Dunlop's "Pivot Capo"... first look.

[Rudy4]

It's no secret I love capos; there's usually one planted on my guitar. I DO enjoy the promise of a "better" design, so I thought I'd jump right in and try the newest offering from Dunlop, the "Pivot Capo".

https://www.jimdunlop.com/products/accessories/capos/

First, it's a solid and well built capo, available in your choice of black, chrome, or "gun metal" (an attractive gray...) finish.

I received it a couple days ago, so I've had a chance to garner some first impressions.

My ultimate "reserve"capo is the Shubb Deluxe stainless steel capo, although my daily player is the Dunlop Victor in cast bronze.

I REALLY wanted to fall deeply head-over-heels in love with the Dunlop Pivot, but it was not to be. (YMMV, of course...)

What they got right...

The top bar pad is PERFECT. It's not too wide, tall enough, and the proper density to do string compression ideally, which so many other capos strive for and fall short of. As stated previously, it's well-built, attractive, and reasonably priced. The gun metal gray is a new finish for me, and it complements an ebony board and EVO frets nicely. It performs well, and once the top bar depresses strings to the point of contacting the frets then a further two flats of tensioning on the adjustment knob makes for clear notes.

Dunlop Victor and Dunlop Pivot top bar pads:



It does SLIGHTLY raise the pitch, as ALL capos do, or even your fingers if you evaluate producing notes cleanly. This comes with the territory when using a capo, and the GOOD designs raise the pitch fairly uniformly so you don't need to re-tune.

The amount that it raises pitch is pretty much inconsequential for the average user, and tweaking the tuning would only be necessary if you were doing something mission-critical like a high quality recording.

I use a capo all the time for practice when using my looper, and the tiny amount of pitch change is really unnoticeable for me.

It's consistently "one dot" on my tuner:



What I didn't like:

IN MY CASE (YMMV!) I capo often, and in many cases to the 5th or 7th fret, and occasionally higher. At these positions The capo caused me a bit of discomfort, with the top bar "point" contacting my finger and the knurled tensioning wheel contacting the second joint area of my thumb. That's the most disagreeable area, as it starts taking a bit of skin off if I play certain chord forms for very long.

Finger contact:



Taking a bit of meat off the thumb joint:



By contrast, this is a photo of the far better ergonomics of the Dunlop Victor capo:



(No, I'm not going to change my technique. I've been playing for 55 years and it works well for me!!!)

The top bars of the Dunlop Victor (right) and the Dunlop Pivot (left) showing the rounded top bar of the Victor compared to the surprisingly sharp edge of the Pivot's top bar end:



I DO like the Pivot's lower pad, which is self-centering on the neck and works well in doing that.

I suppose what would make the IDEAL capo would be using the Pivot's lower pad on the end of the Dunlop Victor design, and using the Pivot's top bar pad, which just is a superior design all the way around. The Victor lower bar is basically the same size as the Pivot bar, so it would have been easy to graft that part on.



I would also much prefer the Victor's FAST tensioning ratio knob. The Pivot takes many more turns to loosen it and re-tighten it when you want to move the capo.

There have been a few complaints from Victor owners who have worn out the brass gear that tensions the capo. I'll GLADLY buy a new one once in a while for the fast and easy action of the Victor capo.

I sincerely hope Dunlop does NOT discontinue the Victor design.

Any questions?

[jricc]

Great informative review Rudy, thanks! Awesome pics are helpful too.

[Bob Womack]

Thanks for the review! It is actually a good recommendation for the Victor!

Bob

[birdsong]

I have a brass Victor that is 20+ years old. Awesome device.

Enjoyed your excellent review and photos. Thanks for the effort.

John

[mcmars]

Thanks for review. I can tell by looking I would not like it. Anyone else out there like super skinny capos? These fat designs just get in the way of my fretting hand.

[Brent Hutto]

Originally Posted by mcmars

Thanks for review. I can tell by looking I would not like it. Anyone else out there like super skinny capos? These fat designs just get in the way of my fretting hand.

Yes. I want the smallest, thinnest capo possible as long as it is sturdy enough to stay in place and evenly fret all six strings. Mine is a Kat Eyz but the Elliott Elite is also slim.

[Dru Edwards]

Rudy, what a great post! The pictures help out a lot too, especially with the thumb/tension wheel. I take it that when used in frets 1-4 you have no issues with the tension wheel getting in the way?

[jimi junior]

Great review

Try putting it on upside down?

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Rudy, what a great post! The pictures help out a lot too, especially with the thumb/tension wheel. I take it that when used in frets 1-4 you have no issues with the tension wheel getting in the way?

The tension wheel is not a problem at the lower positions, so if someone doesn't capo very far up the neck the Dunlop Pivot might suit them well.

My capo use involves it being used t the second fret for many tunes or songs, and then going to the higher positions to do an alternate second or third guitar part.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by jimi junior

Great review

Try putting it on upside down?

Thanks, Jimi.

I try to be informative as possible to help others for making purchase decisions before spending their hard-earned cash.

I did try it "upside down" and the knurled wheel then contacted the top joint of my index finger. I've tried various capos with the tensioning mechanism facing down, but the way I use a capo makes the switching (sometimes mid-song) awkward.

For an example of that, see the capo shift 2 minutes into the following video. This is very typical of what I do when playing with a looper, so a capo that is easy to re-position and doesn't require re-tuning is important to me.

(This video was done demonstrating the use of the D'Addario Pro Plus capo, another of the capos that claim "doesn't effect tuning...".)

[Dru Edwards]

Rudy, you did a fantastic job on that song. I like how you're able to shift the capo up mid-song without losing a beat or verse. Very effective. What looper are you using?

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Thanks, Jimi.

I try to be informative as possible to help others for making purchase decisions before spending their hard-earned cash.

I did try it "upside down" and the knurled wheel then contacted the top joint of my index finger. I've tried various capos with the tensioning mechanism facing down, but the way I use a capo makes the switching (sometimes mid-song) awkward.

For an example of that, see the capo shift 2 minutes into the following video. This is very typical of what I do when playing with a looper, so a capo that is easy to re-position and doesn't require re-tuning is important to me.

[DavidE]

Why is the Pivot at an angle? I looks like the pad is further from the fret on the low e than the high e. Dunlop sent me a Pivot that I’ll try when my hand heals an I can play again. Interestingly, they sent it to replace my Victor where the screw mechanism doesn’t work right. If you want to keep the capo mechanism far from your hand, check out a Colorado Capo.

[Wellington]

The slender Shubb will solve this issue

[Glennwillow]

Thanks for your efforts with your review Rudy.

A lot of folks are now positioning their capos more in the middle of the space between the fret wire. I have tried this and it doesn't seem to make any difference in terms of sound except on something like the Planet Waves/D'Addario NS capo. (The NS capo, IMO, really needs to be very close to the fret wire to sound decent.)

You might try this center spacing to give yourself a little more room for your thumb and fingers. It might make that new Dunlop capo more acceptable.

I had a Dunlop Victor capo in the past somewhere, but I gave it to one of my grand children. I remember it as a good design.

- Glenn

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Rudy, you did a fantastic job on that song. I like how you're able to shift the capo up mid-song without losing a beat or verse. Very effective. What looper are you using?

Thanks, Dru.

The looper in the video is an Electroharmonix 720. I have since moved to the Electroharmonix 1440 which provides 23 minutes of loop time, 20 storage slots, and little niceties like easier control options and adjustable fade outs for each individual saved loop.

It's a very nice looper and suits all my requirements.