Patent ID: 8093475
Filing Date: 2012-01-10
Classification: G10D

Abstract:
1. A device for use in tuning a string of a stringed musical instrument, said device comprising a rotatable shaft adapted to be connected with a string of the musical instrument, a pinion gear connected with said shaft for rotation therewith about a central axis of said shaft, a rotatable worm gear disposed in meshing engagement with said pinion gear, means for rotating said worm gear to effect rotation of said pinion gear and shaft about the central axis of said shaft, and a sleeve enclosing a portion of said shaft and rotatable relative to said shaft, said portion of said shaft enclosed by said sleeve includes a string hole which extends through said shaft and is alignable with first and second string holes in said sleeve to enable a portion of the string of the musical instrument to extend through the string hole in said shaft and through the first and second string holes in said sleeve, said shaft having a first recess formed in said shaft at a first end portion of the string hole in said shaft, said shaft having a second recess formed in said shaft at a second end portion of the string hole in said shaft, said sleeve extends across and encloses said first and second recesses formed in said shaft, said first recess in said shaft having a surface which extends from a peripheral portion of the string hole in said shaft at said first end portion of the string hole in said shaft to a side surface of said shaft at a location enclosed by said sleeve and spaced from a spatial envelope containing an inner side surface of the string hole in said shaft, said second recess in said shaft having a surface which extends from a peripheral portion of the string hole in said shaft at the second end portion of the string hole in said shaft to the side surface of said shaft at a location enclosed by said sleeve and spaced from the spatial envelope containing the inner side surface of the string hole in said shaft, said sleeve and shaft being relatively rotatable from a first spatial relationship to a second spatial relationship, said first string hole in said sleeve being aligned with the first end portion of the string hole in said shaft and said second string hole in said sleeve being aligned with the second end portion of the string hole in said shaft when said sleeve and shaft are in the first spatial relationship, said first string hole in said sleeve is spaced from the spatial envelope containing the inner side surface of the string hole in said shaft and said second string hole in said sleeve is spaced from the spatial envelope containing the inner side surface of the string hole in said shaft when said sleeve and shaft are in the second spatial relationship, said first and second string holes in said sleeve extend around portions of the string which are spaced fromthe spatial envelope containing the inner side surface of the string hole in said shaft when said sleeve and shaft are in the second spatial relationship, said first and second recesses in said shaft receive portions of the string when said sleeve and shaft are in the second spatial relationship.