Capotasto

Capotasto (It. chief fret) (Fr.: barre), 1. *nut; 2. a movable nut in form of a wooden bar or metal band tied or clipped to the fingerboard of certain plucked instrs., thereby shortening the speaking length of the strings. Its great advantage is that it permits the same fingering in any tonality. A number of old instrs.—citterns especially—have holes bored through fingerboard and neck for the accommodation of a capotasto; 3. a metal pressure bar that acts as a nut in the treble section of…