Patent ID: 7732687

Claim:
A stringed instrument comprising: a wooden neck having an upper and lower surface; a body; and a fretboard having a top surface and a bottom surface, the bottom surface having a size and shape corresponding to at least a portion of the neck, wherein at least a portion of the fretboard is formed of a translucent material, the fretboard further comprising at least one opening in the bottom surface and at least one well extending therefrom toward, but not through, the top surface, the well having a height measured from the bottom surface to allow light from a concealed light-emitting device positioned substantially within the well to be visible to a player of the instrument when illuminated and to substantially hide visual detection of the concealed light-emitting device when not illuminated, and wherein the top surface of the fretboard has a convex shape and the fretboard further comprises multiple wells generally positioned along a transverse axis and having differing heights, and wherein the thickness of fretboard material between each well top and the convex top surface is generally constant.