Musical instrument
OwnerStanley Penridgeinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Stringed instrument sound modification in which a specially braced soundboard is provided either for stand alone use or in cooperative combination with a plurality of vibrating reeds thereby to modify sounds produced by the vibrating strings of the instrument. The sound board includes an enlarged effective area adapted for reinforced positioning of the instrument bridge, such area being substantially defined by intersections of elements of a pair of x-shaped cross braces. Vibrating reeds are optionally provided in a removable cylindrical array of axially parallel members for further modifying the tonal characteristics of the instrument. This removable cylindrical array is adapted for mounting in the sound hole of a guitar or other stringed instrument.
Claims27
An acoustic modification member for a stringed musical instrument comprising:
- (a) an annular supporting member, said annular supporting member having an upper surface lying essentially in a first plane and a central axis normal to said first plane;
- (b) a plurality of elongated acoustically vibratable members each having an elongated axis substantially parallel to said central axis;
- and
- (c) attachment means including affixing means for interconnecting an end of each of said elongated acoustically vibratable members to said annular supporting member thereby to dispose said elongated acoustically vibratable members in a spaced array.
In combination, a stringed musical instrument comprising:
- (a) a sound board having an aperture therein, said sound board having a principal upper surface and a principal lower surface parallel to said principal upper surface;
- (b) means including a plurality of strings for producing acoustic sounds in response to activation thereof, each of strings having a first terminus at one end and a second terminus ad the remaining end;
- (c) elongated anchoring and adjustment means extending from said sound board including an elongated arm having a plurality of tension adjusting members for individually anchoring first termini of said strings and for severally adjusting tensions of said strings;
- (d) other anchoring means for anchoring said second termini of said strings thereby to cause said strings to pass adjacent said sound board;
- (e) and reinforcing means affixed to said principal lower surface, said reinforcing means including:
- (i) a first pair of transversely disposed members forming a first cross, and
- (ii) a second pair of transversely disposed members forming a second cross, said first cross and said second cross being displaced laterally from each other along an axis parallel to axes of said strings;
- and
- (f) An acoustic modification member mounted within said aperture of said sound board, said acoustic modification member including:
- (i) an annular supporting member, said annular supporting member having an upper surface lying essentially in said first plane and a central axis normal to said first plane;
- (ii) a plurality of elongated vibratable members each having an elongated axis substantially parallel to said central axis;
- and
- (iii) attachment means including affixing means for attaching an end of each of said elongated vibratable members to said annular supporting member thereby to dispose said vibratable members in a spaced array.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.