Here's how to install a railroad spike capo. These are actual HO guage model railroad spikes you pound into the neck of your instrument.
You can push a string under the head of the spike to hold it down, just like a regular capo that only affects that string.
They're very popular for banjo. Earl Scruggs uses them. My "Gold Tone" banjo came with them installed under the fifth string at the 7th and 9th frets.
The reason they're so popular for banjo:
The 5th string on a banjo only goes from the bridge to the 5th fret. Let's say you want to capo up two frets. A regular capo works on the four low strings, but misses the fifth string. That 5th string is unaffected unless you've got a railroad spike to tuck it under at the 7th fret.
You can push a string under the head of the spike to hold it down, just like a regular capo that only affects that string.
They're very popular for banjo. Earl Scruggs uses them. My "Gold Tone" banjo came with them installed under the fifth string at the 7th and 9th frets.
The reason they're so popular for banjo:
The 5th string on a banjo only goes from the bridge to the 5th fret. Let's say you want to capo up two frets. A regular capo works on the four low strings, but misses the fifth string. That 5th string is unaffected unless you've got a railroad spike to tuck it under at the 7th fret.
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Here's what the spikes look like. I bought four of them from a music store. Later I got a million identical ones for free from a friend who does model railroading.
The spikes are .033" square with little hatches to help them grip the wood better. The heads are all different. Pick through them for the spikes you want. You want spikes with thin heads.
That's a .032" circuit board drill bit I happened to have. "99" doesn't mean anything.
The guitar is a Martin Backpackpacker guitar I'm stringing like a banjo.
The two highest-pitched strings on a 5string banjo are both .009" thick, which is about as thin as a steel string gets. That's why the "thumb string" on a banjo starts out at the 5th fret, otherwise it would have to be either very thin or under tremendous tension.
Instead of adding a tuning knob halfway down the neck like on a 5 string banjo, I'm just going to add these railroad spike capos at the 5th, 7th, and 9th frets.
The spikes are .033" square with little hatches to help them grip the wood better. The heads are all different. Pick through them for the spikes you want. You want spikes with thin heads.
That's a .032" circuit board drill bit I happened to have. "99" doesn't mean anything.
The guitar is a Martin Backpackpacker guitar I'm stringing like a banjo.
The two highest-pitched strings on a 5string banjo are both .009" thick, which is about as thin as a steel string gets. That's why the "thumb string" on a banjo starts out at the 5th fret, otherwise it would have to be either very thin or under tremendous tension.
Instead of adding a tuning knob halfway down the neck like on a 5 string banjo, I'm just going to add these railroad spike capos at the 5th, 7th, and 9th frets.
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So if we capo the first 4 strings to the key of A, we must also capo the 5th string separately to A as it is open on the 5th fret as a G.
As to being a make shift fret...not. The string is pulled downward much as a finger pushes it downward, thereby forcing the string against the fret and changing the pitch via the existing fret. The spike merely holds the wire against the fret.
You can just tune the string to the key you desire but, the string may break if you go much higher than A.
All of that makes sense for a banjo, but I don't quite get why he's doing it for a guitar. Sure, maybe he wants to play it like a banjo, but they make special capos that only grab some of the strings for that. I guess this is the "poor-man's" solution, but it just doesn't seem worth it to mess up the instrument for that when the instrument isn't exactly cheap.
But I agree, I don't get why anyone would do this to a guitar. I've never heard of using spikes on anything but a 5-string banjo (or 5-string banjo-like instrument).
For banjo these tend to be the preferred solution. They do make various types of 5th string capos, which each have their problems. The Shubb 5th string capo requires drilling screw holes into the side of the neck. Others are small and get lost easily, or break strings, or are difficult to use, etc.
But for every 5th string capo there is someone who uses and likes it. Different strokes...
I actually am going to be getting a Martin Backpacker and tuning it like a Banjo just as the starter of this thread is. The options for travel banjos are very expensive, and well too banjoey. Meaning they are loud because of the noise put off by the drum head. Having a martin backpacker tuned as a banjo allows the instrument to practice like a banjo, but be quite like a Martin.
Just sitting in my room, plucking a banjo versus my full size acoustic guitar, the banjo is much much louder.
Sure you arent going to play to a sellout crowd with this modification, but it lets you practice banjo on the run. Something no travel banjo i have seen for sale succesfully does. They are all too heavy, loud or bulky.