307results about "Violins" patented technology

A support which positions a musical instrument or other device in front of a musician or user in a near-vertical orientation, while comfortably distributing the instrument's weight upon the musician's body. It comprises a strap made from a strip of flexible material which is passed over the shoulder of a musician. The ends are attached to a guitar at points of attachment located upon either side of the guitar's body, a departure from previous practice. Due to the selection of the points of attachment, the guitar is supported in a generally vertical orientation. The tuner head or upper portion of the guitar then extends to a position generally above the musician's shoulder. A shoulder pad of cushioning material is slidably affixed to the underside of the strap. An adjustable cord or strap is attached from the shoulder pad to the guitar's tuner head, whereby the cord can secure and stabilize the positioning of the tuner head and thus the vertical orientation of the guitar. In addition, upwardly-pulling tension afforded by the cord's attachment to the guitar's tuner head stabilizes the position of the shoulder strap at the highest point of the strap, which is above the musician's shoulder. The guitar is supported and positioned in a near-vertical position, and the musician can play freely with both hands, without requiring either hand for support or positioning of the instrument. Such positioning enhances certain musical techniques, including "two-handed tapping' or "touch-style' methods of play. The guitar will remain in the proper playing position during seated or standing performance and during performance gyrations, and the shoulder pad will remain properly positioned atop the musician's shoulder during a performance.

A structure for a musical instrument body that limits vibration of various components or parts of the body while controlling and providing for overall resonance of the instrument. The structure is suitable for use with a musical instrument, specifically an electric guitar. The structure includes a support member or block positioned in a chamber created between a top plate and bottom plate of the guitar body and a structural element, spaced from the top and bottom plates, that engages the block to provide additional support and stiffness enabling further control of the overall vibration and thus resonance of the instrument. Varying the design of the structure along with the various body components provides an apparatus for uniquely tuning the acoustic characteristics of the guitar body.

A structure for a musical instrument body that limits vibration of various components or parts of the body while controlling and providing for overall resonance of the instrument. The structure is suitable for use with a musical instrument, specifically an electric guitar. The structure includes a support member or block positioned in a chamber created between a top plate and bottom plate of the guitar body and a structural element, spaced from the top and bottom plates, that engages the block to provide additional support and stiffness enabling further control of the overall vibration and thus resonance of the instrument. Varying the design of the structure along with the various body components provides an apparatus for uniquely tuning the acoustic characteristics of the guitar body.

A new and improved instrument bow for use with a stringed instrument is provided. A unique new instrument bow is provided that may be constructed with a braided material and / or composite to form the instrument bow. Additionally, the new instrument bow using a braided composite to form a single piece construction instrument bow for use in conjunction with a stringed instrument. The instrument bow may be a combination of a synthetic material covered with a braided material in a single piece construction that will provide the instrument bow with increased resilient and strength without the necessity for reinforcement and / or repair.

A sensor bow system is described which generates various types of data representing various movements of and forces exerted upon a sensor bow intended for use with any of a variety of stringed instruments. The sensor bow data may be used to control a wide variety of audio, visual, and other effects.

A collapsible acoustic stringed instrument is disclosed having a hollow body with a soundboard, a back face and a spacer defining a sound chamber. A sound post is secured within the hollow body and engaging the soundboard and the back face. The sound post has a securement pin on each end with a sharpened portion to engage the soundboard and the back face and maintain proper positioning when the instrument strings are loosened. A neck is pivotally and laterally coupled to the body, which further has a door slidably received by specially formed channels in the back face. The neck is able to pivot and slide through the door and into the sound chamber from a playing position to a stored position, without disturbing the sound post or otherwise compromising the appearance or performance of the instrument with respect to a standard non-collapsible instrument.

Disclosed are a stringed musical instrument and related methods and apparatus. A longitudinal axis is situated along a length of the body of the stringed musical instrument. The body includes a soundboard having a lower region on a bass side with respect to the longitudinal axis and a higher region on a treble side with respect to the longitudinal axis opposite the bass side. The lower region of the soundboard is shaped to have a flat contour, while the higher region is shaped to have an arched contour. A neck is attached to the body. The neck has a hub adapted to couple one or more strings at a first end. A bridge is fitted to the soundboard. The bridge is adapted to seat the one or more strings when extended over at least a portion of the neck and body and coupled to the body at a second end opposite the first end.

A chinrest pad system designed to hold a standard chinrest used with a string instrument that minimizes dampening of vibration and prevents damage caused by the metal components touching the edges of the instrument. The system includes pads located under the support surface of the chinrest member and on top of the lower lip plate used on the lower clamping member. The pads are specifically designed to partially engage the instrument's upper and lower edges and match the curvature of instrument surface immediately adjacent to the edge. Each pad also includes a rear extending lip that bends slightly around the upper or lower edge and extends rearward to prevent the metal rods used with the turnbuckles from contacting the rear surface. During assembly, the pads are positioned over the upper and lower edges so that the compression forces exerted by the support surface and the lower lip plate are centrally located over the sidewall transverse axis, thereby minimizing dampening of vibration.

