Music – Instruments – Stringed
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-15
2004-04-20
Lockett, Kimberly (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Stringed
C084S317000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06723905
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a capo device for a stringed musical instrument having a series of strings extending along a fret or fingerboard with a series of frets (or unfretted), such as a guitar, lute, banjo, violin, and the like. Such an instrument is played by plucking or bowing the strings while using fingers to stop selected strings by holding them pressed down onto the fretboard, the string being “stopped” by the adjacent fret.
2. Description of Related Art
In guitars and other fretted musical instruments, one or more strings are stretched under tension across a sounding board or other main body of the instrument, which, upon the string vibrating, amplifies the sound of the vibrating string. One end of the string is anchored at one side of the main body or sounding board, the string is then strung across the sounding board, and along an elongated neck portion attached to the main body. The other end of the string is then anchored at the end of the neck away from the main body to tuning pegs or other devices, which permit adjustment of the string tension. At various set intervals along the neck portion are situated a plurality of frets, i.e., transverse ridges which underlie the plurality of strings, which frets are in turn resting upon a fretboard.
The strings do not touch the frets, even during vibration. The sound emitted from a plucked string is termed its pitch and is determined by the relationship of the tension of the string, its mass per unit length (which is a function of the string's diameter), and the length of the string available for vibration (effective length). The effective length of the string is the distance between a first anchor, called the bridge, attached at the head of the main body of the fretted stringed instrument, and a second anchor, called the string nut, attached at the far end of the neck. Many times, all the strings ride over a saddle, which is immediately adjacent to the bridge. The effective length in which case then starts at the saddle. At the neck far end is the second anchor, the string nut, over which all of the strings pass and contact immediately before they are attached to the tuning pegs.
On guitars or other fretted stringed musical instruments it is common for the musician to use his hand not plucking, bowing or striking the strings to press upon one or more strings of the instrument with one or more fingers to cause the string to engage the frets along the neck of the guitar or other musical instrument.
To easily change the pitch of the string, one merely shortens the string. To accomplish this, the player need only to press down on the string to cause it to engage one of the frets on the fretboard portion of the neck of the instrument. This procedure reduces the effective string length to the distance between the saddle and the fret. As a general rule, the 12th fret on a guitar is located one-half of the distance between the saddle and the string nut. Then, if the string is held at the 12th. fret the pitch doubles. A violinist or guitar player is constantly fingering the instrument as he plays it, using the fingers of the hand not plucking the strings (or drawing a bow across the strings) to change the pitch as called for by the musical score.
A prior invention by Eric S Leifeit for a positioner acting as a fixed fingering device was granted by the United States Patent Office on Jan. 17, 1989 and accorded U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,119 it concerned threaded inserts strategically placed in the fretboard, the inserts receiving machine screws, which cupped the string under its head. By screwing down the machine screw securely into the insert, the screw would secure the string over the fret. Such devices however, took some period of time for the player to unscrew the screws to a position above the height of the string, and then screw the screws down over the string. Such adjustment would require too much time to secure a string during a musical number. This device seemed also to be very visually unappealing and it seems, due to the location of the screws, that bending a string may not be accomplished at all locations.
A capo, sometimes referred to, as a “capotasto” is a device which can be used to hold strings independently of the fingers. Simple capo devices hold all the strings at once, usually against a particular fret, and change the basic key of the instrument. Others are known which can be used to press down and stop only selected strings, however these devices are very difficult for the performer to work around while playing.
Generally, capo devices do not allow different strings to be stopped at different locations. However, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,397, which issued on Oct. 15, 1991 to Leifheit, a kind of capo device, referred to as a “fingering device” is described for a guitar, in which a series of separate capo type elements are provided each with a bore by which the element is slideably mounted on one of the strings and is individually locatable to stop a string at a particular selected location. Each element has an undercut recess in its underside and can be individually held in position by having this recess engage one of the frets, which are made to protrude from the fretboard. The elements of the Leifheit device stop the strings directly, rather than hold the string against an adjacent fret, as is more usual with capo devices.
A perceived drawback of the Leifheit device is that the elements, when no longer in use, are simply pushed to the end of the strings near the string nut which terminates the vibrating portion of the strings near the head of the guitar. It seems likely that in this position the elements, although no longer attached to the fretboard, would still vibrate with and thus affect the vibration of the strings. It is also felt that when a string is to be bent as is very often done in performances, that the rectangular block would be moved perpendicular to the string and in some instances fall of the fret. Another downfall of this invention is that, to achieve the desired results, it seems the frets may need to be enlarged and modified, and many performers are very particular as to the size of their frets, as different fret sizes affect the playability of the instrument.
Another prior invention by Christopher George Sims and Jonathan Edward Sims was granted by the United States Patent Office on Aug. 14, 1998 and accorded U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,868 and it concerned a capo device for a stringed musical instrument in which each string passes through a bore in an element which is slidable on the string, each element being dimensioned so that when held against the fretboard, the element stops the string on which it is mounted at the adjacent fret. The elements and the fretboard have interacting magnetic means capable of holding each element against the fretboard at one of a number of selected positions during the playing of the instrument. It is felt that this device could easily be accidentally pulled off the fret during forceful playing of the instrument or the bending of the strings.
In common instrument usage, the “nut” of a stringed instrument is an insert piece of bone, plastic or the like, which fits at the end of the fingerboard and acts as a support upon which the instrument's strings are positioned. Current nuts are created in one piece. The problem with using only this form of nut is that open tunings or varying the pitches of open strings requires that the performer re-learn the notes on the fretboard, which is a timely task.
The Kubicki Factor bass has a divided nut portion for a low D tuning however it lacks the ability to create the more complicated open chord/pitch configurations.
Banjos have a short string located at the lower portion of the neck, usually from the 5th fret onward. This division however is made on the neck of the instrument and not the nut and therefore is quite different than a split-nut structure. A banjo would be classified as a split-neck structure. A split-nut instrument maintains a standard neck.
All instrument
Emch, Schaffer, Schaub & Porcello & Co., L.P.A.
Lockett Kimberly
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