Lakeside Grad Invents 'Slide Capo,' Takes Georgia Tech Prize

Daniel Chaney admits his brainchild was a relatively simple idea: combining two oft-used guitar accessories–the slide and capo–into what may become a game-changer for novices and experts alike.

The 2007 graduate’s Slide Capo will lead to the creation of new techniques and allows for greater flexibility for guitarists to play faster and smoother. The invention is so good, it took this year's Georgia Tech InVenture Prize given to undergraduate students at the university.

Current guitar slides are typically a metal or glass tube that allows the player to “slide” up and down the strings to make a distinct sound used heavily in blues. A capo attaches to the neck of a guitar to depress all the strings of one fret to change the keys of a song. The Slide Capo’s website shows guitarist Brooks Tellekamp attaching something on a guitar that, when played, sounds like he has an extra hand or at least a couple of extra fingers.

The InVenture Prize was created to develop marketable prototypes. Chaney said the product has a few bugs to be worked out, but he is applying for a patent and looking for a manufacturer. With the help of Georgia Tech faculty adviser Stephen Chininis, Chaney was able to pinpoint a manufacturing cost of $5 for the product, according to a Georgia Tech statement.

Chaney said he just wanted to invent something interesting and useful. The Slide Capo emerged from a class project in which he was asked to modify an existing product.

“I was working on a nut cracker," he said, admitting the choice was not an inspiring one.

The Evansdale area native needed another idea and randomly imagined the Slide Capo. Chaney said he can’t pinpoint how or at what moment he thought of it. He used a university workshop to make functional prototypes and musician friends to weigh the product's user-friendliness.

As the winner of this year’s completion, Chaney took home $15,000 in prize money and a free U.S. patent filing by Georgia Tech’s Office of Technology Licensing each valued at approximately $20,000. Only seven finalists were selected from more than 300 entries. An expert panel judged the finalists based on each product's marketability, passion, innovation, market size and probability of success.

CORRECTION: This article initially misspelled Bruce Tellekamp's last name. It has been corrected.