Stringed instrument vibrato device
OwnerRandal L Slavikinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vibrato device for an instrument, such as a guitar, comprises a base plate having a forward side with a pivot means and at least one elongated bridge post fixed thereto. Each bridge post is fixed to at least one of the strings of the instrument above a top surface of the base plate and includes a spring fixed below a bottom surface thereof. The spring generally balances the string tension around the pivot means. A vibrato handle is fixed to the base plate, and when moved it causes the base plate to pivot around the pivot means and the effective pitch of each string is changed accordingly. Yet each string may be tuned against the string biasing means independently of any other string since each string has its own spring biasing means.
Claims12
A vibrato device for an instrument having a plurality of strings, the device comprising:
- a base plate having a top surface, a bottom surface, and at least one peripheral edge connecting the top and bottom surfaces, the at least one peripheral edge comprising a forward side having a pivot means fixed proximately thereto;
- a plurality of string attachment means fixed to the base plate and pivotable relative to the base plate about an axis substantially distally parallel to the forward side of the peripheral edge, each string attachment means fixed to one string of the instrument and including a string biasing means that keeps the string in tension at the string attachment means, the string biasing means generally balancing the string tension around the pivot means;
- a vibrato handle fixed to the base plate, the handle when moved causing the base plate to pivot around the pivot means;
- whereby with each string of the instrument being fixed to one of the string attachment means, each string tunable against the string biasing means independently of any other string, the base plate being biased thereby towards the pivot means along the longitudinal axis of the strings, and whereby the vibrato handle may be moved to cause the base plate to pivot around the pivot means to cause the effective pitch of each string to be changed thereby.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.