Being inherently lazy and not caring to learn a different set of chords for every key I might want to perform a song in, I have learned to appreciate the benefits of the lowly capo for both guitar and banjo.

With my affection for the music of the 19th Century and the instruments upon which it was typically performed, however, I was left in a quandary of historical authenticity; somehow a modern capo just did not seem right on my little gut - strung "Parlor guitar" that I used in Civil War reenactments and "Living History" performances.

When I tried to work out some of the old beauties that I began to discover in collecting said music, I realized that I needed to develop a vocal range that considerably exceeded the one I come with, learn a lot of exotic chords that my fingers don't get along with all that well, or "capo up".

In doing a bit of research - which as I recall might have been here some years back - it was learned that back in the early 1800s they did indeed have a primitive type of capo that was commonly called a "Choker". Nobody seemed to know much more than that though, and few if any specimens seem to have survived - at least that I'm able to determine.

Eventually I managed to score an antique copy of Justin Holland's ("The Father of the American Guitar") "HOLLAND'S COMPREHENSIVE GUITAR METHOD".