Last time we covered the period from 1800–1850, and we looked at the Yoke style capo and the Spanish Flamenco cejilla. This week we will cover from about 1850–1900. We will cover a of the historical context as well as three important capos, one by Ashborn, one by Washburn and one by Elton.
The Industrial Revolution
The industrial revolution refers to the idea that a change occurred in the way industry was done in a particular period of history. This is a complex phenomena, but the basic idea is that in about 1700 most workers were either farmers or artisans in small shops, and by 1900 many people were working in large number in factors in cities. This movement brought new technologies and machines as well as new ways of organizing society. We are really simplifying things here. For the sake of our study of capos, during the latter half of the nineteenth century there are a few features of the industrial revolution that begin to affect capos.
First, we see the emergence of better distribution networks. As better ways of traveling and communicating are invented businesses are getting better are selling their products to more people. We call this mass distribution. For example, the department store in Chicago named Sears became a department store for the whole of America by creating a massive catalogue. In these catalogues you could view items and mail in orders, which Sears would fulfill. Sears carried all kinds of things, including musical instruments, as well as capos. Below is an image from their 1896 edition, where they are selling three different kinds of capos. Checkout the picture below. We will discuss all three capos in this article. The idea here is that someone in California can buy the same kind of capo as someone in Chicago. You can also look through all the Sears catalog pictures to see the many different capos the sold at different times.
Second, as factories are developing companies are better at making products in a uniform manner. Earlier on a luthier would make each capo for a particular customer; each capo might be made a little differently. Companies are now making one capo hundreds or even thousands of times. This is called mass production. They would develop processes, machines and trained people who could make the same product more consistently and at a greater scale.
Third, we see the development of brands and branding. The first two points mean that there is a developments of uniform capos that can be distributed widely to end markets. This created a greater demand, so a number of companies sought to get their capos bought by wider audiences. Thus we find there are a few companies that emerge as the most dominant, and in fact we are going to talk about mostly two today. The branding begins in this era and grows in importance later on.
Fourth, we see the emergence of patents. The rule of capitalism is that success breeds copycats and imitators. When a savvy business minded person developed a capo they thought might be worth mass production they would take out a patent. This is one great source of primary data as the patent records are available online.
Today you can walk into your local guitar shop, or go to Amazon, and buy a Kyser capo. This experience requires all these developments: mass distribution, mass production, branding and patents. These four themes have developed further as time went on. The mass production of Kyser capos is much greater than the Eltons we will discuss in the late 1800's. However, this period is the beginning of mass production and other industrial advances being applied to the capo. The capos we will discuss in this article are the most prominent ones to take advances of these changes.
The First Capo Patent: Ashborn
The above capo is the first capo to receive a patent in the US. This capo was invented by James Ashborn and he received the patent in 1850. The capo is from Sterner's collection. The black piece on the top is ebony wood. It is the bar that clamps down on the frets. The frame is looks like brass and would have some flex in it. At the bottom is a wooden cylinder. It looks like it can come on and off. To get the capo on, you need to first remove the wood cylinder, put then capo on, then put the cylinder back on. The cylinder then twists to tighter the capo. A really interesting idea. There is leather on both sides to protect the guitar.
This capo does not seem that is was sold all the widely. We have only see evidence of one surviving, which is the one in Sterner's museum. Probably, this capo suffered from what many designs have suffered from: it was difficult to use. So, the design may not have been the most successful commercially. Still, Ashborn's goes down in history as probably the first capo to receive a patent.
The Elton Capo
This capo was probably the most popular capo in the world for about fifty years. There were many different capos being invited in this era (you can check out Sterner's museum) but something about this design meant that it was better than all the others out there. The capo is made of cast-brass. We've got it pictured upside down so you can read the label, "Elton." The discoloured piece is actually a hunk of cork, which is the piece that clamps down onto the fret board. Above it is a flat bar that holds the cork down firmly. On the other side is a spring attached to a lever. The lever is pinned down by a hook. There would also be cork where the spring touched the bottom of the neck.
