Tubular neck for a stringed instrument

A tubular neck for a stringed instrument is disclosed. The neck includes at least one sound tube having a first end and a second end. The neck further includes at least one resonator tube having a first end and a second end, the at least one resonator tube in mechanical communication with the at least one sound tube wherein said first end of the at least one sound tube overlaps a first end of the at least one resonator tube.

BACKGROUND

Stringed instruments such as guitars, violins, mandolins, ukuleles and the like are well known. A guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. A typical guitar (or other stringed instrument) includes a body with a rigid neck, to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with either nylon or steel strings. There are two primary families of guitars: acoustic and electric.

Acoustic guitars (and similar instruments) with hollow bodies have been in use for over a thousand years. There are three main types of modern acoustic guitar: the classical guitar (nylon-string guitar), the steel-string acoustic guitar, and the arch top guitar. The tone of an acoustic guitar is produced by the vibration of the strings, which is amplified by the body of the guitar, which acts as a resonating chamber. Electric guitars, introduced in the 1930s, rely on an amplifier that can electronically manipulate tone. Early amplified guitars employed a hollow body, but a solid body was found more suitable.

SUMMARY

Conventional stringed instruments, such as those explained above suffer from a variety of deficiencies. One such deficiency is that they include a wooden neck which has a first end attached to the body and the second end attached to a peg head (also referred to herein as a headstock) which has a tuner for each string mounted thereon. The wooden neck can break, warp, change in size due to humidity or dryness, and has a certain thermal coefficient of expansion which may not match the thermal coefficients of expansion of the guitar body and/or the peg head. This can lead to the stringed instrument getting out of tune or even suffering mechanical failure. Embodiments of the invention significantly overcome such deficiencies

Note that each of the different features, techniques, configurations, etc. discussed in this disclosure can be executed independently or in combination. Accordingly, the present invention can be embodied and viewed in many different ways. Also, note that this summary section herein does not specify every embodiment and/or incrementally novel aspect of the present disclosure or claimed invention. Instead, this summary only provides a preliminary discussion of different embodiments and corresponding points of novelty over conventional techniques. For additional details, elements, and/or possible perspectives (permutations) of the invention, the reader is directed to the Detailed Description section and corresponding figures of the present disclosure as further discussed below.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments set forth below represent the necessary information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and illustrate the best mode of practicing embodiments of the invention. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the invention and recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.

A tubular neck for a stringed instrument is presented. While the present invention is applicable to all types of stringed instruments, it is described with respect to a guitar but in no manner should be limited to only guitars. A guitar neck is made up of at least one tube. While any number of tubes could be used, the present invention is described in relation to a particular embodiment having a pair of tubes. The word guitar is used herein to refer to any stringed instrument.

Referring toFIGS. 1,2A and2B pieces of a tubular guitar neck are shown. The guitar neck includes at least one sound tube10. While a tube having a circular cross-section is shown and described, any shaped tube could be utilized. In the described embodiment the guitar neck is comprised of a pair of sound tubes10joined to a pair of resonator tubes12. In certain embodiments the resonator tubes have a plurality of holes extending through a surface of the resonator tube12while other embodiments do not use holes in the resonator tube. When holes are used in the resonator tube, the size of the holes, the number of holes and the spacing of the holes in the resonator tube12provide for different variations and amounts of resonance.

As shown inFIGS. 3A and 3B, the sound tubes10are in mechanical communication with the resonator tubes12in an overlapping arrangement. In a particular embodiment two sound tubes are joined together along their length, as are two resonator tubes. This may be accomplished by welding, soldering, or other such attachment means as would be known by one of ordinary skill in the art. The set of sound tubes are also welded, soldered or attached by similar means to the resonator tubes creating an overlap area.FIG. 3Balso shows a stop plate affixed to a distal end of the resonator tubes.

Referring now toFIGS. 4A and 4B, the tubular guitar neck is shown including a bridge support16and a stop tailpiece18disposed on the resonator tubes. Both the bridge support and the stop tailpiece are shown as circular tubes; however any shaped piece could be used.

FIGS. 5A and 5Bshow a peg head20. Peg head20is attached to the sound tubes and includes a plurality of tuners, one for each string. The tuners are used to adjust the tension on the string. As shown inFIG. 5B, the peg head includes a pair of extensions26aand26bthat fit into the open end of the sound tubes of the tubular neck. The peg head also includes a nut24. The peg head may be removably attachable to the sound tubes or can be integrated with the sound tubes.

FIG. 6shows a rear view of the tubular neck10. In this example, the two sound tubes also include a set of fret markings providing a physical indication of the locations of frets on the fret board (not shown) attached to the opposite surface of the sound tubes. This allows for blind fret recognition which allows the player to know where the frets are with the feel of the thumb. When the tubes have a circular cross-section, the joint where the two tubes attach provides a recess useful for better hand and thumb positioning form.

FIG. 7shows a one piece neck and headstock in accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 8depicts a view of the headstock of the one piece neck and headstock ofFIG. 7.

Referring now toFIGS. 9A and 9B, a completed stringed instrument having a tubular neck200is shown. In this example the stringed instrument comprises a guitar. Guitar200includes a one-piece neck and headstock202. Also shown are a floating 3-way switch204, floating potentiometers206and a tail piece (non-stop)208.

By way of the present invention, guitar and other string instrument frame uses welds or solders to create a neck to body joint which allows for a smaller body frame, while still maintaining a standard size neck and fret board as well as a higher reach for hard to reach frets. This body size and neck joint allows for more possible frets than standard stringed instruments.

The tubular frame design allows for more resonance and sound travel by providing a hollow resonant neck with resonating open hole or solid body tubes. The bridge and tailpiece are attached using solder and/or welds which creates a much stronger bond than that of wood allowing for greater weather/climate change resistance. Additionally, the truss rod element found in most guitars and stringed instruments is eliminated.

The peg head (also referred to as a headstock) used on the neck can be soldered, welded, or glued to allow for easy repair or replacement while also creating strength for string tension.

Having described preferred embodiments of the invention it will now become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments incorporating these concepts may be used. Accordingly, it is submitted that that the invention should not be limited to the described embodiments but rather should be limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims.