U.S. patent number 3,769,871 [Application Number 05/247,348] was granted by the patent office on 1973-11-06 for stone guitar with tuned neck.
Invention is credited to Joel M. Cawthorn.
United States Patent |
3,769,871 |
Cawthorn |
November 6, 1973 |
STONE GUITAR WITH TUNED NECK
Abstract
Disclosed herein is a new and improved electric guitar having a
stone body in which is housed conventional electronic pickup means,
controls and the like, and a uniquely reinforced, "tuned" neck
construction providing a new and improved musical instrument with
outstanding sustain and high frequency resonanting effects.
Specifically, the body is formed from a comparatively heavy stone
slab, typically 1 to 11/8 inches thick, while the neck is
reinforced and its geometry stabilized by a steel truss rod and by
a precisely tuned, steel reinforcing or tuning bar laminated
therein. The tuning bar advantageously is a 21 inch (nominal) bar
of 5/16 inch square tool steel hardened to Rockwell C 60 which is
ground down to a precise length which produces a "high E" note when
the bar is struck like a tuning fork and permitted to vibrate.
rmitted to vibrate.
Inventors: |
Cawthorn; Joel M. (Shady,
NY) |
Family
ID: |
22934570 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/247,348 |
Filed: |
April 25, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
84/291; 84/267;
984/367; 84/743; 984/107 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G10D
1/085 (20130101); G10H 3/18 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G10D
1/08 (20060101); G10H 3/18 (20060101); G10H
3/00 (20060101); G10D 1/00 (20060101); G10h
001/08 (); G10h 003/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;84/1.16,DIG.30,267,274,275,291,268 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Wilkinson; Richard B.
Assistant Examiner: Witkowski; Stanley J.
Claims
I claim:
1. A stringed musical instrument comprising
a. a stone body of single piece construction having at its face a
hollowed out cavity therein;
b. an elongated, reinforced neck secured to said body;
c. a bridge mounted on said stone body;
d. tuning pegs and a nut carried by said reinforced neck;
e. a plurality of strings extending between said tuning pegs and
said bridge; and
f. a pick guard closing said cavity.
2. The instrument of claim 1, in which
a. said single piece stone body is selected from the group
comprising granite, marble, onyx, rose quartz, petrified wood and
agate.
3. The instrument of claim 1, in which
a. said neck is tuned and reinforced by the inclusion therein of a
metallic tuning bar tuned to a high E note.
4. The instrument of claim 1, in which
a. the side edges of said stone body include at least one straight
edge portion upon which the instrument may be substantially,
vertically free standing.
5. The instrument of claim 4, in which
a. said straight edge is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of
said neck.
6. The instrument of claim 1, in which
a. said neck is of hardwood construction having a full length
stepped groove formed therein;
b. a truss rod is disposed in the bottom of said groove for
reinforcing and for adjustably tensioning said neck prior to the
attachment thereof to said stone body;
c. said tuning bar is disposed in said groove above said truss
rod;
d. said tuning bar comprises a 21 inch (nominal) bar of 5/16 inch
square tool steel hardened to Rockwell C 60;
e. said groove is covered by a hardwood fret board extending
substantially for the full length of said neck;
f. said finger board and the head of said truss rod are permanently
secured to the hardwood portions of said neck by epoxy cement;
g. a lubricant is disposed at the interface of said truss rod and
said tuning bar.
7. The guitar neck construction of claim 6, in which
a. said tuning bar comprises a 21 inch (nominal) bar of 5/16 inch
square tool steel hardened to Rockwell C 60.
8. The guitar neck construction of claim 6, in which
a. said tuning bar is an elongated metallic element which, when
struck as a tuning fork, produces a high E note.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Electric guitar constructions are well known to the art, and a
plethora of body and reinforced neck designs therefor are shown in
the patent literature. Common to all of the prior art disclosures
is the goal of improving some aspect of the performance of the
instrument. It is to a further and marked improvement in the
strength, stability, and acoustic characteristics of stringed
instruments in general and electric guitars in particular that the
present invention is directed.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
It has been discovered that the use of a stone body in lieu of the
commonly employed hardwood body in an electric guitar markedly
improves the acoustic properties, such as range, resonance,
response, pitch, tone and the like generated by the guitar strings.
Moreover, through the precise tuning and special reinforcing of the
neck itself by a full length "tuning bar," regardless of the
particular material from which the solid body is formed, vastly
improved acoustic properties may be derived from a stringed
instrument, especially an electric guitar.
