The Jim Dunlop Trigger Capo; Will You ...Ahem... 'Tyre' Of It??? (Jim Dunlop Trigger Capo)

Member Name: Caveat-Emptor

Product:	Jim Dunlop Trigger Capo
Date:	27/07/09 (59 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well Built, Only Capo You CAn Fit Easily With One Hand.

Disadvantages: Not The Cheapest Capo, Won't Work On Every Guitar.

My review of the Jim Dunlop Trigger Capo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Introduction
~~~~~~~~~

Capos act like an extra finger for a guitarist; they trap all 6 strings at any given fret in a barre, leaving the other fingers free to fret notes/chords as normal. They are used for 2 main purposes;

To allow a singer to change the pitch of a song to a better more suitable key, without needing to play different chords, or to allow a guitarist to change the key of a piece (perhaps to fit in with other instruments) without altering the fingering of the piece in any way.

There are many different design's of capo, but one of the most popular ones in recent times is the Trigger capo.


My Opinion/ Features
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having seen a few famous guitarists using Trigger capos I thought I'd get one to see if it was as good as they say. Legend has it that you're supposed to be able to use the capo with only one hand (all the other designs require 2 hands to fit/remove).

So I shelled out around £18 and bought my Trigger capo. It's well made, and appears to be mostly aluminium, with some rubbery bits where the capo contacts the guitar fretboard and back of the neck. There's a strong, spring action to the capo that keeps the 'jaws' closed until you press the 2 'handles' together.

The 'one handed fitting' claim, was no idle boast -I found you could indeed pop it onto a fret with using only your 'chord' hand, and removing the capo was equally (one handed) simple. So the Trigger capo certainly delivers on this score - most guitarists will have a plectrum in their other hand; so one handed fitting is very useful.


Also worth mentioning is the fact that when not in use most guitarists leave the Trigger capo closed on the end of their guitars headstock for convenience. I personally never do this as there's always a chance (especially on expensive acoustic guitars which are stripped down to have the absolute minimum bracing/glue etc to enable the best possible sound and vibration) that the weight of the capo (though slight) will pull down on the neck and produce slight tuning/neck alignment problems - and (just) possibly weaken the headstock over time.

I found only one problem with the Trigger capo... I have a few different guitars; wide flat fretboard classical guitars, curved fretboard steel strung guitars and some very curved narrow fretboard electric guitars (vintage neck radius)... the problem is that on very flat fretboards the Trigger capo tends not to press the middle strings down quite enough and you get a bit of fret buzz, conversely on very curved necks the Trigger capo won't always catch the outside strings... and again; you get a bit of fret buzz.

I don't want to blow the problem out of proportion - on most of my guitars the Trigger works perfectly, but there are exceptions; so try before you buy if possible.



My Verdict
~~~~~~~~

Overall I think the Trigger capo is very good, it almost always performs well, and it's probably the easiest capo to use of them all (and the only one you can fit with one hand). It's still not quite my favourite capo though; I still prefer my trusty Shubb... But the Trigger capo is a worthy addition to my capo collection, and one of my preferred ones to use.


Hope you found my review helpful and interesting, and good luck with your bargain hunting!!

Best wishes,
Caveat-Emptor

Summary: It's Not Quite The Best Capo Available; But The Trigger Capo Is Definitely Not Firing Blanks!