Violin or viola teaching aids are disclosed that are suitable to be attached to either a violin or viola bow. The aids with elongated raised ridges provide a tactile indication of the proper placement of the right hand on a bow. An embodiment is disclosed that has a cylindrical shape with a hollow passageway that fits over the stick of a bow. A plurality of holes provide lateral openings into the hollow passageway. The rims of the holes provide a tactile indication of the location in which the fingers and thumb are to contact the bow. Embodiments are disclosed that are comprised of resilient sponge rubber.

Shoulder rest for use with violin is disclosed. The rest includes a base including two half portions each including a central channel, a guide rail along either side of the base, a rack rail at either side of the channel, and two half sections each comprising clamping means; a support including a leg inserted into the channel, two latched members slidably fastened at underside of the channel, and two toothed stops engaged with the rack rail; and pivotal means comprising a body having a top hole for receiving a threaded stem of the clamping means, a parallel snapping element, and a bar interconnected the body and the snapping element, the bar being pivotal about a cavity of the support having a bifurcation sandwiched by the body and the snapping element. Two side flanges of the support are mounted to the guide rails. Thus, the support is moveable along the channel.

The invention discloses a digital stringed instrument controlled by a microcomputer, which comprises a bow, an instrument head and an instrument body connected to the instrument head, wherein the instrument head comprises a tuning peg and a finger board; the instrument body comprises a panel, a side plate and a rear plate; a tying string board is arranged on the panel; the tying string board and the tuning peg are connected by strings; a finger board sensor used for distinguishing the correct intonation position on the surface of the finger board is arranged on the surface of the finger board; the finger board sensor is electrically connected to a control device; at least four correlation sensors which are used for sensing the route, angle, speed or pressure of the bow on the strings are arranged on the panel; the correlation sensors are electrically connected to the control device; and the four correlation sensors are distributed in a quadrilateral manner. The digital stringed instrument controlled by the microcomputer can be used for monitoring in real time and prompting a stringed instrument player to keep a correct instrument-holding posture and the information such as the intonation generated by the left hand and the route, speed and force for bowing by using the right hand, and the like, so a beginner can quickly master the important points in learning playing violin, namely the correct intonation and bowing way, while the interest of the beginner is promoted in learning process.

It takes great effort by players of a bowed string musical instrument to manipulate proper bow-to-string pressure that directly affects the quality of the sound generated. This invention is a training device that provides bow-to-string pressure reading as feedback to players. The device consists of a rib cage, a base unit, and a liquid crystal display unit. The rib cage emulates strings and transfers bow pressure to the base unit. The main components of the base unit include a pressure sensor and microcontroller circuit board. The crystal display unit displays reading sent by the microcontroller board.

A chin rest for a musical instrument comprises a body, a first support, a second support, a chin pad and a third support. The first support extends from a first end portion of the body and has at least one clamping member for engaging an upper rim of a musical instrument body. Similarly, the second support extends from a second end portion of the body and has at least one clamping member for engaging the upper rim of the musical instrument body in a position spaced from the first support. The chin pad includes a chin receiving surface for receiving a chin of a performer of the musical instrument, and is coupled to the body. The third support may contact a position along the upper rim of the musical instrument, e.g., between the first and second supports when the chin rest is mounted to a corresponding instrument.

The present invention is directed to a contrabass guitar which oscillates the pitch of the guitar by the use of torsion. The strings of the guitar are adjusted by use of a torsion control means connected to a foot pedal to allow a player to easily adjust the pitch of the guitar while playing. The contrabass guitar includes a floating bridge and a stationary torsion block with a plurality of helically twisted tuning control rods attached. The floating bridge contains a plurality of pitch tuning cylinders connected on one end to respective strings and on the other to the tuning rods. The floating bridge moves along the body of the guitar in response to the torsion control means causing the tuning cylinders to slide over the tuning control rods and to rotate according to the twists of the rods creating greater or lesser torsion uniformly in the strings. Depressing and releasing the foot pedal allows a player to adjust the string torsion force by using only the foot pedal without having to manually adjust string tension interrupting the playing of the guitar.

An adjustable support 12 for a stringed musical instrument such as a cello 10 includes a shaft 14 that is removably inserted into the cello 10, and a support member 16 that is adjustably disposed upon and secured to the shaft 14. The support member 16 includes an insertion portion 26 with a stabilizing bushing 72 disposed thereupon for stabilized insertion into an aperture in a bottom portion 11 of the cello 10, an annular portion 28 with an annular wall 34 for engaging and supporting the bottom portion 11 of the cello 10, and a lower portion 30 for securing the support member 16 circumferentially about a cylindrical outer wall 18 of the shaft thereby allowing an artist playing the cello to select a comfortable elevated and stabilized position of the cello 10 above a floor surface.

