Shubb Capos work on an "over-center" locking principle. If you've used one, you know the feeling. As you close the capo onto the neck, it passes through a point of greatest resistance (the center), and then relaxes somewhat into its locked position. All Shubb Capos are designed to provide just the right amount of pressure applied in the closed position for the truest tone.
It is a well-known fact that if a capo is too tight, it can stretch the strings out of tune. Most players understand that there is a "just right" amount of pressure for best capoing, too. It is this basic thought premise that led Shubb to their original innovative designs. Most designs incorporate a unique over-center locking mechanism that provides an unrivalled combination of power, speed, accuracy and ease of use. One smooth flip of the lever locks it securely in place, and removes it just as quickly.
And the Shubb capo is by far the best at eliminating the tuning problems that can occur when in use. Its soft, resilient rubber is specially designed to work just like a fingertip, so it doesn't bend the strings over the frets. Its closing action is just like your hand, so it doesn't pull the string off center. As a result, no re-tuning is necessary!
The Shubb Capo Company began in California in 1974, when Dave Coontz and I collaborated to design and produce our own fifth string capo for banjo. Before that, I worked as a professional 5-string banjo player and teacher, and Dave was an auto mechanic and a banjo student of mine. One night at his lesson, I was talking about my dissatisfaction with existing methods of capoing the fifth string. I described an idea that I had for a fifth string capo that operated on a lever principle, so that it would provide sufficient pressure for a good tone, and ranted about how I couldn't get anyone in the music products trade interested in making one. Finally, he said, "If nobody else will make you one, I will." From that conversation, the Original Banjo Capo was introduced. Soon after, that same innovative spirit was applied to the guitar capo and in 1980 the Original Shubb Guitar Capo was developed. From then on, capos were elevated to a whole new level. In 1998 the Shubb Deluxe pushed the envelope again. Many people thought that the original Shubb could not be improved, but with the Deluxe we introduced upgrades in materials, design, geometry and ergonomics. It became the flagship product of our line and continues to influence every new design we create.
