instrument to_tags
Method and apparatus for representing musical information2010-03-26 00:00:00dimension value and sound dimension value that exists; and
generating a whole rest for each combination of a time dimension value and a sound dimension value that has no associated musical information; and
outputting the retrieved musical information.
14. A method for electronically representing musical information using a programmable data processing system, the steps comprising:
providing the programmable data processing system with a plurality of data signals representing musical information; and
using the programmable data processing system to perform the steps of:
storing a plurality of entries that represent rhythmic, melodic, and interpretive aspects of the musical information, each entry comprising one unit of music data selectively representing a rest, a note or a chord and a set of details associated with the entry;
linking successive entries for a given
instrument together in time sequence order;
grouping a portion of a sequence musical information to be associated with a specified measure for a given instrument by:
assigning a first pointer to the successive entries for the given
instrument to designate the first entry to be included in the measure; and
assigning a last pointer to the successive entries for the given
instrument to designate the last entry to be included in the measure.
15. A method for electronically representing pitch information associated with musical information using a programmable data processing system, the steps comprising:
providing the programmable data processing system with a plurality of data signals representing pitch information; and
using the programmable data processing system to perform the steps of:
defining a harmonic reference as an absolute frequency;
defining a tone center as an octave key signature relative to the harmonic reference;
defining a diatonic displacement for dividing the tone center into diatonic steps; and
representing the pitch information for a note as a relative displacement of diatonic steps from the tone center,
whereby the octave key signature associated with a given note is transposed without computation as a result of a change in the tone center.
16. A music processing apparatus for representing musical information, the musical information comprising a plurality of entries with each entry representing one unit of music data that may be a rest, a single note or a chord and a set of attributes associated with that entry, comprising:
a programmable data processing means for executing a program; and
memory means operably connected to the programmable data processing means for storing the musical information, the memory means including;
a multi-dimensional data structure framework for storing the musical information having:
a time dimension for separating the musical information into a plurality of segments, each segment representing some portion of a measure; and
a sound dimension for separating the musical information into a plurality of channels, each channel representing a sound source,
such that a plurality of framework intersection points are defined by a pair of discrete values of the time dimension and the sound dimension;
an entry pool for storing the entries that comprise the musical information; and
a plurality of frames assigned to the framework intersection points, each frame having:
a first and last pointer to the entry pool for designating entries to be included in that frame; and
a frame specification record for storing additional attributes associated with the musical information contained in the frame.
17. A music processing apparatus including programmable data processor means for executing a program and memory means for storing musical information, comprising:
a plurality of frames included in the memory means, each frame for storing musical information associated with a measure for one of a plurality of sound sources;
a plurality of assignment records included in the memory means, each assignment record indicating the measure and instrument assigned to that frame; and
means for retrieving the musical information from the memory means by searching the assignment records for sequential measures for a given sound source and retrieving the musical information stored in the corresponding frame if an assignment record is found and placing a whole rest in the measure if an assignment record is not found for the measure and sound source being searched for.
18. A common data structure for representing musical information comprising:
a music framework having a sound dimension and a time dimension:
means for storing page-related data for the music framework such that the page-related data is identified by a page number;
means for storing instrument-related data along the sound dimension of the music framework such that the instrument-related data is identified by an instrument number;
means for storing measure-related data along the time dimension of the music framework whereby the measure-related data is identified by a measure number;
means for storing frame-related data at intersection points of the sound dimension and the time dimension of the music framework such that the frame-related data is identified by a frame number;
means for storing entry-related data such that the entry-related data is identified by an entry number; and
means for relating designated portions of the entry-related data to the frame-related data stored at a designated intersection point of the sound dimension and the time dimension of the music framework.
19. A data structure for representing musical information comprising:
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Suspension of musical instruments2010-03-20 00:00:00for aesthetic and utilitarian reasons, it applies a substantial amount of torque to the main body of the instrument through the elongated neck, when both ends of the harness are attached to the main body, resulting in an imbalance. Thus, the guitar player generally has to apply pressure with his arm to the base of the guitar near where the harness is attached, in order to balance the instrument.
