Patent Application
20100031807
The present invention generally relates to electric guitars. More specifically, the present invention is concerned with an electric guitar provided with at least one tone chamber.
Chambered electric guitars are known in the art. Some known chambered guitars are provided with internal tone chambers that are completely embedded in the instrument in view of reducing the overall weight of the guitar. These chambered guitars are not provided with sound ports to allow air and sound exchange between the chambers and the external world.
Another type of chambered electric guitar is provided with at least one tone chamber that has a sound port, generally used to increase the acoustic volume of the electric guitar when played unplugged.
In the appended drawings:
In accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a chambered body for an electric guitar comprising:
a core portion defining a body shape; the core portion including:
a cover portion to be mounted to the core portion; the cover portion being so configured and sized as to close the at least one tone chamber.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a chambered core portion of an electric guitar defining a body shape; the core portion including:
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electric guitar comprising:
a chambered body including:
a neck mounted to the chambered body.
The use of the word “a” or “an” when used in conjunction with the term “comprising” in the claims and/or the specification may mean “one”, but it is also consistent with the meaning of “one or more”, “at least one”, and “one or more than one”. Similarly, the word “another” may mean at least a second or more.
As used in this specification and claim(s), the words “comprising” (and any form of comprising, such as “comprise” and “comprises”), “having” (and any form of having, such as “have” and “has”), “including” (and any form of including, such as “include” and “includes”) or “containing” (and any form of containing, such as “contain” and “contains”), are inclusive or open-ended and do not exclude additional, unrecited elements or process steps.
It is to be noted that the expression “external world” is to be construed herein and in the appended claims as everything that is external to a guitar.
Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following non-restrictive description of illustrative embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Generally stated, a chambered electric guitar according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention includes at least one tone chamber that is linked to the external world only via at least one pick-up cavity of the guitar. Vibration of the strings of the guitar generates a vibration of the air in the tone chamber. This air vibration moves the air in and out of the tone chamber via the pick-up cavity. This air movement in the vicinity of the pick-up moves the pick-up as a whole and/or moves some portions of the pick-up. This pick-up movement changes the sound properties of the guitar by changing subtle microphonic properties of the pick-up.
Turning now to
The core 12 also includes a plurality of tone channels interconnecting the tone chambers and connecting the tone chambers to the pick-up cavities. More specifically, the core 12 includes:
Pick-up wire channels 58 and 60 are also conventionally provided between the pick-up cavities 26, 28 and 30. The tone channel 56 also doubles as a pick-up wire channel to allow the pick-up wires to reach the electronics cavity 38.
Turning now to
The top portion 62 generally has the same body shape as the core 12, has an inner surface to be adhered to the core 12 and includes a neck receiving cut-out 64 corresponding to the neck pocket 24, three pick-up apertures 66 to 70 respectively corresponding to the three pick-up cavities 26 to 30, a bridge aperture 72 corresponding to the bridge cavity 36 and other smaller apertures 74 to accommodate the electronics controls of the guitar.
As will easily be understood by one skilled in the art, when the top portion 62 is adhered to the core 12, for example by using an appropriate glue, the tone chambers 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 are closed and their only contact with the external world is from the pick-up cavities 26, 28 and 30 that are still open to the external world thanks to the apertures 66, 68 and 70. The top portion 62 may therefore be viewed as a cover covering the tone chambers.
As can be seen from
As can be seen from
As will easily be understood by one skilled in the art, the various tone chambers 14-22 have different air volumes and plan surfaces where they interact with the top portion 62. Accordingly, the tone chambers have different frequency range at which they vibrate and may be viewed as pumping the air in and out of the pick-up cavities 26-30. It is therefore possible to “tune” the volume and plan surface of the tone chambers according to the desired acoustic characteristics of the guitar.
As mentioned hereinabove, the vibration of the strings of the guitar generates a vibration of the air in the tone chambers. This air vibration moves the air in and out of the tone chamber via the pick-up cavities since the pick-up cavities are the only aperture between the tone chambers and the external world. The air movement in the vicinity of the pick-up moves the pick-up as a whole and/or moves some portions of the pick-up. This total or partial pick-up movement changes the sound properties of the guitar by changing subtle microphonic properties of the pick-up.
It is also to be noted that the air vibration in the tone chambers, caused by the vibration of the strings (not shown) also causes the body to vibrate more than would vibrate a conventional so called “solid body” guitar. This vibration of the body causes the bridge (not shown) installed in the bridge cavity 36 to vibrate and to transfer a portion of this vibration to the already vibrating strings. There is therefore a decaying loop between the vibrating strings and the vibrating air which increases the sustain of the chambered guitar.
It is generally known that the sound signal from an electric guitar is generated by the movement of the metallic strings in the magnetic field of the pick-up. By moving the source of the magnetic field, i.e. the magnet of the pick-up, or the coil of the pick-up, at a frequency that is relevant to the frequency of the vibrating strings, the sound signal coming from the coil of the pick-up is positively modified, thereby modifying the sound properties of the guitar.
While the core portion of the chambered body has been illustrated and described herein as being routed from the top and fitted with a separate top portion, it would be possible to form the tone chambers from the rear face of the core portion and fit it with a back portion closing the tone chambers.
As will easily be understood by one skilled in the art, the body shape, number and position of the tone chambers, number and position of the tone channels and number and position of pick-up cavities illustrated and described herein are for illustration purposes and could be modified at will without departing from the spirit and nature of the present invention.
As will be also apparent to one skilled in the art, the core and top portion of the chambered body may be conventionally made of solid or laminated wood. Other materials can also be used, depending on the desired sound properties of the finished instrument.
It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described hereinabove. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced in various ways. It is also to be understood that the phraseology or terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not limitation. Hence, although the present invention has been described hereinabove by way of illustrative embodiments thereof, it can be modified, without departing from the spirit, scope and nature of the subject invention as defined in the appended claims.
