I saw an advertisement, on Instagram, for the capo Billy Strings uses; it looked pretty nifty. Since I had an capo failure during a past performance, I thought I would look into maybe getting one. Turns out these Elliot ‘Elite’ capos are $200+ dollars each. I’m sure they are great, well made capos but I don’t have Billy Strings money so I needed an alternative.
D’Addarrio Cradle Capo
The D’Addario version of a cradle type capo, much like the Elliot’s, except a price that I could stomach($50/60). It was delivered and I used it on my next gig. Worked well and I feel that the intonation was better than my Kyser. But the tradeoff is that the cradle capo takes more time to get on the guitar and adjusted.
There was a problem….
After about a month of use, I started to see that the screw I used to tighten the cradle wasn’t rotating well. I could still use it but it didn’t feel right. After a few weeks, the screw was pretty much stuck in place. I figure that the threads were crossed and eventually seized after a while. I had a capo that was useless to me.
D’Addarrio Stands by Their Product
I got on D’Addarrio’s web sight and contacted support explaining my issue. Within a few days, they had a replacement sent to me and all I had to do was send the broken one back to them. I was pleasantly surprised because I haven’t had the best of luck with companies and their warranties. Their support person recommended that I register my D’Addarrio gear through the players circle. Reason being, is that it’s easier to get warranty claims resolved.
The new capo has been working great for me so far. I swear that it felt like there was a bit of resistance when tightening the cradle. I was afraid that I was going to go through the freeze up all over again. So I took a drop of WD-40 and put it on the threads and me concerns dissolved instantly.
Final Thoughts on the D’Addarrio Cradle Capo
This is a solid capo that works great and the price is easier to handle than some of the more expensive “boutique” capos. D’Addarrio’s standing by their product and getting me a replacement so fast gives the guitar player some added assurance that they won’t be stuck with broken piece of sh#@.
What capo is your goto?!
