Chris Cooper - Posted - 07/12/2012:  15:00:28

gregboyd.com/accessory_detail....e_key=154

What do we know about Ptacek capos? Does anyone have one?

Any other options? I'm going to need something to fit an 11" radius.

Chris Cooper - Posted - 07/12/2012:  15:40:16

[Quote]jessie - Posted - 05/21/2011:  13:48:49

i use a ptacek radius capo made by prucha  ,best capo for my prucha[Quote] Just found thin in an archived topic. Is this right? Prucha make the Ptacek Capo?

crsb - Posted - 07/12/2012:  17:11:00

I have a Paige radius capo for my nechville.

john m - Posted - 07/12/2012:  18:51:11

Planet Waves NS Trio works perfect on a radius neck...and they are less than $20.00

arnie fleischer - Posted - 07/12/2012:  18:53:16

I bought a Ptacek "C" capo from Greg Boyd in 2003 and have been using it ever since.  I recently bought their standard "B" capo.  Confirming my status as a gear-crazed banjo person, I've tried a bunch of other capos before and since 2003, from Shubb to Showcase to Elliott to Kat Eyz to G7 to Paige to the "Ultimate" (the design of which looks like a Ptacek with one side open but with a different clamping material).  The Ptacek is my favorite.  It's beautifully made, but so are most of the others.  The difference to me is the black clamping material, which looks and feels like some sort of rubber and is harder than what's on the Shubb.  It capos with virtually no tuning distortion and the material does not wear out.  And the unplated brass is beautiful.  By far the best capo I've used.  

Chris Cooper - Posted - 07/13/2012:  02:41:55

I use a Paige at the moment (for a flat fingerboard) I didn't know they made a radius, do they make one to suit an 11" radius?

The Ptacek are a great Capo I got to use one at a festival recently and I couldn't believe how good it was.

stanger - Posted - 07/13/2012:  10:23:16

quote:

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Originally posted by Chris Cooper



[Quote]jessie - Posted - 05/21/2011:  13:48:49 i use a ptacek radius capo made by prucha  ,best capo for my prucha[Quote] Just found thin in an archived topic. Is this right? Prucha make the Ptacek Capo?

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Hi, Chris...

Prucha is the center of a small bunch of Czech banjo makers. All of them have specialties, and they will wor collectively.

Prucha is a top flight machinist, so he makes all the bracket hooks, nuts, and parts for the tuning pegs. Ptacek (pronounced top check)  has a small foundry, and casts all the bronze tone rings and brass parts. Each has his own bronze mix, and Prucha assists Ptacek during the casting process. Pavel Cristofeck does most of the assembly of the small parts; he assembles the tuning pegs, capos, tailpieces and other stuff. Each can, and does, do everything except the foundry work, 

It's a good system, since each is a single person shop except for Prucha, who now employs his son. When there is a slowdown in one shop, there is always something that  can be done that may have begun at one of the other shops. But each makes distinctively different looking and sounding banjos.

Since Prucha has the widest distributorship, he's most often the brand name, but Ptacek also sells a lot of the accessories under his mark. He stamps all of his products with a little song bird perched on a branch. The bird is literally his name; ptachek means 'little bird' or 'birdie' in Czech.  In English, Prucha's name is Jerry Park. 

This system is very similar to the ancient European Guilds. For decades, the making of guitar and banjo parts has been a cottage industry in Germany; most of the Kerschner style tailpieces were made in similar fashion, with the assembly farmed out to folks who would assemble the parts at the kitchen table in the evenings as a means of a little second income. One small town was famous for this- almost everyone in the town did this work. There is a town in Mexico that does the same thing with guitars.

regards,

stanger

jessie - Posted - 07/13/2012:  17:26:48

i use a straight ptacek capo  on my stelling archtop and a radius c model on my prucha bat ,don't even have to retune ,they both work just great .will last my lifetime