Patent Publication Number: US-7582819-B1

Title: Adjustable strap for a guitar

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention is directed to a carrying strap of a guitar. Guitars have a single strap that is connected to an upper end of the fretted neck and the other end is connected to a bottom of the guitar body. The strap is trained over the shoulder of the player and then around the back and under the arm of the player and then down to the bottom of the guitar. The strap is adjustable by way of a buckle to comfortably suit the different heights of different players. 
   BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   The art of playing a guitar involves many positions of the player and many positions of the guitar on the player&#39;s body. When playing a guitar, the guitar is normally located on the player about midway across the chest of the player. This is a comfortable position for the player when playing a melody or accompanying a singer by providing the background cords of the tune. However, when the beat of a tune changes dramatically, the player must produce a heavy beat which is best being produced when the guitar is at a much lower position so that the strumming hand is at about the length of an arm of a player. Therefore, it is desirable, that the length of the strap supporting the guitar around the back of the player, be changed immediately as the tune of the music changes its beat dramatically. This an object of the invention. This is accomplished by the addition of a device in the strap that allows an immediate change in the length of the strap. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the strap length adjusting device; 
       FIG. 2  is a base plate which forms part of the device of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  shows the plate of  FIG. 1  and an additional hinged plate; 
       FIG. 4  shows a front view of the additional plate of  FIG. 3 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a hinged plate as an element of the additional plate of  FIG. 3 ; 
       FIGS. 6 and 7  show the base plate and the additional plate as they will be hinged together. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 1  is a perspective illustration of the strap length adjusting device. The device consists of a base plate  1  which is located in front of the guitar player with the guitar strap S passing there behind and the base plate is thereby held against the body of the player. At an upper end of the base plate  1  the strap S is guided through a slot  3  which is located in a transverse off-set  2 . As can be seen in  FIG. 3 , the base plate has at its top a transverse nose  4  which will be explained below. At the bottom of the base plate  1  there is an off-set collar  5  which has an opening  6  therein for the reception of a hinge pin  7  ( FIGS. 6 and 7 ). The hinge pin  7  will pivotally connect to an additional and movable counter plate  8  by way of another off-set collar  8   a . The hinge pin  7  will pass through openings  6  and  9  to pivotally connect the two plates  1  and  8  together. The two off-set collars  5  and  8   a  assure a perfect parallelism between the plates. The movable counter plate  8  has at its top a pivotal arrest plate  10  attached thereto by way of a hinge pin  12 . The arrest plate  10  is biased in a counter clockwise direction (as seen in  FIG. 1 ) by way of a coil spring  14  which is on one side biased against a counter off-set plate  13  and on the other side against the underside of the arrest plate  10 . The counter off-set plate extends from the movable counter plate  8  at a right angle and under the arrest plate  10 . The arrest plate  10  has a depending nose  11  thereon which will move behind the nose  4  when the plates  1  and  8  are moved into contact with each other. The depending nose  11  will remain behind the nose  4  because of the bias of the spring  14  until released. 
   The movable counter plate  8  has openings  15  therein so that the strap S can be threaded there through, whereby the strap S will double back on itself when the two plates  1  and  8  are brought together. The various openings  15  in the movable counter plate can be used to train the strap through the various openings depending on the overlap desired. The predetermined overlap would depend upon the height of the guitar player. The top of the arrest plate  10  has ribs  16  thereon to increase the friction between the plate and the fingers of the player. 
   It is also preferred that each of the openings  15  have a slit  15   a  therein. So that the strap can be passed into any of the openings by way of the slits  15   a . The material from which the various parts are made is a semi-rigid plastic. However it is flexible enough so that when the movable counter plate  8  is twisted sideways, the slits  15   a  will opening just enough to admit the strap S there through, however, the straps cannot exit by themselves. 
     FIG. 5  is a top view of the arrest plate  10  showing the hinge pin  12  in phantom and the spring  14  in simulated openings. The nose  11  is shown in a phantom line. 
     FIGS. 6 and 7  show the bottom and hinge arrangement of the plates  1  and  8 . The  FIGS. 6 and 7  look downwardly from the top whereby the opening  3  can be seen and the off-set collars  5 .  FIG. 7  also looks downwardly whereby the off-set collars  8   a  can be seen and the counter off-set  13  which act to create a bias in the spring  14  as a counter point. 
   OPERATION 
   From all of the above it now be seen how the strap lengthening device will operate. When in a normal playing mode, the guitar player will connect the two plates  1  and  8  together by way of arresting the nose  11  behind the nose  4  whereby the strap S, which is doubled over on itself, will allow the player to play the guitar at an upper location of the body to thereby play the melodies or a plain cord accompaniment. However, if the tune, that is played, changes dramatically, all the player has to do is hit the arrest plate which will thereby be released from its locked or arrested state. Thereby, the movable counter plate  8  will swing downwardly which will change the state of the Strap S from an overlap to a straight line which at that point will allow the player to play the guitar at a low point on his/her body to thereby beat out the rhythm required to enhance the beat of the tune.