The Shubb Capo company began in California in 1974, when Dave Coontz and Rick Shubb collaborated to design and produce a new fifth string capo for banjo. Before that, Rick worked as a professional 5-string banjo player and teacher, and Dave was an auto mechanic and a banjo student of mine. One night at his lesson, I was talking about my dissatisfaction with existing methods of capoing the fifth string. I described an idea that I had for a fifth string capo that operated on a lever principle, so that it would provide sufficient pressure for a good tone, and ranted about how I couldn't get anyone in the music products trade interested in making one. Finally, he said "if nobody else will make you one, I will."
46 year later Shubb has produced over 7 million capos and is recognized by artists worldwide as a premier producer of capos for stringed instruments.
Whatever new directions Shubb Capos might take, you can be sure that one thing will remain unchanged: my absolute dedication to meeting the needs of the musician. ...Rick Shubb