Stringed Musical Instrument with Improved Method and Apparatus for Tuning and Signal Processing
AssigneeMarcodi Musical Products, LLC
InventorTimothy E. Meeks
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A musical instrument includes a fretboard, frets aligned in a first direction on the fretboard, a number of strings, aligned in a second direction above the frets, and tensioning devices operable to hold the strings in tension such that the pitch of adjacent strings at any given fret differ by one whole tone. Signals from string vibration pickups may be electronically processed and amplified to modify the sound produced by the musical instrument.
Claims38
A musical instrument comprising:
- a fretboard;
- a plurality of frets aligned in a first direction on the fretboard;
- a first plurality of strings aligned in a second direction above the plurality of frets, the second direction being substantially perpendicular to the first direction;
- and
- a first plurality of tensioning devices operable to hold the first plurality of strings in tension such that the pitches of adjacent strings of the first plurality of strings differ by one whole tone.
A method for muting unfretted strings in a musical instrument comprising a fretboard, a plurality of electrically conductive frets aligned in a first direction on the fretboard, and a plurality of electrically conductive strings aligned in a second direction above the plurality of frets, the method comprising:
- detecting electrical contact between at least one string and a fret of the plurality of frets, the electrical contact being indicative of physical contact between the at least one string and a fret of the plurality of frets,
- sensing vibration of the at least one string of the plurality of strings to produce a sensed signal;
- and
- amplifying the sensed signal only if the electrical contact is detected on the at least one string of the plurality of strings,
- whereby unintentional sounding of an open string is reduced.
A method for electronically sustaining a sensed string vibration signal of a musical instrument having a plurality of strings, the method comprising:
- electronically combining the sensed string vibration signal with a synthesized signal whenever a sustain control switch is activated to produce a combined signal;
- and
- decreasing the amplitude of the combined signal over a ‘release’ time period once the sustain control switch is deactivated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.