Patent ID: 7563977

Claim:
A stringed musical instrument device that also functions as a peripheral for a computer or computing device, comprising: a body having a soundboard; a neck extending from the body; at least one string extending over a portion of the body and the neck; a piezo bridge mounted on the body for providing a lower contact point with the string; at least one electronic transducer coupled to the body and configured for converting at least one of vibrations of the at least one string and the body into analog electrical signals; at least one analog-to-digital converter communicating with the at least one electronic transducer and configured for converting the analog electrical signals into digital signals; a digital signal processing system communicating with the at least one analog-to-digital converter and configured for converting the digital signals into line level signals having a USB signal format for coupling, via a USB connector, to USB input ports of a computer or computing device, the digital signal processing system including an engine configured for converting audio signals into class compliant USB signal format including at least one of streaming audio and MIDI data; and wherein said at least one analog-to-digital converter and digital signal processing system are configured to be powered by said computer or computing device via said USB connector.