capo buzz

[Fred Sturm]

Lance,
	70's through early 80's there was quite a fad of filing capos "to a 
point," by people following McMorrow's book. Then lots of techs found that 
the wire shortly buried itself in said point (ie, created grooves while 
being tuned and played), with associated loss of clarity and power and 
return of noise. Then some folks got the bright idea of hardening sharpened 
capo. Which solved one problem to cause another - increased string 
breakage. So that to this day there are those who associated hardened capos 
with string breakage (I think it is caused by the sharpened profile of the 
capo, meaning a sharper kink in the wire).
  This, at any rate, is the observation of somebody who listened on the 
sidelines over those years. I think the consensus is .5mm is to short a 
radius. It's more important that the capo surface be smooth and clean - and 
lubricated after reshaping to reduce rust and string drag. You do want the 
shape to allow the wire to leave the capo cleanly: there must be adequate 
curvature.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

--On Thursday, October 16, 2003 11:01 AM -0500 Lance Lafargue 
<lancelafargue@bellsouth.net> wrote:

> Thanks.  I have the McMorrow book and I've studied it.  It basically
> says to file a definite V with the contact point narrowing to a .5mm
> width.  This seems that it would add to string breakage, but otherwise
> makes sense.  I do plan to confirm the job is approved and that I will
> be paid for my efforts.  McMorrow claims (back in 1980(?)s) to have done
> 200+ of these and the problem is permanently fixed.
>
> What you claim about the casting flaring to join the strut explains why
> those first notes are always the hardest to correct.  I've been
> struggling with this for years and I hope I am closing in.  Smoothing to
> a smoother U shape does not permanently correct the problem (in my
> experience). Anyone have any experience doing this V-Bar shaping to a
> V????? (not just smoothing with sandpaper to a smooth U)
>
> Lance Lafargue, RPT
> LAFARGUE PIANOS
> New Orleans Chapter, PTG
> 985.72P.IANO
> lancelafargue@bellsouth.net
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of
> Ron Koval
> Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2003 8:33 AM
> To: caut@ptg.org
> Subject: capo buzz
>
> Hi Lance,
>
> Just pulling the strings up to pitch will make a groove.  Then, if there
> is
> any spacing that is done, that makes more marks.  Add rubbing the
> strings to
> try to remove string bends, and the capo can get marked up pretty
> quickly,
> even on a new instrument.  Also, if you are having problems close to a
> strut, many times the capo is too wide in that area as the casting
> flares
> out to join the strut.  Make sure when you are done reshaping and
> dressing
> the area, that you space the strings as you pull up to pitch, not after.
>
> See if braiding something works first, then make sure someone will pay
> for
> all the capo work before digging into this!
>
> Ron Koval
> Concordia U.
>
>   I am told that the main problem lies in the V bar, not in the hammer,
> =
> and that smoothing the bar with sandpaper will clean up the termination
> =
> and permanently fix the buzz.  This is one of the few things I did not =
> do, since I was really originally only out for a warranty tuning  ;  )
> =
> Thoughts? =20
>
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