Patent ID: 9653055
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: G10D,G10H

Claim:
1. A vibrato tailpiece system for a stringed instrument comprising: a vibrato tailpiece; a vibrato bar having an end portion rotatable about an axis of rotation and pivotable about a second axis to affect string tension when installed in the vibrato tailpiece; a magnet attached to the end portion of the vibrato bar and defining a magnetic field, wherein rotation of the vibrato bar about the axis of rotation rotates the magnet, thereby changing a direction of the magnetic field; a sensor chip attached to the vibrato tailpiece and, when the vibrato bar is installed in the vibrato tailpiece, the sensor chip is spaced from the magnet by a fixed gap sufficiently small to enable the sensor chip to detect a change in the direction of the magnetic field due to a rotation of the vibrato bar about the axis of rotation and output a control signal based on the change in the direction of the magnetic field; and a sensor circuit coupled to the sensor chip and configured to receive a pickup output signal from a pickup of the stringed instrument, use the control signal from the sensor chip to adjust an amplitude of the pickup output signal, and deliver an adjusted output signal to an output connector of the stringed instrument; wherein the vibrato tailpiece allows a user to control pitch by pivoting the vibrato bar about the second axis while at the same time rotating the vibrato bar about the axis of rotation to adjust the amplitude of the pickup output signal based on the direction of the magnetic field.