Fifth String Banjo Capo - Bronze

While this device is expensive, it actually works and gives you the right tone, probably just as good as if you had the little spikes!

Although the banjo I have has the "railroad" spikes, it didn't have one where I needed it. This 5th string capo easily solved the problem. It is so useful that on my newly ordered banjo, I'm only using this 5th string capo. (Note, you'll still be using the other capo for the other 4 strings)

I’ve used the little brass Strum Hollow 5th string banjo capo, but it won’t work with nylon strings, and one of my frailing banjos has nylon strings. It’s also easy to lose. Last month I paid a luthier to install railroad spikes, but the frets were too low, and the string was blocked by the next spike up. I decided to buy a couple of these, and I’m glad I did. They are expensive, but worth it. There’s a groove in the back that fits over the fret, so they are always in the right place. They will work with nylon strings as well as steel strings. Where banjo spikes pull the fifth string down to the fret, lowering the string height and keeping the string from ringing out, these capos lift the string a little, so they ring clearly fen with the capo at the tenth fret. They come with a handy holder I placed on the neck for easy access. This keeps me from misplacing it. They do pull the string a little to the side, but that doesn’t seem to throw the string out of tune the way a railroad spike often does. The only quibble I’ve had is that if my thumb digs up too much from below, it can lift the string and tilt the capo, and once the capo flipped off mid-song. (This might not be a problem with steel strings, as they are under more tension). My solution was to take a little piece of pickguard material with adhesive on it that I had on hand and adhere it to the bottom of the capo. This let the capo still use the slot cut in its bottom, but lifted its angle slightly and completely stopped the problem from the capo lifting. See photo. This could be fixed in a number of ways. Use your imagination. I thought the capo might extend out too far and get in the way of fretting the fourth string, but that hasn’t happened at all. It only extends about 1/8” beyond the 5th string. Worth having!

Doesn’t work. You can almost get it to stay on, but no matter how you set it, there is no tension where it will stay on and not buzz or mute the string. If you pick with any force enough to produce a usable volume, it will fall off the fretboard. Tried it on 3 banjos, a 60s gibson bow tie, a recording king rk-r36, and a gold tone cc-50rp. Isn’t usable on any of them.

This thing works ok. But dude, for over $50 this thing is cheaply made. The description intentionally leads you to believe that it's made of metal, but it's not. The "bronze" is brown plastic. Also that little holder thing ("gig clip" LOL) that it comes with is a cheap little piece of crap. Save your money. You can capo your 5th string by inserting one of those pen caps and it works fine. Or use railroad spikes.

I have a 40+ year-old Epiphone that belonged to my father, and I did not want to drill or nail holes into the neck, so I gave this a try. It works exactly as advertised and I have used it for a couple of gigs already. Slip it under the 5th string at whatever fret you need, tighten it a little and you get perfect tone. I'm knocking a star off because I thought, for the price, it would have a little more weight to it. It's very light and you have to be careful not to bump it while it is in place or it will pop out with the 5th string acting like a bowstring to shoot it across the stage. But, exercise a little caution and you get an easy-to-use capo for your 5th string without marring the neck of your banjo.

For me worth every penny and provides excellent tone. Who would want to drill holes into your banjo neck. I have spent more on far less.

Just buy a cheaper capo. They bloat the price by adding a useless "gig clip" and a tiny bag. I imagine any other 5th string capo would work just as well as this one for less cash