Though we have never held one of these, we can see that it would be intuitive and easy to use, unlike the Ashborn, the Yoke Style or many other designs from that era. All you gotta do is pick the lever off the hook, which is much easier to operate than any of the yoke style capos. Perhaps the cork material is great at holding down the strings. We suspect this design may have reduced intonation issues. Awesome.
This second picture of this capo is the same design, but slightly different. In fact, this is the older design as it is less fancy on the top metal bar. The metal plate is simpler, but the overall shape is the same.
Some History of the Elton Capo
From the Patent of the Filstrup/Elton Capo
This Elton capo was sold as early as 1896 in the Sears catalog, as can be seen above. However, the Elton capo, was not always called the Elton. It was patented by one Larsen Filstrup in 1889. Filstrup patened at least two capos. This capo is the third one in the 1896 Sears catalog. The other was a capo that screws in from the side (see picture below). He acquired the patent for the second capo in 1894, but this capo was less successful. This other capo has two flat brass bars that squeeze together to grip the sides of the guitar. There are angled arms at the sides which apply the downward pressure. We know that this capo was not a commercial success because though the Sears catalog has it in their 1896 edition it dropped out only a few years later. Clearly, there was not enough demand for Sears to keep carrying this side-screw style. We can imagine guitar players not being too excited about cranking this on and off. It looks clunky to use, especially compared to the more successful model.
While this side screw capo went out of distribution, we find the Sears catalog carrying the spring-yoke style as far as the 1960's - that's a seventy year run. What is interesting is that at some point the word Elton is engraved on the side of these capos. Some of these Elton capos are stamped with the date of the Filsturp patent on them – May 7, 1889 – but have the name "Elton" on them, so we know that some how the ownership did change. The best guess out there is that the patent was sold to a new manufacturer. We cannot find good information about the Elton company.
We are sure that this was a popular capo for more reasons than the Sears catalog. If you google "Elton Capo" you will find that there are many of these available for purchase as antiques. They are being sold today on Etsy.com and other sites. You can try it out on your guitar - we're sure it'll do a fine job.
The Washburn Capo
The next capo is the other one in the 1896 Sears catalog, the Washburn. Washburn began as a guitar company in 1883, founded by Patrick J. Healy and George W. Lyon (the "W" stands for Washburn). They are one of the earliest American guitar companies, and they were fairly successful until the 1940's. As part of the guitar offerings, they started making a capo and selling it in their catalogs and stores. Sterner notes that there is a patent for this capo from 1888 to one George D Moffat.
The capo clamps on from the side. There is a flat wooden bar on the top covered with leather to hold the strings down. Underneath there is a screwable mechanism to tighten the capo onto the guitar.
It seems that this model was somewhat successful. The Sears catalog carried it as early as 1896 and they were still advertising it in 1918. So Sears carried for at least twenty years, but after that they mostly only carried the Elton spring-yoke capo. We can see that the Washburn is more function that some of the other designs out there. It seems easy to operate, if a little slow, and it would certainly grip the guitar well. Sterner notes that they sold one version that was just brass and another that was brass with nickel plating (for looks).
Conclusion
These two capos, the Washburn and the Elton/Filstrup, were two of the most commercially successful capos in the late nineteenth century. But they were not the only ones. If you look through Sterner's collection, you will see that there were plenty of other capos from this time, and we have included a few pictures below. We have included a few more photos below from a few catalogs of a number of other capos to make the point that the ones in this article are not the only capos that were available in this period. The Elton in particular was a popular design and Sears catalog carried it well into the 60's, even forty years after the Bill Russell was invented.
In this late nineteenth era we can see how modern instrualization and commercialization led to patents, branding and mass production. The Elton Capo's success was built on these advances in technology and organization. Another theme from this article is the emergence of competition and commercial advantages. The Elton Capo emerged and the most popular capo of the era, and we suspect that usability was the key factor. Usability will continue to set aside the best capos from the pack. The next article will feature the Bill Russell which was one the most successful capos of all time. It had a very simple design and was very seay to use.
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