But...it might be too good to be true. Just the same I would like to experiment witth fiddle capos. Thinking outside the box is what keeps fiddling exciting. Thanks for bringing this up, Jeff.
Luthier Says:
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 @8:50:36 AM
I heard a comment by Alan Jabbour recently on a video in which he appeared . (I am really paraphrasing here.) He said that one thing that he found gave old time southern fiddle its flavor was that when a fiddler slid up on the A string to double the E note, they often didn't quite make it. I've been on a steady diet of the old 78 recordings since the 1980's, and have long since stopped worrying about whether I hit a note dead on all of the time. I'm more concerned with the feel that the playing imparts than its exact accuracy in pitch. However, if that's not acceptable, then I agree with what KC fiddle said. I had to learn to play in the key of F to start learning some of The East Texas Serenaders tunes that I love. I hasn't hurt for very long. I've also gotten used to retuning my fiddle to various tunings to accomodate a key I'm not used to. Cheers, everybody.
jefferylong Says:
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 @9:39:14 AM
Thanks for the comment KC and SantaClaus. . . I have been working more "outside the box" with other keys and closed positions and finding it easier to do. I just need to play more outside A and D. . . albeit, they are still my favorites. I'm becoming more comfortable now with G and experimenting with E and B now. Will take time, but agree it's much easier in the long run than having to fool with another contraption on the fiddle.
Thanks again for your comments. . .
Luthier Says:
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 @9:54:46 AM
I love tunes in the key of C, but it took me forever to stay inthe key af C :) when I was playing them!
jefferylong Says:
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 @10:11:39 AM
Yea, C is another key becoming more user-friendly. One of my favorites "Chase the Devil Around the Stump" aka "The Boogerman" is a great tune in C.
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