In another common method of suspending large instruments, such as guitars, by a shoulder harness, one end of the harness is attached to the main body of the instrument, and the other end of the harness is attached to part of the instrument removed from the main body. For example, guitars are sometimes suspended by means of a strap with one end attached to the main body of the guitar and with the other end attached to the head pad, which is attached to the main body by an elongated neck. With such suspension, the instrument tends to rest with its center of gravity directly below the region where the harness contacts the shoulder of the musician. With instruments having very long necks, such suspension causes the active playing area of the
instrument to lie out of convenient reach of the musician. The musician must then apply a force to the instrument in order to swing the active playing area of the
instrument to a convenient position. A further disadvantage of such suspension for relatively large instruments is the length the harness must traverse, and the necessarily small angle the harness makes with the neck of the instrument. There results a loose and insecure positioning of the instrument with respect to the musician. The harness tends to slip from the shoulder of the musician, and the musician must continually adjust the position of the instrument.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to facilitate the suspension of musical instruments. A related object is to facilitate the suspension of stringed instruments, such as guitars with long necks.
A further object of the invention is to facilitate the suspension of musical instruments which tend to be unbalanced or insecure in their conventional suspension.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accomplishing the foregoing and related objects, the invention provides for the suspension of musical instruments by means of a harness, with connection to two attachment points on the instrument, and with an additional intermediate connection to the instrument that limits the extent to which the instrument can be displaced from the harness.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the harness consists of a strap, each end of which attaches to two attachment points on the instrument, and an intermediate attachment, which attaches to a third, separate and distinct attachment point on the instrument, and which affixes to the strap, or loops about the strap, at a position intermed...
Hand-held percussion musical instrument comprising elongate tube shaped as a ring, incorporating dividers, and incoporating contained sound-generating elements2010-03-18 00:00:00to impact the tubular walls and end walls to create audible percussion sounds, and may be conveniently used as an attractive
instrument to accompany and lend emphasis to singing and/or dancing.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said elongate tubes are approximately straight and are connected end-to-end as a polygon-configured tubular ring, with said tubular walls being sufficiently thin, hard and rigid to act as soundboards for acoustically coupling induced vibrations from said solid masses audibly to the surrounding atmosphere.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said tubular ring is in the form of a regular hexagon.
4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said rigid tubular ring is formed principally of injection molded hard and rigid plastic material, such as polycarbonate or acrylic plastic, or the equivalent.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said tubular walls are approximately circular in cross-section about central axes and have an external diameter within a range of about 1 to about 13/4 inches, with a tubular wall thickness within a range of about 1/16 to about 3/16 inches.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said rigid tubular ring is formed in an upper unitary half and a lower unitary half having interlocking mating surfaces which join in a median plane, said plane bisecting said ring along and through its circumference.
7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said solid masses are metallic masses and are spherical.
8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said masses are metallic, and are approximately spherical, and the diameters of the majority of said masses are within a range of about 1/16 to about 4/8 inches.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said tubular walls and end walls have smooth surfaces.
10. A percussion musical instrument, which comprises:
(a) wall means to define a tube that bends upon itself so as to be a closed figure,
said wall means being formed of a hard substance having such characteristics, and being sufficiently thin, that when hard solid masses are disposed loosely within said tube, and said tube is shaken, percussion vibrations will be created in the air surrounding said tube due to the impacting of said masses on said wall means,
the diameter of said closed figure being sufficiently small that said closed figure is readily lifted and shaken by one hand of a performer, and being sufficiently large that said one hand may at different times grasp said tube at several nonoverlapping regions therealong,
the diameter of said tube being sufficiently small that said tube may be readily grasped by said one hand,
(b) divider means provided at spaced points along said tube to divide the length of said tube into chambers at least some of which are adapted to contain hard solid masses,
(c) hard solid masses loosely disposed in at least some of said chambers to impact said wall means and create said audible percussion vibrations when said tube is shaken by said one hand,
(d) a mechanical-electrical transducer is associated with said wall means to generate an electric signal in response to impacting of said masses on said wall means, and
(e) amplifier and loudspeaker means connected to said transducer to convert said signal into ...
Musical instrument bridge2010-03-09 00:00:00claim 45, wherein each of the first and second fingers has a resonant frequency, the resonant frequency of the first finger being different than the resonant frequency of the second finger.
47. The musical instrument bridge of claim 45, further comprising a mounting block disposed between the plate and the fingers.
