About the Ratcheting capo
A capo clamps across the strings to raise the key of the guitar. This one prints in a single piece, with a working hinge and a ratchet. Close it round the neck and push the ratchet tooth by tooth until the strings stop buzzing. It's a remix of an earlier ratcheting capo, with a longer arm so the ratchet engages properly even when the plastic flexes, plus a new soft sleeve for the bar that presses the strings.
Print the sleeve in the softest flexible filament you have, or skip it and wrap the bar in electrical tape. Put some tape on the arc that touches the back of the neck too, to protect the finish. The hinge may need gently breaking loose the first time. The designer keeps a few in different gig bags as spares.
What you'll need
Printed parts
- Capo (one print-in-place part)
- Optional: flexible sleeve
Bought parts
- Optional: electrical tape for padding
Tools
- Nothing
Build overview
Print settings
- Material: PLA or ASA; PETG may be too flexible
- Sleeve: The softest flexible filament available
- Supports: None
Photos
All photos: Mikolas Zuza, from the design page on Printables, licensed CC BY-SA. We resized them and converted them to WebP. These adapted versions are shared under the same licence.