Abstract:
This invention relates to a musical instrument case with a built-in tuner. The tuner gives a musician the ability to tune their instrument quickly without the need to carry a separate tuner or look for their tuner elsewhere.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to provisional application No. 60/834,060 filed on Jul. 28, 2006. 
     
    
     FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
       [0002]    Not Applicable 
       SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM 
       [0003]    Not Applicable 
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    This invention relates to a musical instrument case with a built-in tuner. The tuner gives a musician the ability to tune their instrument quickly without the need to carry a separate tuner or look for their tuner elsewhere. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    Tuners, such as chromatic tuners, as well as musical instrument cases individually are very common in the prior art. Tuners onboard the musical instrument itself are also previously described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,820 (Wittman, 1997); U.S. Pat. No. 5,877,444 (Hine et al 1999); and U.S. Pat. App. 2007006716 (Salmond et al, 2007). While tuners onboard the musical instrument is convenient for the owner of the musical instrument, it generally cannot be shared with other instrument users. Additionally, if a musician changes instrument, there is a need to buy either another tuner or buy another instrument with its own onboard tuner. 
         [0006]    The present invention avoids the short falls of the prior arts by combining the tuner within a musical instrument case instead of placing the tuner onboard the instrument itself. As musicians often lose their tuners due to the fact that tuners are a separate piece from the instrument case, they cannot perform the tuning of their instrument prior to performing or practicing or may have to borrow a tuner from other musicians. Because the present invention combines the tuner and musical instrument case into one product, the tuner is never lost. 
         [0007]    The present invention also avoids the need to buy an instrument with an onboard tuner or another tuner every time the musician changes instrument since the musician can reuse the musical instrument case of the present instrument with the new musical instrument. Furthermore, the musical instrument case of the present invention can also be used by other musicians because the tuner is separate from the musical instrument. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is perspective view of the guitar/bass case with built-in chromatic tuner in accordance with the present invention. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is plan view of the chromatic tuner in accordance with the present invention. 
       
    
    
     FIGURES—REFERENCE NUMERALS 
       [0000]    
       
           10  . . . Guitar/bass Case 
           12  . . . Chromatic Tuner 
           14  . . . Power Switch 
           16  . . . Input Socket 
           18  . . . Output Socket 
           20  . . . Display Panel 
           22  . . . Battery Compartment 
           24  . . . Higher Frequency Light 
           26  . . . Accurate Frequency Light 
           28  . . . Lower Frequency Light 
       
     
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0020]    The novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention and as illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The present invention is a musical instrument case, such as a guitar or base case, with a built-in musical tuner, such as a chromatic tuner. 
         [0021]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , the tuner  12 , which is known in the industry, is permanently affixed to the interior of the case  10 . Various methods for securing the tuner  12  known in the art may be used such as screws, a built in shell, or Velcro. The present invention shows a shell that is built around the tuner for holding the tuner  12  securely to the case. 
         [0022]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , the tuner  12  may comprise a power switch  14 , input  16  and output  18  sockets, a display panel  20 , a battery compartment  22 , and a plurality of frequency indicators  24 ,  26 , and  28 , all located on the top surface of the tuner so as to provide easy access for the musician. The power switch  14  activates and deactivates the tuner  12 . The input  16  and the output  18  sockets receive the guitar/bass cord and an output cord respectively. The output cord in turn can be connected to an amplifier or a speaker. The display panel  20  displays the string number and the note name in juxtaposition. The plurality of frequency indicators  24 ,  26 , and  28  comprises a higher frequency light  24 , an accurate frequency light  26 , and a lower frequency light  28  located one below another. The higher, accurate, and lower frequencies of a particular guitar string, when being plucked, are represented by the higher frequency light  24 , accurate frequency light  26 , and lower frequency light  28  respectively. 
         [0023]    A battery compartment  22  is also provided for providing power to the tuner  12 . The tuner  12  as shown shows the opening of the battery compartment  22  facing outward for ease of access to replace batteries. A battery compartment  22  may also be provided at the bottom of the tuner. Once the batteries are inserted into the battery compartment  22  and the tuner  12  activated, the guitar/bass input cord is plugged into the input socket  16  to tune the guitar/bass. The tuner  12  automatically identifies and displays the guitar/bass string number and the note name of the particular string being plucked. If the higher frequency light  24  blinks rapidly as a string is plucked, the string needs to be loosened until the rapid blinking rate gradually decreases to a slower blinking rate, and the slower blinking rate diminishes to activate the accurate frequency light  26 , which denotes that the string is tuned. Similarly, if the lower frequency light  28  blinks rapidly, the string needs to be tightened until the rapid blinking rate gradually decreases to a slower blinking rate, and the slower blinking rate diminishes to turn on the accurate frequency light  26 . However, if the string being plucked and the string number being displayed are not the same, the string needs to be tightened or loosened until the correct string number is displayed. To be more particular, the string needs to be tightened if the display panel  20  shows the string number to be greater than the string that is being plucked, and vice versa, following which the string needs to be tuned as mentioned earlier. 
         [0024]    Alternatively, the tuner may be used without having to plug into the input socket  16  or output socket  18 . The tuner of this type would sense the string or note being played and display an output to show that the note being played is accurate. 
         [0025]    All the features disclosed in this specification, including any accompanying abstract and drawings, may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features. 
         [0026]    While specific systems and methods have been disclosed in the preceding description, it should be understood that these specifics have been given for the purpose of disclosing the principles of the present invention and that many variations thereof will become apparent to those who are versed in the art.