Electronic stringed instrument

An electronic stringed instrument comprising:

• an instrument body;
• a string which is stretched above said instrument body;
• a plurality of frets fixed on said instrument body and below said string so that a player's depression of said string causes contact between said string and one or ones of said plurality of frets;
• converting means provided on said instrument body and coupled to a specific point of said string for causing ultrasonic vibration of said string in response to a first signal and for converting echo vibration produced by a reflection of said ultrasonic vibration from the nearest fret to said specific point among the fret or frets contacting said string to a second electrical signal;
• fret discriminating means connected to said converting means for discriminating said nearest fret among said plurality of frets on the basis of said first and second electrical signals and for outputting a fret signal representing said nearest fret;
• and
• damping means for damping the ultrasonic vibration of said string at a predetermined ratio so that further echo vibration produced by a reflection of said echo vibration from said nearest fret can be substantially eliminated.

An electronic stringed instrument comprising:

• an instrument body;
• a string which is stretched above said instrument body;
• a plurality of frets which are provided on said instrument body and below said string so that a player's depression of said string causes contact between said string and one or ones of said plurality of frets;
• a piezoelectric transducer element provided on said instrument body and coupled to a specific point of said string for causing ultrasonic vibration of said string in response to a first electrical signal, and for generating a second electrical signal on the basis of echo vibration produced by a reflection of said ultrasonic vibration from the nearest fret to said specific portion among the fret or frets contacting said string, and a third electrical signal on the basis of string vibrations upon the player's picking of said string;
• fret discriminating means for generating a fret signal representing a pitch corresponding to said nearest fret on the basis of said first and second electrical signals;
• and
• picking data generating means for generating picking data relating to said player's picking in accordance with said third electrical signal.