48. The musical instrument bridge of claim 47, wherein the mounting block and the base portion of each of the fingers have respective interfitting portions including a groove and an outwardly extending lip received in the groove.
49. The musical instrument bridge of claim 47, wherein the mounting block includes a plurality of slots into which each of the fingers is secured.
50. The musical instrument bridge of claim 47, wherein each of the fingers is secured to the mounting block independently of any other of the fingers.Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to musical instruments in general, and in particular to musical instrument bridges.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, significant improvements have been made in the quality of musical instruments, particularly electric instruments such as electric guitars and electric bass guitars. However, the majority of the improvements that have occurred in such instruments are due to improvements made in the electronic components used with such instruments. These electronic components include pickups, amplifiers and special effects. One component of a musical instrument that has remained virtually unchanged since the first electric instruments were introduced is the instrument bridge.
A bridge on a musical instrument is designed to support a set of strings at a predetermined distance above the instrument's fretboard. It has been discovered that prior art bridges are the source of, or at least contribute to, three errors in the production of sound from an instrument. The first error is interstring modulation, whereby striking one string causes another string on the
instrument to vibrate. If the pitch of the vibrating strings are not harmonically related, such interstring modulation can produce unclear, distorted sounds. The second problem associated with traditional instrument bridges is the fact that they dampen a string's vibration once it is played. This is particularly true of tremolo-type bridges that are coupled to the body of a musical instrument via one or more springs. These springs dissipate a portion of the energy of a plucked string, thereby reducing the sustain of a note played. The third problem contributed by prior art bridge designs is the signal distortion that occurs after the string is struck. When a string is initially struck, the string moves back and forth in a plane that is substantially parallel to the front face of a musical instrument and perpendicular to a magnetic field produced by an instrument pickup. This parallel movement produces the cleanest sound with the fewest undertones and overtones. However, shortly after the string is struck, the plane in which the string is vibrating begins to rotate in an elliptical fashion. As the plane of the string vibration changes, the signal produced by the pickup begins to sound slightly distorted.
In order to solve the problems associated with prior art bridge designs, there is a need for a musical instrument bridge that reduces interstring modulation, does not excessively dampen a string's vibration and confines a string's vibration to a single plane that is substantially perpendicular to the direction of a magnetic field produced by a pickup.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a musical instrument bridge that supports a set of strings at a predetermined distance above a front face of a musical instrument. Each string supported by the bridge is tuned to a predetermined pitch when the musical instrument is played. The bridge includes a plate that is secured to a rear face of a musical instrument and a plurality of fingers that are secured to the plate and extend toward a front face of the musical instrument. Each of the fingers includes a head portion that supports a string at the predetermined distance above the front face of the musical instrument, a base portion at which the finger is secured to the plate and a waist portion that extends between the base portion and the head portion. Each finger has a resonant frequency that is related to the predetermined pitch of the string supported by the finger.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a fragmentary isometric of an electric guitar with pans broken away for illustration of the musical instrument bridge according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an isometric of the musical instrument bridge according to the present invention;
FIG. 3 is an isometric of a musical instrument bridge according to the present invention, with pans shown in exploded relationship;
FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the musical instrument bridge finger according to the present invention, with pans broken away;
FIG. 5 is an isometric of ...
Method for operating a musical instrument2010-03-08 00:00:00groups.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein:
said two outer lines in each of said first, fifth and sixth groups have a visually observable width that is larger than other lines in said first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth groups.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein:
said sound is produced utilizing a keyboard instrument.
14. The method of claim 8, wherein:
said two staff portions have relative line widths and orientation substantially as shown in FIG. 14.Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method for operating a musical
instrument to produce sounds corresponding to a musical piece. The method is particularly useful for identifying and activating the appropriate keys of a keyboard instrument, such as a piano.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Musical sounds have been produced for hundreds of years by musicians operating musical instruments by reading music from a conventional music staff and manipulating the musical
instrument to create sound corresponding to the music represented on the musical staff. According to the conventional music notation system currently in use, symbols are placed on a series of parallel, horizontal lines, called a staff, to depict tones of the music being visually recorded. The conventional staff consists of five uniformly spaced, horizontal lines and the intervening spaces. Graphic symbols, often referred to as notes, are positioned on the staff on a line, in a space between two lines, in the space immediately above the top line, and in the space immediately below the bottom line. Additional notes can be shown above or below the described position by the use of ledger lines, which are used to show how far up, or down, the note is. Counting ledger lines can be a serious problem, adding confusion to the process of reading music, for both the novice and the experienced musician or vocalist.