An adjustable and collapsible shoulder rest for a violin or like instrument that has an elongated single piece body with a first and second end being vertically extended at both ends by vertical guards which protect and prevent injury to the user when attempting to collapse the left and right gripping members. Vertical guards may be positioned at a fixed tilted angle to improve and train users to apply proper playing posture. Left and right gripping members have flexible separated gripping appendages that increase the surface area gripping of the instrument body and reduce or negate completely, any unwanted movement or slippage of the instrument body. Left and right gripping members are securely attached to left and right collapsible inserts by stems.

It takes great effort by players of a bowed string musical instrument to manipulate proper bow-to-string pressure that directly affects the quality of the sound generated. This invention is a training device that provides bow-to-string pressure reading as feedback to players. The device consists of a rib cage, a base unit, and a liquid crystal display unit. The rib cage emulates strings and transfers bow pressure to the base unit. The main components of the base unit include a pressure sensor and microcontroller circuit board. The liquid crystal display unit displays reading sent by the microcontroller board.

In an implementation of this invention, a stringed musical instrument has a resonator comprised of a bridge and a soundboard. Vibrations from the strings are transmitted through the bridge to the soundboard. A plurality of sensors are attached to or embedded in the soundboard. The sensors measure primarily the vibrations of the soundboard, rather than primarily the vibrations of the strings. Preferably, three or more sensors are used. Piezoelectric sensors sample vibrations in the soundboard. The resonator includes a printed circuit board that amplifies the signal from each sensor separately. Also, a signal processing device that is “onboard” the musical instrument processes the separate input signals to create one output signal. The resonator may be easily removed, enabling resonators to be interchanged. Also, the physical characteristics of a particular resonator, such as its mass or its boundary condition, may be adjusted, thereby changing the acoustic qualities of the soundboard.

An instrument support may be used to support an instrument, such as a violin or a viola, against collar-bone / shoulder and chest regions of a player. The instrument support may include a collar-bone rest and a chest rest, providing a dual plane design. The rests may be adjustable to adjust the location on the back of the instrument and to adjust the heights and angles with respect to the instrument to suit the anatomical differences between players.

An operating device for use with a musical instrument may allow for a supporting member configured to be supported by a user to be operatively connected to a percussion instrument with a case, which may contain an electronic circuit for processing a signal produced by striking a striking surface of the percussion instrument. The case may be arranged between the electronic percussion instrument and the supporting member. The case and the electronic percussion instrument may be configured to be moveable relative to the user.

The present invention is embodied in a position training device for kinesthetic musical instrument instruction comprising an instrument component and a bow component. The instrument component comprises a main instrument shaft oriented along a main instrument axis and having a proximal end and a distal end, a chin piece attached to the proximal end of the main instrument shaft, and an instrument orthotic grip attached to the distal end of the main instrument shaft and oriented along the main instrument axis. The instrument orthotic grip has a thumb depression, an index finger depression, a middle finger depression, a ring finger depression, and a pinkie finger depression formed thereon. The bow component comprises a main bow shaft oriented along a main bow axis and having a first end and a second end, a bow orthotic grip attached to the first end of the main bow shaft and oriented along the main bow axis, and a bow tip piece attached to the second end of the main bow shaft. The bow orthotic grip has a thumb depression, an index finger depression, a middle finger depression, a ring finger depression, and a pinkie finger depression formed thereon. The bow component can be moved substantially perpendicularly relative to the instrument component in order to simulate the playing of a stringed musical instrument.

A new method for construction of a violin or instrument of the violin family comprising a combination of light weight metal and composite materials. Components are joined using fasteners whenever possible to simplify assembly and disassembly. The results of this method are enhanced environmental stability, durability, and serviceability over existing violin designs.

A stringed musical instrument is provided with a plate or soundboard that is curved to define a crest parallel to the strings. If the instrument is a closedbox instrument, another plate opposing the first plate may be curved to define a crest perpendicular to the strings. The first plate may be supported by transverse braces, which are scalloped to leave substantial air gaps along the glue line once the brace is attached. The back plate may be supported by a substantial longitudinal brace or spine, which runs down its center parallel to the strings. The spine contains a substantial portion of the mass of the back plate. These musical instruments have reduced wolf tones and improved harmonic generation over common instruments, and therefore have a more complex and pleasing tone than common instruments. The harmonic character of these instruments is fully exploited by using one or more harmonic bridges in addition to the primary bridge.

An instrument support may be used to support an instrument, such as a violin or a viola, against collar-bone / shoulder and chest regions of a player. The instrument support may include a collar-bone rest and a chest rest, providing a dual plane design. The rests may be adjustable to adjust the location on the back of the instrument and to adjust the heights and angles with respect to the instrument to suit the anatomical differences between players.