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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Guitars and accessories → Capo...How Tight!!
How to tight should a capo be. My capo has a sort of swing arm and a lock then you must screw it up to tighten, but I've always wondered if I was overtightening, and if so will it cause anyfret damage in time. I don't see any fret damage YET!!!!
I like your choice of an adjustable capo. Tighten just enough to avoid sharping. Should be as close to the fret as possible. I use a McKinney (Tony Rice) capo and I place it on top of the fret to avoid sharping.
Hope this helps,
Fellow picker
I don't think a capo should be placed on top of the fret. It should be placed just behind the fret and only tightened just enough to get a good clean sound. Never overtighten.
Nela
I find that if you tighten it too much then you put things out of tune slightly and chords start to sound a bit off. I tighten mine only enough so that I get a clean sound from all strings and usually in the middle of the frets.
Like Nela says tighten it just enough to avoid buzzing. Just enough no more.
Tighten it until you don't get any buzz when you strum the hardest you usually play.
Position it as close to the fret as possible, but you can move it back if it gets in the way - in which case you will need to tighten it some more. Your ears will tell you when it's right - trust them.
I use a "SHUBB" capo. There's several good capo's out there. One thing a person might want to consider is that the radius on the fret board is different from one guitar to another. The shubb is available in a "straight,slightly curved & a bit more curved" . If the radius on the fret board is say a 16" as on some Gibsons and you use a straight capo. You can't get even tension on all the strings. This example, if the 1st,2nd,5th &6th strings are "just right, the 3rd & 4th could be slightly sharp do to the mismatch of the radius. Also the shubb has a couple different lengths for varying fret board widths. Just more things to think about in this love of music. 
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Guitars and accessories → Capo...How Tight!!
