Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

is there long tern effects of leaving a capo on your rick?

ive been enjoying having my 5th fret capoed on my 350v63/12 and sometimes i think im going to leave a dent or something.

I left a capo at the second fret of my 330 for an extended period of time (Maybe a week?) and you can see the outline of it - it left a black imprint. No "dent" though.

thanks - i have a jetglo and the rubber on the capo is a clear plastic...so am i safe?

Mike,

Personally I would not leave it on for an extended period. Check John's response, do you want to risk having the same thing happen? I take mine off when I am not using it.

If the rubber is surgical tubing, you shouldn;t have a problem. Anything else (including some clear polymer tubes) may get into the finish of the neck.

...Dean

How hard or soft if the finish on a Rick? Even if the material doesn't react with the finish I would suspect that leaving the capo on long term could leave a finish impression in that area if it's got high spring tension.

I've left capos on my guitars for a couple of days if I'm playing them a lot and they're out on the stands but I personally wouldn't leave them on for too long at a time.

I personally wouldn't leave a capo on for longer than a single session, i.e. gig or studio. Probably just from habit rather than having thought about it before.

But, c'mon, how long does it really take to put it on and take it off?

I, unfortunately, left a capo overnight on my Rick and when I removed it the next day, a pencil eraser-sized chunk of finish came off with it. Not sure whether it was the weather (very humid) or the capo's material that caused this to happen, but as you can imagine I was pretty non-plussed. I was surprised how difficult it was to scrape the finish material away afterwards from the capo backing.
Anyways, I've pretty much gotten used to the crater - and it's actually become a useful tactile landmark for the third fret! (How's that for incurable optimism?)

The crater:

Jeez Chris! And I thought mine was bad!

You can't do much else then "get used to the crater", short of sending it to Dale of Paul. My first guitar had a quite similar ding in pretty much the same spot - a friend knocked it over. It was a $150 Epiphone but I couldn't be more ******! But anyway, I got used to it quick, as i'm sure you did.

thanks, ill just leave it off when im not using it lol

Good idea, Mike. Let the photo be a warning to you all!

John - thanks for the commiseration. That capo incident really ruined my day...

Many cheaper capos are covered with clear vinyl tubing. The plasticizers in the vinyl will migrate into the conversion varnish and soften it locally. This also applies to nitro and acrylic lacquers, but doesn't seem to affect polyesters. (Many Asian guitars and MIM Fenders are coated with polyester.)

I would take the capo off after each use.

Leave the capo on for a week? You should be able to master barre chords in that amount of time..

I would never leave a capo on for any longer than I was actually using it. I use a G7th capo, one second to put on and one second to take off!

Sounds like my Rickenbacker thong!!