Noise-cancelling pickup for stringed instruments
OwnerRichard E. D. McClishinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A noise-cancelling pickup for a stringed instrument uses two transducers to monitor different forces exerted by a vibratable string under tension. The first transducer is responsive to the music vibrations of the vibrating portion of the string but it is also responsive to variations of the string tension which are not related to the music vibrations of the string. The second transducer is mainly subjected to the variations of the string tension which are not related to the desirable music vibrations. The signals from the transducers are combined in and out-of-phase manner to produce a joint signal in which the spurious components corresponding to the variations of the string tension are significantly attenuated and possibly eliminated.
Claims19
A pickup for a vibratable string under tension of a musical instrument, said vibratable string under said tension having a vibrating first portion and a less vibrating second portion, said pickup comprising:
- first transducer means responsive to vibrations of said vibratable string and responsive to variations of said tension of said vibratable string and producing a first transducer signal minimally comprising a first component caused by a vibration of said first portion of said vibratable string and a second component caused by a variation of said tension of said vibratable string,
- second transducer means responsive to said variation of said tension of said vibratable string, effectively less responsive to said vibrations of said vibrating portion of said vibratable string than said first transducer means, and producing a second transducer signal minimally comprising a third component caused by said variation of said tension of said vibratable string and corresponding to said second component of said first transducer signal, and
- means to combine said first and said second transducer signals and produce a joint transducer signal therefrom, whereby said pickup has a selectively reduced sensitivity to said variation of said tension of said vibratable string in said joint transducer signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.