More specifically and in accordance with the principles of the
present invention, an improved electric guitar construction
includes a flat stone body, i.e., a body made from a relatively
hard, naturally formed mass of mineral or petrified matter such as
granite, marble, onyx, rose quartz, petrified wood, agate, to
provide a guitar body which will vibrate only at extremely high
frequency and will contribute to the excellent sustaining qualities
generated by a "tuned" neck. Moreover, the use of a stone body
provides a body which tends to be acoustically "neutral" with
respect to its effects on the generated, resonant frequencies of
the vibrating strings, i.e., the body does not add to or subtract
from the resonant frequencies of the guitar strings.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention and a
greater appreciation of its attendant advantages, reference should
be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction
with the accompanying drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a guitar having a stone body and a
laminated neck reinforced and tuned by a tuning bar in accordance
with the principles of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal, cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 showing
details of construction thereof; and
FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 are enlarged, transverse, longitudinal and
transverse cross sections, respectively, of the new tuned neck
showing details of construction thereof.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring now to FIGS. 1-5, the new and improved guitar includes a
polished, sculpted stone body 10 to which is fastened by epoxy
cement C and/or bolts (not shown) a new and improved tuned neck 11.
The neck includes a generally triangular peg head 12 upon which are
mounted six tuning pegs 13-18, a nut 19, and a fret board 20
mounting a plurality of wire frets 21 arrayed in conventional
spacing. The stone body 10 supports at its upper surface a solid
aluminum bridge 22 which anchors the lower ends of six metal
strings which are secured at their upper ends to and made taut by
the rotatable tuning pegs 13-18. The strings are identified by
their notes and are as follows: E, A, D, G, B, E, which are the
sixth, fifth, fourth, third, second and first strings,
respectively, of a six string guitar. Of course, the novel neck and
body construction disclosed herein may be used in stringed
instruments other than guitars and in instruments having more or
less than six strings.
In accordance with a critical aspect of the present invention, the
neck 11 is specially constructed and reinforced to provide a
stable, straight guitar neck having superior strength properties,
superior properties of durability, and superior acoustic properties
to the reinforced guitar necks heretofore available to the art for
use in electrical guitars. To that end, the neck 11 is carved from
a composite structure including a hardwood base 25, such as
mahogony, ebony, maple or the like, in which is formed a
longitudinal stepped groove 30. The cross section of the lowermost
portion 31 of the groove is approximately 5/32 inch square, while
that of the upper portion 32 is approximately 5/16 inch square. The
groove 30 extends from the nut 19 to the heel 26 of the neck, a
nominal distance of 21 inches. As shown in FIG. 3, a truss rod 33,
advantageously made of 5/32 inch diameter drill rod, is disposed in
the groove 31, and its head end is secured therein by epoxy cement
34. Advantageously, the head end of the truss rod 33 is threaded or
otherwise reshaped to enable the epoxy to bind itself securely to
the truss rod as well as to the walls of the upper end of the
groove 31. In this manner, the upper end of the truss rod is firmly
anchored in the uppermost portions of the hardwood neck base 25 at
the nut. The foot 26a of the truss rod is threaded to receive a
tensioning nut 36 and washer 37 which are used to tension the neck
base 25 to induce a slight bow to the neck structure during the
carving thereof. Before carving, the neck base 25 is a rectangular
prism approximately 28 inches.times. 21/4 inches.times. 7/8
inch.
In accordance with the principles of the invention, a special
tuning bar 40 is laminated to the neck base 25 to become an
effectively integral, vibrating part of the neck 11. The tuning bar
40, in accordance with a critical aspect of the invention, is
precisely and accurately tuned to vibrate at and to produce a pitch
of a "high E" note. To that end, it has been determined that a 5/16
inch square, nominal 21 inch long bar of water hardened tool steel,
when struck as a tuning fork, will vibrate at the frequency of a
high E note, Hz. During manufacture, the high E tuning bar 40 may
have to be slightly ground down from the nominal 21 inch length or
otherwise modified to provide the requisite, precise tuning to high
E. Thus and as should be understood, the resonant frequency of the
bar 40 will be such that it will sympathetically vibrate with a
high E note and all of its harmonics. In accordance with the
invention, the tuning bar or high note sustainer 40 not only vastly
enhances the desired acoustic properties of the neck of the guitar
and the entire guitar itself, but being a rigid metallic element,
it significantly contributes to the overall strength and stability
of the guitar neck 11.
The sustaining bar 40 is epoxy cemented in the groove 32 in the
neck base 25, prior to carving, above the truss rod 33, which,
advantageously, is precoated with a lubricant L at the truss
rod-tuning rod interface to prevent the truss rod from becoming
adhered to the sustaining rod 40.
After the tuning-sustaining bar 40 and the truss rod 33 have been
inserted in the block of wood or neck base 25 from which the final
neck configuration 11 is to be derived, the neck base 25 is carved
and shaped in conventional manner to give it the final cross
section, which is generally rectangular at the heel and generally
triangular at the nut. Prior to carving, a fret board 20 is
laminated to the upper surfaces of the wood block. A series of wire
frets 21 may thereafter be installed at the surface of the fret
board, in accordance with conventional practice.
