A capo clamps on the neck of a guitar just behind one of the frets and allows you to easily change the key that you are playing in without changing the fingering - or the inverse, lets you change the fingering without changing the key, but if you are reading this review you probably already know that. Slipping a capo on can completely change the tone of your guitar from a loud and boomy strummer to a quiet finger-picker.
The easy way to make a capo is with a rubber band and a pencil, but some rubber bands can rot the finish on the guitar and the pencil can roll about and buzz. So a whole science of capo's has come about. There are capos like the Dunlop and Kyser which are like a clothes pin and clamp on using spring force. There are those like the Victor and Planet Waves and Elliot which use a screw clamp and there is the Shubb which uses a lever and roller.
The advantage of the Shubb design is that you can never put it on too tightly - a too tight capo pulls your strings out of tune. The lever design goes on and off quickly. I guess I should mention that it is so solidly built that unless you drive over it with your car, it probably won't wear out in your lifetime. My favorite model is the Shubb Deluxe due to the all stainless steel construction and the roller on the lever. It rides in a little track and makes operation very smooth.
The disadvantages are that when you remove this capo, you have to put it somewhere. Spring clip capos can clamp on the headstock, but you will probably want to slip the small Shubb into your pocket. Even though it is pretty small, it is solidly constructed of stainless steel so it may be a bit heavier than aluminum models, but it will last longer as well. The Shubb Deluxe capo is well worth the price paid.
