Electric stringed instrument

A stringed instrument is disclosed which incorporates improved design and performance features. An elongated body, hereinafter called the wedge, contains in itself all necessary components and parts making it a totally playable instrument with or without a pair of removable wing bodies. One purpose of the wing body attachments is to provide flexibility for modular electronic add-on components for use with new modern amplification devices. Also the wing bodies may be changed to provide a varity of instrument body designs, colors, finishes and fabrics. The sound produced by each of the strings of the instrument is enhanced by providing each string with at least one individual magnetic pickup which is individually adjustable to that string for optimum performance. Each string is also provided with its own individual bridge support which is completely separated from each other bridge support to prevent any acoustical and/or electrical cross-feed. A fine tuning system is provided to more precisely and more easily tune each string. This fine tuning can also act as an electrically controlled tuning means. A metal reflective shield surrounds the wedge body of the instrument, the shield acting to enhance the high frequency sounds produced by the strings, to shield or lock out unwanted signals to the electrical components, and is used for mounting or holding the wing bodies to the wedge.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to improvements in the construction and design of 
electrical stringed musical instruments, particularly guitars. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
The conventional electric guitar used by most performers today is formed by 
an acoustical body or a single solid wooden block and utilizes ganged 
magnetic pickups to inductively pick up the sounds of the strings for 
amplification. The strings of the instrument slidably pass over a unitary 
supporting bridge member. Because of the unitary bridge member and the 
ganged magnetic pickups, the amplified sound of each string is not as 
clear and "clean" as desired but is distorted by acoustical and/or 
electrical cross-feed from adjacent strings. 
The instrument described in this application makes use of a steel rod in 
the neck of the instrument to overcome or avoid neck and fingerboard 
warping under tension of the strings as described in U.S. Pat. No. 
3,251,257 filed in the name of the applicant herein. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is a primary object of this invention to provide a musical stringed 
instrument with removable "snap-on" wing body portions, allowing the 
player of the instrument selection of body portions having different 
colors, designs, fabrics, finishes, or electronic add-on components. 
It is a further object of this invention to provide a musical stringed 
instrument having individual magnetic pickups for each string of the 
instrument, thereby providing a "clean" sound free of distortion. 
It is a further object of this invention to provide a musical stringed 
instrument having individually adjustable bridge support members for each 
string to prevent acoustical and/or electrical cross-feed from adjacent 
strings. 
It is a further object of this invention to provide a musical stringed 
instrument having means for fine tuning each of the strings so as to more 
precisely and more easily tune each string. 
It is a further object of this invention to provide a musical stringed 
instrument having a metal reflective shield wrapped around the body of the 
instrument which may be connected to the individual bridge supports and 
the string support of the neck for enhancing the "high" frequency sounds 
of each of the strings. 
These and other objects are accomplished by a stringed instrument having a 
pair of elongated wing bodies which are removably securable to opposite 
sides of the main body of the stringed instrument adjacent the strings. 
The wind bodies provide the user of the instrument the flexibility of 
changing the color, finish and shape of the instrument. The stringed 
instrument uses one or more magnetic pickups for each individual string. 
Further, each string is supported on its own individual string supporting 
bridge which has no contact with adjacent string supporting bridges 
supporting other of the strings thereby preventing acoustic and electrical 
cross-feed. Fine tuning means are provided for each of the strings between 
the string supporting bridge and the string tuning shafts to obtain more 
precise tuning of the individual strings. The instrument may also have a 
reflective metal shield surrounding the body and connected to the bridge 
support members and string support for enhancing the "high" frequency 
sounds of the individual strings when the instrument is played.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to FIG. 1, the stringed instrument comprises a main body portion 
10 connected to an elongated neck 11. A plurality of strings 12 are 
anchored at one end to a flanged head plate 13 and extend across the 
fingerboard 14 of the neck and supporting bridge members 15 mounted on the 
lower end 16 of the body and are individually wound on tuning shafts 17 
mounted in and extending vertically from a lower flange 18 of the body of 
the musical instrument. The body 10 is generally formed from a solid wood 
block which may vary in thickness from two to four inches and may be of 
any desired shape. The upper end of the body 10 has a notch 19 therein for 
receiving the neck of the instrument as will be described. The underside 
of the body block has a hollow portion 20 for holding electronic 
components and wiring of the instrument. The body portion 10 has planar 
sidewalls 21 which are adapted to receive the elongated wing bodies. 
The wing bodies 22 are illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and include 
sculptured shaped portions of wood or metal alone or covered with a 
decorative padded surface. Each of the wing bodies includes a planar 
portion 23 adapted to mate with a respective planar sidewall 21 of the 
body of the musical instrument to be secured thereto. The wing bodies 22 
may be secured to the body portion 10 in any desired manner. One such 
method is illustrated by FIG. 5 wherein a metal shield 24 having a planar 
bottom wall 25 and upstanding sidewalls 26 is fitted over the body of the 
instrument and secured thereto. Each of the sidewalls 26 of the shield 24 
includes teardropshaped slots 27 therein adapted to receive corresponding 
posts 28 extending from metal flanges 29 secured over each of the planar 
portions 23 of wing body 22 for removably securing the wing body to the 
main body 10 of the musical instrument. 
The neck 11 of the instrument is preferably of wood and is overlayed along 
its full length on its flat upper surface with a substantially flat 
fingerboard 14 within which metal frets 30 are transversely set as is 
conventional. The lower end 31 of the wooden neck fits in the notch 19 
provided in the body portion 10 and is secured thereto by one or more 
screws 32 threaded upwardly from the bottom wall of the body 10 into the 
lower end of the neck. 
