US 5,033,349 AGranted

Stringed instrument

OwnerThomas Nechvilleinventor

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Abstract

A stringed instrument construction including a neck attached to an annular housing and having its acoustic components such as soundboard and rim mounted concentrically in the housing. Rather than having multiple tensioning hooks and brackets to tighten around the perimeter of the soundboard as in a banjo, this instrument employs an annular threaded connection between the acoustic components and the housing. A gear and pinion aparatus is used to facilitate turning the inner threaded portion within the external housing. There is no need for coordinator rods therefore the acoustic components can resonate more freely, providing better sound. The neck is connected to the housing at a radiused interface which enables ample adjustment of the neck's angle. The neck features a track mounted self adjusting capo, and an optional track mounted single string capo. It also offers the convenience of tuning all the strings at the peghead rather than having a protruding fifth string from the side of the neck as on a five string banjo. This construction enables the use of differing acoustic components to achieve differing sounds; quick assembly and disassembly and easier maintenance and playability.

Claims8

Dependent claims

A musical instrument comprising:

a) an annular housing including a radially projecting flange having an aperture therethrough and further including an inner sidewall surface containing a first region having a plurality of annular threads and a second region having a plurality of vertical threads circumferentially extending about the housing;
b) a soundboard including a skin head drawn about an annular rib having a diameter greater than said flange and wherein said rib mounts in engagement with said flange and said skin head projects through said aperture;
c) an annular rim having an upper surface of a diameter less than the housing aperture, a plurality of apertures in a lower surface, a sidewall surface containing an annular projection radially extending outward therefrom and a first region containing a plurality of annular threads and wherein the first regions of the housing and rim mount in concentric relation to one another;
d) pinion means including a plurality of vertical threads and a handle portion for removably mounting in one of the rim apertures and mating with the threads of the second region of the housing such that upon rotating said pinion means said pinion means and rim rotate in unison about said housing to induce said rib into engagement with said flange and the upper rim surface into engagement with the skin head to vary the taughtness of said skin head;
e) neck means secured to said housing for supporting a plurality of strings between a portion of the neck means and the housing and including first and second grooves longitudinally extending along opposite surfaces of said neck means transverse to a plane containing the strings.

2 more elements

A musical instrument comprising:

a) an annular housing including a radially projecting flange having an aperture therethrough and further including a first sidewall surface containing a plurality of annular threads and a second sidewall surface containing a plurality of vertical threads circumferentially extending about the housing;
b) a soundboard including a skin head drawn about an annular rib having a diameter greater than said flange;
c) an annular rim having an upper surface of a diameter less than the housing aperture, a plurality of apertures in a lower surface, a sidewall surface containing a plurality of annular threads which mate with the threads of the first sidewall surface of the housing;
d) pinion means mounting in one of the rim apertures and including a handle portion and a plurality of vertical threads for removably mating with the rim and threads of the housing second sidewall surface such that upon rotating said pinion means said pinion means and said rim rotate in unison within said housing to induce the upper rim surface of the rim into engagement with the skin head and vary the taughtness of said skin head;
e) neck means for supporting a plurality of strings between a portion of the neck means and the housing and including means securing said neck means to the housing for varying the angular projection of the neck means relative to the housing and wherein first and second grooves longitudinally extend along opposite surfaces of said neck means transverse to a plane containing the strings;
f) first capo means including a housing having a bore, first and second pegs each having portions mounting within said bore and means mounted within said bore for biasing said first and second pegs away from one another, first and second guides slidably mounted within a respective one of said first and second grooves and first and second resilient link arms coupled between said first and second pegs and guides for compressively biasing an outer surface portion of said housing into contact with ones of said plurality of strings;
and
g) second capo means including a first portion slidably mounting within one of said grooves and an L-shaped arm having a minor arm portion which projects for engaging at least one of said strings.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.