A capo, short for capo d'astro, capo tasto or capotasto [kapoˈtasto], Italian for "head of fretboard"; Spanish, capodastro [ka.po'ðas.tɾo]; French, capodastre; German, Kapodaster) is a device used on the neck of a stringed (typically fretted) instrument to shorten the playable length of the strings, hence raising the pitch. It is frequently used on guitars, mandolins, and banjos. The word derives from the Italian "capotasto" which means the nut of a stringed instrument. The earliest known use of the term "capotasto" is by Giovanni Battista Doni who, in his Annotazioni of 1640, uses it to describe the nut of a viola da gamba. The first patented capo was designed by James Ashborn of Wolcottville, Connecticut, USA.