The truss rod 33 is used in combination with the sus-taining bar 40
to keep the neck 11 almost straight, i.e., a slight "bow" of no
greater than 1/32 inch and substantially rigid. As will be
understood, absent substantially total rigidity and straightness of
the neck 11 (within 1/32 inch tolerance), when the guitar is
subsequently strung and the six strings placed under tension, the
neck must resist all tendency to bow or curve (other than the 1/32
inch accommodatable bow) since any bowing or curving of the neck is
deleterious; it will make the separation of the strings from the
fret board nonuniform and will interfere with the proper
performance of the guitar. Thus, it is an objective of the present
invention to ensure that the strings of the guitar, when tensioned,
will remain uniformly spaced from the finger board at all times
regardless of the degree of tautness of the strings induced by the
tuning pegs. In contrast with many prior art guitars, where a
constant adjustment and retightening of the truss rod is required
during the life of the guitar, the provision of both a truss rod
and a sustaining rod make readjustment of the truss rod of the
present guitar unnecessary throughout the life of the guitar.
Indeed, after the neck 11 is carved, access to the tensioning nut
36 is eliminated by permanently epoxy cementing a metal cover 50
thereover.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the side edges
29 of the heavy stone body 10 are shaped to have flats 50 along
and/or adjacent the bottom, so that the new guitar may be
vertically free standing on its bottom edge or on its side edges.
That is, of course, feasible and possible with a thin solid body,
approximately 1 inch, only when stone is used as the base material,
and the center of gravity of the instrument is in the body 11;
indeed, it approximates the center of gravity of the body 11. Of
course, in certain cases, it may be desirable to use the new and
improved neck construction of the invention with a hardwood body,
in which case, the guitar would have improved acoustic properties,
however, it would not be self-supportingly, free standing, since it
would have a high center of gravity.
In accordance with still another important aspect of the present
invention, the guitar strings are arranged in combination with the
bridge, nut, and peg head, so as to be "self-tuning." Thus, the G
and D strings are positioned relative to the nut 19 to produce
fifth resonant frequencies of G and D when those strings are tuned
to true pitch. More specifically, the pitch produced on the D
string when plucked between the tuning peg 15 and the nut 19 will
be an A440 Hz. (the most commonly used tuning pitch). When this
fourth string is tuned to a true D note, the tone will be the same
as that produced by playing the harmonic above the seventh fret of
the D string and will be the same as that produced by playing the
harmonic above the fifth fret of the A string. The same type of
relationship exists between the G and D strings and their
harmonics. The remaining E, B, and E (first, second and sixth)
strings may be tuned to the aforementioned three G, D, and A
(third, fourth and fifth) strings, enabling the entire guitar to be
tuned to true pitch without the necessity of resorting to a
separate instrument such as a pitch pipe, tuning fork or the
like.
Thus, the new stone guitar, or any guitar having its strings
arranged in the above-described manner, may be initially tuned and
returned at any time using the method of the invention. Moreover,
proper tuning of the individual strings and their relationship to
each other may be simply and quickly checked from time to time to
make certain that the guitar is properly tuned, as will be
understood. This unique system of tuning a guitar is effected by
the proper spacing of the nut and the tuning pegs of the strings,
namely, the third and fourth (G and D) strings.
A guitar constructed in accordance with the aforementioned
priciples will have a unique and beautiful sound that heretofore
has never been produced by an electric guitar or comparable
instrument. Moreover, the sound is vastly superior, in terms of
measurable parameters, to any of the sounds that have been produced
by known guitars, whether electric or otherwise. The enjoyment of
the ultimate quality of the sound generated by strings vibrating
between a stone body and tuning pegs mounted on the new and
improved neck will, of course, be affected by the choice of pickup
electronics employed. Of course, the ulitmate tonal quality of an
electric guitar is fundamentally limited by the ability of the
vibrating strings to generate acceptable tones, and, regardless of
the electronics employed, it is the combination of guitar body
neck, and strings which are determinative thereof.
The guitar of the present invention may be conventionally
"electrified" by disposing appropriate electronic pickups beneath
the vibrating guitar strings in a suitable cavity 8 formed in the
stone body and covered by a conventional pick guard plate 9, as
shown.
It should be appreciated that the new electric guitar construction
of the invention provides a stringed instrument having a uniquely
tuned and reinforced neck which provides excellent sustaining and
high frequency resonating characteristics to generate notes.
Moreover and especially with regard to the harmonics of E, the
basic note of the guitar, this "sustain" and "resonation" broadens
and tunes the response of the entire instrument as it is
played.
It should be understood, of course, that the stone guitar herein
illustrated and described is intended to be representative only, as
certain changes may be made therein without departing from the
clear teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, reference should be
made to the following appended claims in determining the full scope
of the invention.
* * * * *