Get your Spider Capo here
The Creative Tuning Spider Capo is a unique and complex capo that has a lot of fun potential. This capo is not for beginners as it requires understanding of open tunings. For experience guitarists this device has potential to unlock fun possibilities. If you are looking for a way to spice things up with new ideas, the Spider Capo may be what you are looking for.
The Fun Idea Behind the Capo
This capo was conceived by jazz guitarist Peter Einhorn and classical guitarist Fredrick Hand. Both these players have experience in alternative tunings and were looking for new ideas. Friends from playing in the same live shows, they got to talking about capos. Most capos clamp down on the guitar along one fret. There are also a few partial capos that might clamp down a group of strings. However, Pete and Fred wanted more. They wanted choice and flexibility. They wanted a capo that could press down on each string separately. After brainstorming and talking to some design engineers they started making prototypes, and the Spider Capo was born.
The Make
The Spider Capo certainly looks different! It looks like a spider. The main body is made of plastic with a metal screws. The body of the capo grips the sides of the guitar neck. When tightened the larger screw it brings these two arms together so the rubber pads grip the neck and hold the capo in place from the sides. Above the six strings now hover six plastics levers that we'll call the arms. You'll really want to get this sucker in the near the top of the fret so that each arm lands nicely in a spot that doesn't cause buzzing. When you press down on one of the arms it smartly holds the string down and - voila - a one string capo.
You can think about this as six individual capos all strapped on at one fret. So you can't press down different frets, unless you use more than one. Some people are concerned about the quality of the make. The capo is plastic and the arms are plastic, but we have found it to be a well made device, if not pristine engineering like the Shubb or even the G7th Performance 3. The Spider Capo has executed on a unique concept well. The capo sits firmly in place and the arms are easy to use. It is a little clunky to get on and off. We found the capo fit well on both our electric (Fender Strat) and acoustic (Yamaha). When placed properly we didn't find too much buzz. If the make were much nicer we think the price might become unreasonable.
The Potential
If you are someone who regularly uses open tunings the potential of the Spider Capo is immediately obvious. It can easily create new tunings. For example, you can place it on the second fret, put the arms down on the ADG strings to get a EBEABE - DADGAD, two semitones higher. Unlike a real tuning you won't be able to barre a chord higher, but you will be able to play standard chord formations and licks that be in a DADGAD tuning. Open tunings are not my specialty, but we can see the potential. Here's an example:
A few more ideas. If the Spider Capo is high enough, you will be able to play on strings behind the capo, unheard of with most others. So, maybe you just want a drone string, so you put the capo on the 5th fret and push the arm for the B string, getting EADGEE - like a nice high ringing drone on the top end.
Even more advanced, the company suggests the idea of multiple Spider Capos - so you could have one on the second fret and another on the 7th one and play with a few open strings. If your eyes are glazing over right now, then this may not be the capo for you. If, on the other hand, your mouth is watering then we recommend you give this a go.
Conclusion
You may have never seen another capo like the Creative Tuning Spider Capo. They do come in a few makes, for the bass and for the ukulele. We have found that this is a really cool idea and it has been well executed. If you are a person interested in open tunings this may be the capo you never knew you wanted.
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