Remembering the '60s
Pittman 5th String Capo
© Frank Ford, 1999; Photos by FF

If you're old as I am, you can recall the days before banjos has 5th string capos. Nothing like the stress of trying to tune a 5th string to "C" without one of those little nails to hold it down!

Along came Walt Pittman with his 5th string capo. Subsequently marketed by Ode banjos, this was the first really good 5th string capo. It held the string tightly and was easy to adjust. One problem though, the scalloped bar had to fit the fret spacing precisely, which meant different scalloping for different scale lengths.

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