Electric stringed musical instrument and pickup unit incorporated therein for converting vibrations to signal

An electric stringed musical instrument for producing electric tones, comprising:

• an instrument body having a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction, said instrument body including a body top surface, which defines an upper extent of said instrument body;
• plural strings stretched over said body top surface in said longitudinal direction, and selectively vibrating for specifying the electric tones to be produced;
• a bridge provided between said plural strings and said body top surface, the vibrating strings giving rise to rolling of said bridge;
• and
• a pickup unit provided between said bridge and said body top surface for converting said rolling of said bridge to an electric signal representative of the specified electric tones, said pickup unit including
• a bridge tray having a first side portion, second side portion contiguous with said first side portion, a first tray surface on which said bridge stands and a second tray surface opposite to said first tray surface and spaced from said body top surface, whereby said rolling of said bridge gives rise to vibrations of said bridge tray,
• a fixture restraining said first side portion to said instrument body and permitting said second side portion to freely vibrate, and
• a vibration-to-electric signal converter inserted between said second tray surface proximate to said second side portion and said body top surface and converting said vibrations of said second side portion to said electric signal.