Clefs are graphic characters placed on the staff to locate the position of a note that represents a specific pitch. The positions of other notes representing other pitches are then determined relative to the fixed note. The most common clefs are the bass (indicating that the fourth line from the bottom is "F below middle C") and the treble clef (indicating that the second line from the bottom is "G above middle C"). The "C" clef is used on any of the first four lines to indicate the location of "middle C" and becomes the soprano clef, the mezzo soprano clef, the alto clef or the tenor clef, respectively. The "C" clef is used to minimize the number of ledger lines that would be needed for a given piece that would be encompassed by the ranges served by the bass or treble clefs.
Notes are placed on the staff to show both the pitch and the rhythmic or durational value of the represented tone. The note has a notehead, being the body of the note. The position of a notehead on the staff indicates the pitch of the represented tone, and especially the pitch relative to the pitch of the note fixed in position by the clef. The conventional notehead has a generally rounded shape that appears somewhat elliptical. The rhythmic value of the represented tone is indicated by the relative size of the notehead, whether the notehead is blackened or unblackened, and by adding additional symbolization such as stems and flags.
One problem with the conventional notation system is that the conventional staff is used to serve a greater range than the approximate octave and a half it can easily represent, including the use of clefs and ledger lines. To increase the number of pitches available in the staff, a system of key signatures and "accidentals" is used. A group of flats or sharps characters, referred to as key signatures, is placed at the left end of the staff, immediately to the right of the clef, to indicate the set of pitches that comprise the predominant scale. "Accidental" markings are then placed to the left of the noteheads to indicate temporary alterations of the basic scale. Therefore, a notehead located at any given position on the staff could represent more than one pitch. This anomaly in conventional music notation is a historical accident and contributes to confusion in reading music from a conventional staff.
For example, the standard keyboard instrument, such as a piano, contains eighty-eight keys. Each key represents a different pitch. Twelve pitches, represented by twelve consecutive keys, make up an octave. Therefore, the standard keyboard contains keys representing seven octaves plus four additional pitches. The twelve pitches within any octave are represented by a group of seven white keys and five black keys, beginning with the note named "C" and ending with the note named "B." In conventional notation, insufficient space has been allocated on the staff to accommodate a separate position for each of the twelve pitches in an octave. Therefore, the black keys are generally represented using key signature marks or "accidentals," indicating sharps or flats. The use of key signature and "accide...
Method and apparatus for automatic variable articulation and timbre assignment for an electronic musical instrument2010-03-06 00:00:00in blurred sound where many notes of fixed duration overlap.
In current practice, it is common to achieve a legato effect by controlling the attack and decay rates of the amplitude envelope, or by connecting notes in a monophonic fashion, allowing only one tone to sound at a time.
Many continuous and percussive controllers can measure the velocity of the initiating note-on gesture (speed of key-down or mallet stroke, puff of air) and the tone generator can use this data to control rate of attack. Some keyboard controllers can sense the speed of note release and use this information to control release rate. In both cases, the effect is determined at the time of the initiating gesture and applies only to the note associated with that gesture.
The duration of a tone depends on the player's ability to control the moment of note-off (i.e., when the release segment of the envelope begins) and is limited by the affordance of the particular controller being used. In particular, keyboard-like controllers send a note-off signal upon key release, and percussive controllers predetermine note duration at the time of note-on.
Current practice either imposes no constraints on the number of notes with legato envelopes that can sound simultaneously or limits legato to strictly monophonic mode where one tone sounds at a time. When a legato passage is played it is useful to allow only two notes to be sounding at the same time in order to have some amount of overlap while avoiding a blurred effect. The amount of overlap should be adjusted to account for the speed of consecutive notes in a musical passage.
When an electronic instrument allows variable articulative control over envelope and duration, it is always on a note-by-note basis. This can be a problem when a group of notes is performed together in a chord. Individual notes may have different envelopes resulting in an unpleasant balance, or the duration of notes may differ so that the chord is released in a ragged way, each note at a different time.
