Reso Capo History

THE HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF THE RESONATOR GUITAR CAPO ACCORDING TO WOLFE

By Bobby Wolfe - Published in Bluegrass Unlimited March, 2002

In the beginning, when a Resonator Guitar picker needed a capo to play those fiddle tunes like the banjo picker (who had a capo) (ditto the guitar picker) he looked around for one and all he got was "what’s that ?" Being resourceful, as most pickers are, he would utilize such things as popsicle sticks, toothbrush handles, miscellaneous pieces of bone, plastic or whatever, even a Chuch Key (beer can opener to you un-initiated) and he would twist it in place between the strings and the fingerboard and say "let’s git it boys".

Seriously, back when you could count all the Resonator Guitar pickers on your fingers, that IS what they used for capos! Can’t you just imagine doing that today? Well, in 1965 when I got my first box it was still the same way but I got lucky. I found both of Tut Taylors’ World Pacific albums and on one was his address. I ordered his instruction book and LP which by the way I think was the very first post WW II Reso Instructional. In that book was a sketch of the Miller capo and so I immediately ordered one.

I knew absolutely nothing about tone at the time but I knew my new capo sounded awfully different than the nut or the bar. Being made of light weight aluminum channel, it simply didn’t have the weight to sound right. That was my reasoning. So, I found a ¾ inch round chunk of brass, got my hacksaw and files and went to work. I flatted one side for lining up on the frets, notched , drilled , tapped and stole the clamp part from Miller and had my first prototype capo. It worked. Big and bulky but man, I had tone !!

Later I proceeded to buy some 9/16 brass bar, round rod and vinyl tubing. Using machines at the local Community College and my home workshop I made 18 capos.

I sold about half , and gave capos to Tut, Josh, Jerry, Mike, Gene Wooten, and probably Curtis Burch and others. This was somewhere around 1970.

Now you have the early history of the Reso capo. Here comes the evolution part.

Sometime during the next several years I built a batch of 50 capos thinking that this would be enough to sell one to all the Reso pickers in the country. Also during this period Jerry "Flux" D. came out with his smaller and precision made capo that was very successful. Gene Wooten made some about the size of mine but his were tapered on the end to allow quicker on and off action. From then on it seemed as if there was a new one every year. All that I saw were a version, one way or another, of the original Miller clamp-on to the strings style. By around 1985 (at least prior to 1988) I was again out of capos ! I decided to try the smaller ½ " bar to see if I would still get adequate tone. Sounded fine so I made 150 and as of this date I again have none and I don’t plan to make anymore. My total production was approx. 218.

I need to tell this capo story containing two nice tidbits. One is about evolution and one is early history. The March 1988 issue of Frets Magazine contained a one page piece by Jim Bennet. He told of some early history and pictured 5 capos available in 1987-1988. He showed capos by John Bringe-Bobby Wolfe-Flux-Dunlop and Dan Huckabee. Shortly after this piece appeared I got a phone call from a fella asking about mine. He said it looked similar to the one he had that was in his case when his brothers sold his Reso. Said he had gotten it from a fella there in California where they lived at the time. Couldn’t remember his name. I asked if it was Miller. He said yes that was it! When I told him mine is a brass copy of the Miller he said he wanted to order one. He gave me his name and address. It was Rodney Dillard. Needless to say, Rodney got a free one! How many of you knew that Rodney played some Reso back in the 60’s and 70’s ?

I phoned both Mike Auldridge and Tut Taylor for their recollections and they said:

Mike: First time I saw one it was Josh using a church key, you know, a bottle opener….

I didn’t use a capo then as there were none…. First one I ever had was made for me by a friend (Bob Shirley) and he only made two … Saw someone using a popsicle stick.

Tut: The Miller capo was the first one I ever saw…. His first name was Russ….His wife is still living in California and I’m going to call her if I can get her number….I never had but one ….( I told him that he must have sold me that one )

Why Did I Do This Story…Was reading some email messaging recently and noticed that Dick DeNeve mentioned he had bought one of my capos off ebay just for historical purposes.

I thought about sending him an email telling him some of this story but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there must be thousands of Reso pickers out there that don’t know about the early capos. Who knows, there may be a few hundred that will be interested.

In my opinion, Russ Miller should have the credit for inventing the Resonator Guitar Capo. If anyone knows better, please let us all know.

From top to bottom: John Bringe Capo, Jerry Douglas Capo, Bobby Wolfe (Small ~ 150 made), Bobby Wolfe (Large ~ 68 made), Wolfe Prototype (Miller Copy), Russ Miller Capo (Mid 1960's)