Capo Capo A capo (short for "capodastro", "capo tasto" or "capotasto" , Italian for "head of fretboard"; Spanish: " cejilla" or "capodastro"; French: "capodastre"; German: "Kapodaster"; Portuguese: "capodastro", Serbo-Croatian: "kapodaster"; Greek: "kapotasta") is a device used on the neck of a stringed (typically fretted) instrument to shorten the playable length of the strings, hence raising the pitch. It is a common tool for players of guitars, mandolins, mandolas, banjos, ukuleles and bouzoukis. The word derives from the Italian "capotasto" which means the nut of a stringed instrument. The earliest known use of the term "capotasto" is by Giovanni Battista Doni who,
Tuning mechanisms for stringed instruments pattern on a peg shaft interferes with this action, pegs occasionally require refitting, a specialized job which amounts to reshaping both pegs and holes to a smooth circular conical taper. Tapered tuning pins are similar, but must be turned with a tuning tool, usually called a tuning key, tuning lever, or tuning wrench. Historically, pins were also tapered (see image of bone peg, right), but they are now generally threaded, instead (see below). Tapered pegs are a simple, ancient design, common in many musical traditions. Tapered pegs are common on classical Indian instruments such as the sitar, the Saraswati veena,