The Studio Vision sequencer program from Opcode has a legato mode operation that can be applied to a selected range of notes in a sequence. This program will change the duration of each selected note so that it extends a given percentage of the way to the next note. This feature is an editing operation that must be applied to a recorded sequence out of real time; it cannot be used while actually playing.
The Kurzweil K2500 tone generator has a "Legato Play" mode. In this mode a note will play the attack segment of its amplitude envelope only when all other notes have been released. The K2500 also has a legato switch which causes the
instrument to behave in a monophonic fashion: whenever a new note is begun, the previously sounding note is immediately terminated.
The "malletKAT" is a MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) controller that resembles a xylophone. It has a mono mode overlap feature which provides a fixed overlap interval between successive notes; when a new note is started the previous note is terminated after the fixed interval has elapsed. The overlap interval does not change and the feature is available only when the controller is in monophonic mode; thus, chordal or polyphonic performance of many simultaneous tones is impossible.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,960 describes a keyboard instrument that produces a legato-type envelope depending on a predetermined playing style and instrument timbre. The legato effect is strictly monophonic; it is produced when a new note-on is received and another note its still sounding. The release of the old note and attack of the new note are forced to be coincident and shaped by a predetermined amplitude envelope with relatively small attack for the new note. No overlapping of the two notes occurs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,183 describes a keyboard instrument which distinguishes between two states, legato and non-legato, depending on the speed of successive key-down signals, and applies legato or non-legato ADSR envelopes on a note-by-note basis. The duration of notes is not controlled, the overlapping of successive legato notes is not controlled, and the number of simultaneously sounding legato notes is not constrained. All non-legato notes are treated the same, whether they are part of a chord or a polyphonic passage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,731 describes a device for selecting one of two fixed durations for percussive tones such that when many keys are played in quick succession the duration is set shorter to avoid excessive overlap. This device concerns percussive tones with fixed durations and which are incapable of being sustained indefinitely.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,019 describes a touch controller that adjusts the note-on velocities according to playing speed. The time interval from the immediately preceding note-off or note-on is used to adjust the touch velocity so that the degree of responsiveness to force of touch varies with playing speed. The disclosed device includes means for altering the touch effects of a new note when a note-on is received. It does not control the duration of a tone or affect any attributes of previous notes.
Changing the attack and release rates of amplitude envelopes modifies the timbre of a note slightly, but the tone is still recognized as a variant of the same instrument. Some electronic musical instruments provide mechanisms for selecting and mixing multiple instrumental timbres for each note or a range of notes.
One such feature is known as "keyboard split", whereby a predetermined contiguous range of pitches is played in a particular timbre while another disjunct range is played in a different timbre (e.g., C2-B3 bass, C4-C6 piano). The ranges and timbre assignments are preset and cannot be changed during performance.
Another timbre selection method is "velocity mapping", whereby a pair of timbres is assigned to a range of pitches. A mix of the two timbres is controlled by the force of the player's note-on actions, (e.g., at soft levels 100% timbre A and 0% timbre B, at medium levels 50/50 mixture of the two timbres, at loud levels 0% timbre A and 100% timbre B). This sort of timbre selection is subtle and ...
Stringed musical instrument2010-02-05 00:00:00of the sound box of the instrument so as to extend longitudinally of the instrument. The bar is of relatively heavy section and is positioned under the foot of the bridge which is adjacent the "G" string, or the string of lowest pitch. The sound post is generally a slender rod of round cross-section which is wedged between the top and bottom plates of the sound box at a location beneath the foot of the bridge which is adjacent the "E" string, or the string of highest pitch.
Each of the two components mentioned above must be manufactured of suitable material, formed to a correct size, and accurately located within the sound box in order to enable the
instrument to generate quality sound. Substantial skill is required to achieve those objectives.
Due to the construction of the traditional violin, the top and bottom plates are forced to move in a very complex manner when activated by the strings of the instrument. For this reason, correct selection of the timber for those plates is very critical. The standard manufacturing dimensions of violins have been perfected over a period of 400 years and those dimensions apply to produce satisfactory results only if a timber of a very specific kind is used. That type of timber has always been in limited supply, but it is now becoming increasingly difficult to secure and that which is available is often of poor quality or inadequately seasoned. It is also very expensive.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a stringed musical instrument, and particularly such an instrument having a sound box, which enables production of high quality instruments at a cost significantly lower than that involved in manufacturing traditional instruments and which enables use of materials other than those which have been traditionally used in the manufacture of such instruments. It is a further object of the invention to provide a stringed musical instrument of improved form and high quality.
