Sterner Eccentric Capo Sterner TM

By far the smallest capo in the world!

The Sterner Eccentric Capo comes right into your hand!Same chord from the back side.Never sticks out on the treble side!Actual size. Compare this with any other capo!

          Almost nothing obstructs the hand
  • The only capo in the world where the bar never sticks out on the treble side!
  • The locking and adjusting mechanism is located on the bass side.
  • Almost nothing on the back of the neck to obstruct the hand. The spring strap is only 0.7 mm thick.
  • Rounded corner of the bar at the treble side. This is a small but very important detail that greatly facilitates the hand slipping around the capo.
  • Thin pad on the bottom side of the bar.
  • The bar is only 5.5 mm high, pad included. There is none lower!
  • The bar is only 5.0 mm wide. This produces less leverage on the strings and allows them to pass straighter through the capo.

These features allows you to line up the capo against the top of the fret, making retuning unnecessary. You will hardly notice the capo when you finger chords such as the B7 in the tablature below. The Sterner Eccentric Capo fits right into your hand. You will play things you never played before - just because it is possible. This lick from a B7-position to an Em-position is just as easy to play with the capo on the 9:th fret as it is on open strings. Try this with any other capo:

Lick.gif (2483 bytes)

 

The fastest capo in the world!

A capo is not placed until the instrument is in tune - with itself and the other istruments in the band.

Line it up against the fret...  ...and snap it on.  Snap it off...  ...and push it above the nut.  Ready!

  • No retuning. Sterner Eccentric is the only capo that can be lined up against the fret without disturbing the hand.
  • Snaps on and off. With a twisting movement the knob is pulled upward while the bar is pressed down with the back of the index finger. Reverse to open. The knob is screwed only for necessary adjustments. Normally no adjustment of the knob is necessary when you move the capo up or down just a fret or two.
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            The knob can be turned much faster than a screw

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Major movements of the capo can be done very fast, because the knob can be turned just by hitting the edge of it with the right hand! Hold the capo together with the left hand so the knob doesn't touch the bar. A few hits and you can move the capo all the way up or down the neck.
Up the neck:
Untighten the knob before you move the capo up the neck.
Down the neck:
Move the capo down the neck, then tighten the knob.

          Stores behind the nut

The spring strap makes it natural to store the Excentric capo behind the nut. You can close the capo and tighten it slightly to keep it in place like this... ...or use the edge of
the knob to hold it.		 Snapped under the edge of the knob.

But you can also...

         ...store it open behind the nut!
This method is very fast, and since the capo is stored open, no pressure is applied on the strings and the tuning will not be affected. On some guitars you don't need anything to make the capo stay above the nut, but on most guitars you will need a capoholder. You can make one out of a paperclip or an elastic hair strap. They are almost invisible and keeps the capo well behind the nut.

Paperclip capoholderHairstrap capoholder


          Strings can never be pulled aside
The only capo in the world where the position of equilibrium corresponds with the position where the bar does not stick out on the treble side! Lets study in detail what happens when we snap it on.
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The capo stays around the instrument neck even when it's open. No risk of dropping it.
When pressure is applied the instrument neck slides into the corner of the capo. It's just like snapping away the seed of an apple. Note that this happens before the strings are pressed against the fret. When pressure increases, and the strings are pressed against the fret, the neck is already seated in its position of equilibrium.
This way the strings can never be pulled aside! And, thanks to the special shape of the spring strap, the capo stays in its eccentric position while you play!

          Even distribution of string pressure
The spring strap is covered with a thin coat of nylon. Besides protecting the neck, the coating reduces the friction on the back of the instrument neck. This distributes the pressure equally over the strings.

          Flexible bar adapts to the fretboard
The bar is somewhat flexible and adapts to normally curved fretboards on steel stringed acoustic and electric guitars.

          Easy removable pad
Just rip it out.
  • Gives the bar a distinct edge to line up against the top of the fret. Compared to different kinds of tubing, it gives the bar a lower and smoother profile and lower friction against the hand. (The sides and top of a sleeve are of no use.)
  • Very easy to change. Here is a tip: During a performance you can just rip it out of the grove, turn it around and snap it back again to get a new fresh edge.
  • The bright red color contrasts against the fretboard and makes it a little easier to line up the capo against the fret.
  • Made of polyurethane. Very good wearing and aging properties.

          No thread weare
The knob is large to give a good grip when you snap the capo on and off. This makes room for a threaded brass insert (8.5 mm high), that gives a much longer thread length than on any other screwtype capo. You won't wear these threads out.
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          All the way up the neck
Capo on the 11'th fret. Try this with any other capo! Despite of its size, Sterner Eccentric Capo can be used all the way up to the heel of the neck on standard guitars. If the guitar is correctly intonated (compensated), no retuning will be necessary.

The distance from the corner of the capo (= the treble side of the fretboard) to the end of the pad, is 50 mm.
The distance from the corner to the screw, is 52 mm.

          Save Time - Use Both Hands!

You can use one hand, but......two hands gives you better controll.
Although the Sterner Eccentric Capo can easily be operated with one hand, we don't recommend it. A capo should be placed with care. Using both hands gives you better control. Use one hand to carefully line up the edge of the capo pad against the top of the fret, then snap it on with the other hand. That little extra effort will save you and the audience from a lot of retuning!

Field Test
          Materials
No allergic reactions from these materials:
  • Bar - Polyamide (Nylon).
  • Pad - Polyurethane.
  • Spring strap - 0.5 mm Swedish steel with 0.1 mm Nylon coating.
  • Screw - Stainless steel.
  • Knob - Acryl (Plexiglas) with brass insert.
 

          Consider This Before You Order:
Designing a perfect capo is impossible. There are many properties to consider. The Sterner Eccentric Capo priors maximum playability and minimum affect on the tuning. When optimizing certain properties others will suffer.

          1) Shape of the neck

The Eccentric Capo is designed for standard, round necks. As the pressure increases, the spring strap conforms to the neck profile and the contact area increases. Most necks are shaped like this and we have had no reports on damage on this type of necks.

But there are also some other types of neck profiles, less suited for this capo:
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 Round
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If the neck has a pronouced triangular profile the contact area will be smaller and there might be a risk for pressure marks on the back of the neck! The risk increases if the neck is made of soft wood (mahogany is soft, maple is hard). Also the more the fretboard is curved, the more tension is needed for the bar to conform to the fretboard. Triangular
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On necks with a more square profile there might be a risk for pressure marks where the smallest radius of the neck meets the straighter and stiffened part of the spring strap

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 Square
On very slim necks, the sides of the neck might be pretty straight for a more comfortable feel. Where the straight sides meets the curve of the neck, there might be a ridge where the spring strap might cause damage! Thin with straight sides.

          2) Robustness

In quest for optimized playability and intonation, unfortunatelly robustness had to suffer. The spring strap will eventually break - as all springs do when they get exhausted by bending. How long this will take depends very much on the user. If the capo is stored behind the nut, it will last very long. How long we don't know. The capo has only existed since 2002. If the capo is removed from the neck every time, it will breake sooner. The greatest stress on the spring strap is when it's opened wide to slip the capo around the instrument neck.

To prolong the lifetime of the capo our best advise is to keep it stored on the guitar neck as much as possible. There you won't drop or loose it. (Loosing a capo is the most common reason for buying a new one.) Capo changes will be faster and the spring strap will not be exhausted by bending.

Sterner Eccentric Capo