Stringed Musical Instrument Adapted For Interchangeable Bodies

Abstract

A stringed musical instrument such as a guitar wherein the neck assembly is extended to include the bridge and tailpiece, and the body of the instrument and neck assembly are detachable. The end region of the neck assembly supporting tailpiece is made in the form of a U and a cutout region at the rear of the body is adapted to receive the cutout region to form a tongue and groove structural joint between the neck assembly and body of the instrument.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

This invention related to stringed musical instruments and particularly to a novel structural arrangement wherein the neck assembly and body of the instrument are detachable.

Typically a stringed instrument consists of a neck assembly and a body assembly with strings being supported at one extreme end by a head member attached to the neck assembly and at the other extreme end by a tailpiece attached to the body assembly. Thus the neck and body assemblies are structurally interdependent in supporting the strings. While musically this arrangement is fine there is the limitation that a body selection once made is permanent insofar as the particular instrument is concerned. With purely acoustical guitars this does not seem to be much of a detriment, however with the evolution of electrical guitars there has occurred a demand for a range of body configurations varying from those including large cavities to small cavities and to various sized and shaped solid bodies. Thus the musician who has a requirement for an instrument having different body configurations must now purchase several complete guitars.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To meet the aforesaid difficulties the present invention provides a stringed instrument in which the body of the instrument is detachable from the neck assembly and wherein the latter includes the complete playing portion including electrical pickups and tailpiece.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of stringed musical instrument separate from a body assembly;

FIG. 2 is an elevation view of the instrument shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial plan view of a stringed musical instrument including the instrument shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and a body assembly;

FIG. 4 is an elevation view of the instrument shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the body assembly portion of the instrument shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view along lines 6-6 of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Neck assembly 10 includes head member 12 which is conventional and which mounts a plurality of pegs 14 which support assembly 10 includes conventional frets 19 and bridge 20, and extends between head member 12 and tail piece 21. Tailpiece 21 is a composite part of or rigidly mounted on neck assembly 10 and it provides a fixed support for strings 16 which thus extend from head member 12 attached to the opposite end of elongated arm 18 for substantially the full length of arm 18. Electrical pickups 22 are mounted on arm 18 and are appropriately positioned to provide the desired response. Arm 18 also supports tone controls 23 and volume and vibrato control 24, the controls being appropriately interconnected with pickups 22 to provide an electrical output at electrical terminal 26.

Neck assembly 10 includes, as a particular feature of this invention, rear attachment member 28 at one end of arm 18 is adapted to provide a basic structural interconnection between neck assembly 10 and detachable body 30. This is accomplished by means of U-shaped groove 32 in rear attachment member 28 which is adapted to receive tongue 34 of body 30. Arm 18 of neck assembly 10 is laterally supported by its insertion in recess 36 of body 30. Body 30 is finally locked to neck assembly 10 by means of bolts 38 which extend upward from the bottom of rear attachment member 28 into nuts 40 which are imbedded in tongue 34 of body 30 and by bolt 42 which extends upward from the bottom of the front portion of body 30 into nuts 44 embedded in neck assembly 10.

Thus, in order to attach neck assembly 10 to detachable body 30 it is only necessary to slip neck assembly 10 to the left causing groove 32 to close over tongue 34 and to insert and tighten bolts 38 and 42. Thus a musician would typically have a variety of detachable bodies 30 varying in color characteristics, and shapes. Then, as desired, one would be selectively attached to neck assembly 10. To facilitate assembly and disassembly bolts 38 and 42 may have wing type heads which can be simply hand tightened.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A stringed musical instrument comprising:

an elongated arm;

a tailpiece rigidly attached to one end of said arm and including means for fixedly supporting strings at one end of said instrument;

a headpiece rigidly attached to the opposite end of said elongated arm and including means for adjustably supporting strings at an opposite end of said instrument;

a plurality of strings supported by and between said headpiece and tailpiece;

at least one electrical pickup attached to said arm and positioned under said strings;

body attachment means comprising a U-shaped end region of said elongated arm adjacent said tailpiece forming a groove corresponding in width with said end region and adapted to receive a mating tongue of a stringed musical instrument body.

2. A stringed instrument as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a said musical instrument body having a said tongue region adapted to interlock with said "U" shaped groove of said body attachment means.

3. A stringed musical instrument as set forth in claim 2 wherein said musical instrument body includes an elongated recess adapted to laterally support said neck assembly and further comprises locking means for securing said elongated arm in said recess.