Patent ES-8505128-A1 (ES)
Title: Stringed electronic musical instrument using resistance wires
IPC: G10H1/02
Filed: 1984-01-18
Abstract: An electronic musical instrument (3) comprising a body (6), a fingerboard (12) attached to said body and having an upper surface, a plurality of strings arranged in spaced apart relationship relative to one another above said upper surface, the arrangement being such that each said string, when depressed to contact a portion of said upper surface immediately therebelow, forms, with the material affording the portion of said upper surface thus contacted, a resistance, incorporated in an electrical tone-determining circuit, which resistance is variable with the position at which the string contacts said upper surface, and which resistance determines the frequency of a corresponding electrical signal supplied by said tone-determining circuit to a corresponding sound production facility, characterised in that said upper surface of the - fingerboard is electrically conductive and each said string is electrically resistive and is connected in a respective first electrical circuit with said fingerboard, which first electrical circuit forms part of the respective tone-determining circuit and is so devised as to provide an output voltage dependent on the resistance of the free length of the respective string, each said first electrical circuit being in turn connected with a respective voltage to frequency conversion means, forming a further part of the respective tone-determining circuit, and which serves to convert the respective said output voltage into an electrical signal of a frequency dependent on said voltage, the instrument including transducer means (45) for receiving said frequency signals and for producing sounds of corresponding pitch, whereby displacing a string to contact said conductive surface at differing points along the length of a string varies said resistance in the corresponding said first circuit to produce, via the respective said voltage to frequency conversion means, and the respective said transducer means, sounds of various pitches. - (14pp) EPAB- EP-145814 B An electronic musical instrument (3) comprising a body (6), a fingerboard (12) attached to said body and having an upper surface, a plurality of strings arranged in spaced apart relationship relative to one another above said upper surface, the arrangement being such that each said string, when depressed to contact a portion of said upper surface immediately there below, forms, with the material affording the portion of said upper surface thus contacted, a resistance, incorporated in an electrical tone-determining circuit, which resistance is variable with the position at which the string contacts said upper surface, and which resistance determines the frequency of a corresponding electrical signal supplied by said tone-determining circuit to a corresponding sound production facility, characterised in that said upper surface of the  fingerboard is electrically conductive and each said string is electrically resistive and is connected in a respective first electrical circuit with said fingerboard, which first electrical circuit forms part of the respective tone-determining circuit and is so devised as to provide an output voltage dependent on the resistance of the free length of the respective string, each said first electrical circuit being in turn connected with a respective voltage to frequency conversion means, forming a further part of the respective tone-determining circuit, and which serves to convert the respective said output voltage into an electrical signal of a frequency dependent on said voltage, the instrument including transducer means (45) for receiving said frequency signals and for producing sounds of corresponding pitch, whereby displacing a string to contact said conductive surface at differing points along the length of a string varies said resistance in the corresponding said first circuit to produce, via the respective said voltage to frequency conversion means, and the respective said transducer means, sounds of various pitches. - EP-145814 B An electronic musical instrument (3) comprising a body (6), a fingerboard (12) attached to said body and having an upper surface, a plurality of strings arranged in spaced apart relationship relative to one another above said upper surface, the arrangement being such that each said string, when depressed to contact a portion of said upper surface immediately therebelow, forms, with the material affording the portion of said upper surface thus contacted, a resistance, incorporated in an electrical tone-determining circuit, which resistance is variable with the position at which the string contacts said upper surface, and which resistance determines the frequency of a corresponding electrical signal supplied by said tone-determining circuit to a corresponding sound production facility, characterised in that said upper surface of the fingerboard is electrically conductive and each said string is electrically resistive and is connected in a respective first electrical circuit with said fingerboard, which first electrical circuit forms part of the respective tone-determining circuit and is so devised as to provide an output voltage dependent on the resistance of the free length of the respective string, each said first electrical circuit being in turn connected with a respective voltage to frequency conversion means, forming a further part of the respective tone-determining circuit, and which serves to convert the respective said output voltage into an electrical signal of a frequency dependent on said voltage, the instrument including transducer means (45) for receiving said frequency signals and for producing sounds of corresponding pitch, whereby displacing a string to contact said conductive surface at differing points along the length of a string varies said resistance in the corresponding said first circuit to produce, via the respective said voltage to frequency conversion means, and the respective said transducer means, sounds of various pitches. (14pp) USAB- US4430918 A The electronic stringed instrument uses the electrical resistance wires as strings to control the frequency of electrically generated sounds. By shorting a string at various points along its length a variable voltage output is obtained and converted into a known frequency. A fretted instrument permits incremental control of the voltage output. A non-fretted type instrument with a conducting fingerboard provides a way of variable controlling the voltage output. - A separate current source may be provided for each string to facilitate chord playing and a control for the intensity and harmonic content of the signals is provided. An internal power supply and speaker may also be employed to make the instrument readily portable. (3/5)