Music – Instruments – Stringed
Reexamination Certificate
2003-01-09
2004-12-14
Hsieh, Shih-Yung (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Stringed
C084S291000, C084S267000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06831218
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to stringed musical instruments of the type which include an instrument body, a neck extending therefrom and a plurality of strings attached at one end to the instrument body and at the other end to the neck. More particularly, the present invention is directed to an improved system for mounting the neck of the instrument to the instrument body in a manner so that the orientation of the neck can be easily, quickly and accurately adjusted. The stringed musical instruments in accordance with the present invention may include guitars, such as acoustic guitars, solid body electric guitars and acoustic electric guitars, but may also include other such stringed musical instruments such as, for example, banjos, mandolins, violins, lutes and/or other similar instruments. Although the principles of the present invention will be described herein in connection with guitars, and mainly acoustic guitars, it should be understood that the principles disclosed are also applicable to other types of guitars and other stringed instruments which have an instrument body and an elongated neck along which the strings are stretched.
Stringed musical instruments of the type with which the present invention is concerned typically include an instrument body and an elongated neck along which the strings are stretched. In a guitar, the strings are attached at one end to the neck of the instrument. This attachment is typically by means of tuning keys or tuning machines provided on the end of the neck remote from the instrument body, often termed the “head” of the guitar. The strings then extend over a “nut” provided at the head end of the neck and extend along the neck toward the body. The other ends of the strings are attached either directly to a bridge which in turn is mounted on the body, or to a tailpiece provided behind the bridge mounted on the body and over which the strings extend. In the play of the instrument, the player moves his fingers up and down the neck, clamping the strings so as to shorten them and create various pitches as the strings are strummed, plucked, or otherwise excited. Typically, the neck of the instrument may be covered with a fingerboard which may carry frets thereon extending across the width of the neck so as to provide a means for anchoring the ends of the shortened strings at definite or desired locations.
In the case of an acoustic instrument, such as an acoustic guitar, the body of the instrument encloses a resonant sound chamber. Strumming, plucking or otherwise exciting the strings causes the strings to vibrate. This vibration in turn causes the bridge over which the strings extend to vibrate as well. In fact, the bridge forms the vibrating end point of the strings for every note that is played. Vibration of the bridge in turn causes the top of the acoustic instrument, known as the soundboard, to vibrate. Such vibration causes air entrapped within the sound chamber to move and generate the sound heard upon play of the instrument.
In the case of electric guitars, the instrument body is usually solid, and pickup devices are utilized to convert the string vibration into sound generated by an amplifier or the like. Some types of electric guitars are acoustic electric guitars which will function as an acoustic guitar but can also be provided with a pickup so that the acoustic sound is amplified.
There are three general kinds of neck joints which have been used in stringed musical instruments. “Neck-through” instruments have a neck which extends completely through the instrument, and are almost always permanently glued in place. “Set-neck” instruments have a neck which is also permanently glued in place, with a tenon or dovetail joint where the body meets the neck. These instruments usually have a neck heel just forward of the body which extends down to the back of the body to provide support. Finally, there are “bolt-on” instruments which have an opening in the body where the neck overlaps the body, and where bolts are located which join the neck to the body. Generally, in this type of instrument, the neck joint is made solid so that no movement between the neck and body is possible during use of the instrument. However, the bolts can be loosened so that the neck can be removed from or repositioned in the body.
Acoustic guitars are traditionally set-neck instruments, with a neck heel just forward of the body and extending down to the back of the body. This forward protrusion beneath the neck adjacent the body restricts access to the highest region of the fingerboard during play. Electric guitars are commonly either set-neck instruments or bolt-on instruments. Common bolt-on instruments are economical to construct and repair. However, the drawbacks of the existing bolt-on designs are that the joint has less side-to-side rigidity than glued necks, and access to the highest region of the front of the fingerboard, near the body, is restricted by the body portion extending under the overlap of the neck.
As the bridge of a stringed musical instrument forms the vibrating end point of the strings for every note that is played, it is therefore extremely influential in determining the sound quality of the instrument. In this regard, it is important that the bridge be securely fastened to the top of the body so that it is fixed in place in order to ensure that energy from the vibrating strings is not needlessly lost. Even with solid body electric guitars, the bridge of the instrument still forms the end point of the strings for every note. A loose fitting bridge or one which is not securely fastened to the top will adversely affect the sound quality of the instrument. Also, anything that affects the position of the bridge—longitudinally, laterally, or the height above the top of the instrument—can affect the sound quality of the instrument (as convenient nomenclature in describing the present invention, the term “longitudinal” is used to denote a direction generally parallel to the direction that the strings extend, and the term “lateral” is used to denote a direction normal thereto but lying generally in or parallel to the plane of the strings. Similarly, the terms “downward” and “vertical” are used to denote a direction generally normal to the plane of the strings and thus normal to the surface of the top of the guitar).
The height or spacing of the strings above the fingerboard, often referred to as “action,” is generally controlled by the height of the bridge and of the nut, as well as the angularity of the top surface of the neck relative to the instrument body. In this regard, tilting of the neck downwardly relative to the guitar body serves to bring the strings closer to the fingerboard, and thus lowers the action. Conversely, tilting of the neck upwardly relative to the body tends to move the strings further away from the fingerboard, thus raising the action. The string/fingerboard spacing is generally a matter of personal preference for the player. However, there is a generally defined range or window of desirable action as no player wants an instrument having an excessively high or an excessively low action. The preference is for the player to be able to maintain the action of the instrument as desired. Thus, a limited degree or amount of adjustability of the string/fingerboard spacing is desirable, not only to accommodate individual preferences, but also to accommodate changes in the guitar's response to the effects of time and environment.
The harmonic length of the individual strings of the instrument is generally determined by the distance between the bridge of the instrument located on the body and the nut which is located on the end of the neck remote from the body. Typically, the nut serves as the base reference point in counting the frets, such that the nut is the “zero” fret. The head of the neck may conveniently be angled away or downwardly relative to the fingerboard so as to ensure that the strings rest against the nut and then extend freely over the fingerboard to the bridge. The intonation or har
Hsieh Shih-Yung
Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik LLP
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