Opinions and recommendations for a glider capo

[Rosewood99]

Saw a recent post about a glider capo and it’s got me intrigued. What’s your opinion on glider capos in general, and do you have a few recommendations?

[CollingsPicker]

There really only appears to be one design (so probably manufactured under 2-3 different brand names) so buy one (or two) and try them. No possibility of guessing if you will like it until you try it. Then you can write a “NDC” thread. It may work for some fretboard / neck profiles and not for others like many other capos.

[b1j]

I watched the Franklin demo and I just kept thinking, “how can it do that?” I’m still in disbelief, although my own eyes and ears took it in.

I have persistent problems staying in tune with my Shubb. I guess I’ll have to try a Glider and see.

[b1j]

OK, I ordered one. We’ll see.

Looks like the public face of Franklin Strap, which sells the Glider, was Greg Bennett, who also once sold budget guitars. Passed away in 2020. From everything I can see, it seems like he was quite a great guy. He sure could write marketing copy, in any case.

[b1j]

The Glider capo arrived today, and it went on the J-45.

First, the good news: once you get it on the neck, it does what it claims to do: you can glide it up or down to any fret in the blink of an eye. The guitar stays in tune. I'm pretty amazed.

Now some caveats:

1. Fastening the capo on in the first place takes practice. The springs are strong, and you need to make sure the rubber roller is centered over the strings. It was unsteady the first few times, but I suspect this will come with time.
2. While the business component of the capo –– the roller on the strings –– has a low enough profile to stay out of the way of your hand, the lower (treble) end of the shaft sticks out and gets in the way, particularly when you play an A chord in first position, or want to do any hammer-on thirds with A or D. I might be able to get used to that, but it's an unusual place to run into capo interference. I don't see why the shaft needs to have a knurled cap on the bottom end: it doesn't come off, so it just seems to be there to look symmetrical with the top end, which does need the cap. It seems they could have shaved off a good quarter inch of length on the bottom end (nearest the high E string).
3. I'm taking it on faith that the rubber roller riding on the neck won't harm the nitrocellulose finish. I've found nothing in the marketing copy that addresses that. That would be a heartbreaker, but I suppose many capos might run that risk. There's nothing about the Glider to make me suspect danger.

On balance, though, I think it's cool. Now I want to work up some songs with key changes! I'm also eager to use it on my long-scale guitars.

[Ken Carr]

I have had the glider capo for a few years and wasn't really using it. When I bought a Cordoba GK Pro, I found discovered that the glider capo works well for it, so that's what I use instead of a specific classical guitar capo.

[Robin, Wales]

Mmmmm.......

If I used a glider capo I'd have to make my banjo player jokes shorter during my set.