We have a local "spooner" who really is quite good, and generally knows when to play and when to sit back. He also plays pretty fair lap dulcimer, so he usually has something to trade off to; but at one informal session I think I recall that he hadn't brought the dulcy, but had his spoons.

That night, however, when he got "close to the edge" out of enthusiasm for a long series of tunes that were mostly appropriate, but with some a little borderline for spoons, I suggested that it sounded to me like his spoons might benefit from being tuned to a more pleasant tone.

He looked a bit puzzled and then asked "how would you go about tuning them?"

I allowed as how tuning them would be a little more complex than could be easily done during the session, but that he might try just using a capo on them.

After a bit of joshing with him he came around to asking "what's a spoon capo look like," so I whipped out a 15 pound test wire tie and pulled it up tight around both spoons right at the base of the bowls, and nipped off the excess.

He sat there, staring at them for quite a long while before I felt sorry enough for him to nip off the tie. (It was a pretty light weight tie, but would have been difficult to break without bending something.)

In some circumstance a "capo" does make a pair of spoons sound a lot better (as in completely silent) - but it really was a little bit of overkill for what he was doing, and it was all just for a joke.

And we're still pretty good friends, and he laughs about it now.

(For those not familiar with the wire ties, ask a cop. They use them in lieu of handcuffs quite a lot; although they go for the 30 lb test size or better, to avoid cutting into the meat quite so much.)

John