The neck 11 of the instrument includes means to overcome or avoid neck and 
fingerboard warpage under tension of the strings as is disclosed in 
applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,257 which is hereby incorporated by 
reference. Referring to FIG. 4, the neck has a straight channel 33 
extending virtually its entire length as illustrated in FIG. 4. The 
channel 33 is adapted to receive a metal bar 34 which terminates at its 
inner end just short of the end of the wooden neck and extends at its 
other end a short distance beyond the terminating end of the wooden neck. 
The metal bar 34 is pivotally mounted near its inner end on a cross-shaft 
35 that extends horizontally through the lower end of the neck as 
illustrated in FIG. 4. The metal bar 34 is free of the walls of the 
channel 33. At its outer end the metal bar 34 is contained freely in a 
guide slot 36 that is applied over the terminating end surface of the 
neck. At its inner end an adjustable screw bolt 37 is secured to the metal 
bar 34. The screw bolt is threaded through an internally threaded metal 
sleeve 38 that is press fitted within the body 10 as illustrated in FIG. 
4. By adjustment of this screw bolt 37 relative to sleeve 38, the metal 
bar 34 may be adjusted downwardly or upwardly at its outer end to regulate 
spacing of the strings 12 from the fingerboard 14. The metal bar 34 is not 
only useful for this purpose but also relieves the wooden neck of the 
strain that is normally applied to the wooden neck by the tension of the 
strings, thus avoiding warping or bowing of the neck. On the outer end of 
the metal bar 34 is located a string anchoring plate 13 which is rigidly 
fixed to the bar 34. The plate is turned angularly to extend slightly 
above the level of the fingerboard 14. The upturned portion of the plate 
13 is bored to receive the ends of the strings 12 therethrough. 
Surrounding the plate 13 and the extended portion of the metal bar 34 is a 
decorative wooden portion 39. 
Each string 12 of the instrument is provided with one or more individual 
magnetic pickups 40. The magnetic pickups 40 are connected to transmit the 
string tones to suitable amplifiers which are not shown. Referring to 
FIGS. 1 and 4, there may be two magnetic pickups for each string. One set 
of magnetic pickups is located near the neck of the instrument and the 
other set is located near the bridge supporting member 15. The magnetic 
pickups nearest the neck of the instrument pick up the low frequencies of 
the strings while those pickups nearest the bridge support member pick up 
the high frequencies of each of the strings. Referring to FIG. 1, the body 
10 includes a panel 41 on which is mounted a knob and a number of 
switches. The knob 42 is a volume control while the individual switches 43 
control connection of the respective sets of magnetic pickups. The panel 
controls are adjacent the strings 12 so that the player of the instrument 
can adjust the type of sound wanted easily and quickly. 
To prevent acoustical and/or electrical cross-feed between the strings 
which is a primary cause of "fuzzy" sound, each string has its own bridge 
support member which is individually adjustable, vertically and 
longitudinally, and totally separated from each of the other bridge 
support members. Referring to FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, each bridge support 
member includes a vertical shaft portion 44 that is press fitted in a 
drilled opening in the body 10 of the instrument. A horizontal channel 
member 45 is positioned on the upper end of the vertical rod. Within the 
channel is slidably mounted a bridge support 46. The bridge support 46 may 
be moved horizontally along the channel and locked in place by a suitable 
lock mechanism such as a lock nut. Likewise the vertical shaft 44 may be 
adjusted vertically by adjustment of the screw 47 extending into the 
internally threaded vertical shaft 44 from the bottom surface of the body 
10. Each of the bridge support members is preferably made of solid brass 
which is heavily chromed. Each bridge support is in intimate contact with 
the wood body 10 so that the sounds produced by the strings are enhanced 
by the resonance provided by the wood body 10. 
Fine tuning means are positioned between the bridge support members 15 and 
the tuning shafts 17. The fine tuning means enables the player of the 
instrument to obtain a much more precise tune with greater ease than by 
using the conventional tuning shafts. It is important to note that the 
acoustical and electrical separation of the strings is maintained by the 
fine tuning means as the strings pass therethrough. The fine tuning means 
includes an elongated block 48 press fitted in an opening in the wood body 
10 as illustrated in FIG. 4. Slots 49 ae provided in the block 48 through 
which the individual strings pass. Atop the block and directly over each 
string, a series of thumb screws 50 are threadedly extended through the 
upper part of the block. The lower end of each thumb screw rests against 
an individual string. By turning the thumb screw, the string can be 
tightened or loosened as may be desired to finely tune the string. 
FIG. 5 illustrates the metal to metal connection of the strings 12, head 
plate 13, metal bar 34, reflector shield 24 and individual bridge support 
members 15. The metal shield 24 surrounding the body 10 is in contact with 
the strings 12 through the metal bar 34 and bridge support members 15. 
This enables the player to obtain high frequency sounds which cannot be 
obtained by use of wooden body alone for resonance. The shield 24 acts to 
isolate the sound produced by the strings from external interference. The 
shield 24 also serves as a mounting plate for the wing bodies 22 as has 
been described as well as enables the player of the instrument to obtain 
high frequencies which cannot normally be obtained by use of a wooden body 
alone. 
The musical instrument is unique in appearance and employs unique 
engineering concepts which create sounds which are "clean" and precise.