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US 10,916,232 B1Granted
Acoustical optical pickup for use in stringed musical instruments
AssigneeTaff Optical, LLC.
InventorsKyle Hughes, David M. Kramer, David E. Ball
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optical head assembly for use with a stringed musical instrument, the vibrations of the strings causing a light beam to be modulated in accordance with the frequency of the vibrating strings. The modulated light output, produced by the relative motion between two adjacent grates, is coupled to a device with converts the modulated light beam to a corresponding modulated electrical signal which, in turn, is coupled to an amplifier associated with the instrument.
Claims7
A pickup device for a stringed musical instrument having a bridge member with strings positioned thereon comprising:
- a first transmissive grate;
- a source for generating a light beam, said light beam being incident on said first light transmissive grate;
- said grate being positioned relative to said source;
- a device spaced from said source and positioned to receive said light beam after passing through said first light transmissive grate, an electrical signal being generated in response thereto;
- and
- said source and said device being mounted on opposite sides of said bridge member, said source and said device moving relative to each other when said string are plucked by a user, the light beam transmitted through said grate being modulated as a result of said relative movement;
- said modulated light beam being converted to a corresponding modulated electrical signal, the amplitude and frequency of said modulated electrical signal varying in accordance with the characteristics of the vibrating instrument strings.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.