Guitar neck joint routing system
AssigneeC.F. Martin & Company, Inc.
InventorsTheresa Hoffman, Christian P. Destremps, Andrew W. Levan, Michael J. Mosley, David Sharper
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A guitar neck joint routing system. The system includes a probe and router assembly comprising a gantry, a probe, and a plurality of routers, and a guitar neck and body nest comprising clamps and vacuum grips for holding a guitar neck and guitar body in place for taking measurements and routing a dovetail joint.
Claims20
A guitar neck-joint routing system, comprising:
- (a) a probe and router assembly comprising a gantry, a probe, and a plurality of routers;
- (b) a guitar neck and body nest comprising a guitar body clamp, an upper guitar neck clamp, a lower guitar neck clamp, a face probe, and a nest actuator;
- and,
- (c) a programmable logic controller comprising a human machine interface, a programmable processor, and memory.
A method for routing a dovetail joint on a guitar shoulder, comprising:
- (a) determining if the bridge locus on the front face of a guitar body is flat, concave, or convex;
- (b) determining if the neck angle between the heel and the finger board of a guitar neck deviates from a threshold angle;
- (c) determining the thickness of the lower portion of the finger board of the guitar neck;
- (d) determining whether the angle of a dovetail joint on the heel is perpendicular or non-perpendicular to the finger board of the guitar neck;
- (e) determining the geometry of the finger board and the heel;
- (f) determining the top drop angle on the guitar body;
- (g) determining the horizontal position of the shoulder of the guitar body;
- (h) cutting a finger board pocket on the front face of the guitar body taking into account the geometry of the finger board;
- (i) cutting a heel pocket on the shoulder of the guitar body taking into account the shape of the bridge portion, the neck angle, the top drop angle, the low spot depth on the shoulder, the finger board thickness, and the geometry of the heel;
- and,
- (j) cutting a dovetail joint in the shoulder of the guitar body taking into account the angle of the dovetail joint on the heel.
A dovetail joint comprising a female portion having an angle of about 8 degrees and a taper of about 0.0265 inches to about 0.0295 inches per side.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.