A musical instrument according to the present invention is characterized in that one of the two feet of the bridge is supported by a post which is in turn supported at a lower end by the bottom plate of the instrument sound box. The connection between the bridge and the post is effected through an opening formed in the top plate of the instrument, and either the post or t...
Stringed musical instrument neck assemblies2010-02-04 00:00:00or finger positions which should not be engaged or played of the fingerboard.
In one aspect, the difference in light transmission is achieved by varying the thickness of the fingerboard. For example, a portion of the fingerboard above a light can have an area of reduced thickness created by a well or recess in thefingerboard (described in more detail below).
In another aspect, the optical properties of the finger board can be varied. Different materials and/or additives can be used, to form the low or high transmission portions of the fingerboard. As referred to herein, "different materials" caninclude the same basic polymer (or other material) with different physical properties. During the manufacturing process different materials can be extruded or injection molded at different locations along the fingerboard. In another aspect, thefingerboard can be constructed in a two-step process where different materials are used in different steps. For example, the wells mentioned above can be filled with a translucent or transparent material thereby altering the luminescence and diffusionof the light source.
In another embodiment, directional light elements are used to reduce spill over. For example, the light elements can include directional LEDs that minimize dispersed light. Instead of wells, at least a portion of the fingerboard adjacent to thelight elements can have a generally planer bottom surface. When illuminated, the directional light source can mark a finger position. In one example, LED's can vary in directional luminescence and can have anywhere from 15 (wide) to 90 (narrow) degreeviewing angles.
In one exemplary embodiment, the light elements can be positioned immediately adjacent to the bottom surface of the fingerboard. The majority of the light emitted by the light elements is directed through the fingerboard to illuminate a fingerposition.
In another aspect, such directional light source elements can then be "tuned" with respect to the viewing angle of the player. For example, finger positions farther away from a players view can have a brighter and narrower beam of light tocompensate for the distance away from the players view while finger positions closer to a players view can have a more difuse and wide beam. This allows the
instrument to yield a varying light pattern and luminescence while appearing to the player aseven and uniform. Tuning an instruments light pattern and luminescence can also provide for variations in a players ocular strength or visual impairments.
In one embodiment, as mentioned above, the fingerboard has openings disposed along a bottom side and wells extending from the openings toward, but not through the top surface. The light elements are disposed on a substrate and partially orexactly arranged such than when the fingerboard is positioned over the light elements, the light elements correspond to the wells. In one aspect, the light elements are at least partially disposed in respective wells, although not every well need have acorresponding light element, and indeed, not every light element need be disposed in well.
FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a stringed instrument 100 having a body 104 and a neck assembly 102. The neck assembly 102 has a fingerboard 106 with a light-system and is positioned on an instrument neck 210 (FIG. 2) that provides supportfor the fingerboard 106 and light system, as well as supports strings 112 that extend from a tail end 114 of the neck 210 to a terminator block 116 on the body 104. The instrument neck 102 couples or mounts to the body 104 at a body end 118. Along thefingerboard 106 are finger positions, e.g., 110 that can be designated by frets, although a fingerboard need not have frets. The light-system has light elements represented in the figure by dots, e.g., 108, that can produce illumination when energizedby the light-system, and when energized, the illumination is visible to a player of the instrument. Otherwise, the light elements are substantially concealed from view by the fingerboard 106.
Although the stringed instrument 100 is illustrated as a six-stringed electric guitar, but it can be virtually any stringed instrument having a body, a neck assembly and at least one string that can be engaged at a finger position along afingerboard. Further, although the stringed instrument 100 is illustrated as having a fingerboard with frets, a fingerboard need not have frets and such is the case in many stringed instruments, e.g., violins and the like.
As illustrated, fingerboard 106 has a bottom side that has openings disposed in proximity to finger positions, e.g., 110, such as directly beneath or in proximity thereto. Wells extend from the openings toward but not ...
