Patent ID: 7112733

Claim:
A stringed musical instrument comprising: a hollow body having a soundboard and soundhole; a neck mounted to said hollow body; one or more strings stretched over said hollow body and said neck; said neck having upper string anchoring means and means for an upper contact point with the string; a bridge body secured on the soundboard and having thereon a saddle for providing a lower contact point with the string, said bridge body including a string retainer body with said string retainer body having directing means to guide each string from the lower string anchors past said retainer body to the saddle, lower string anchoring means secured to the soundboard wherein one or more of said strings are anchored below the bridge; and, wherein said string retainer body consists of a solid material, and, has a recess extending through said retainer body whereby said recess is contoured to allow the strings to pass through said recess in a desired spacing relative to the other strings and along a desired horizontal plane between the saddle body and the lower anchoring means.