Patent Application
20240347025
This invention relates to a neck for a musical instrument, particularly a musical string instrument, and to a method for manufacturing a fretboard for a neck of a musical instrument.
Musical instruments are high precision instruments that need to produce a certain sound quality to be qualified for use. Particularly, the construction of necks of musical string instruments plays a major part in making up the sound of the instrument. The neck connects the body of the instrument where one end of the strings is anchored, to the headstock of the instrument where the second end of the strings is anchored. The distance between said anchor points regulates the sounding length of the string. When the string is pressed against the neck, a new anchor point is created dividing the string into two vibrating parts and thus effectively changing the sounding length of the string. Most necks have frets in order to aid the user to determine correct finger positions for the correct notes. The frets make it easier for a player to achieve an acceptable standard of intonation while playing the instrument, thus affecting the playability of the instrument. The positioning of the frets is crucial in achieving the correct tone, and the position must be within 0.05 mm of the correct position, or the instrument is rendered unusable.
Most often the necks of musical string instruments such as violins and guitars, are solid necks made of wood. Wood is an excellent material in terms of sound engineering because wood is extremely stiff material in respect of its weight, and its vibrating properties generally please the human ear. The length of tone is suitably short while wood suitably dampens the vibration. However, there are significant disadvantages with the known wooden necks. Wood is laborious and relatively slow to work with to achieve the exact shape and degree of finishing (for example desired coarseness of the surface) required. Particularly, forming the fret slots on wooden necks requires that the fret slots must first be sawed in exact positions and then be finished with special files to achieve a satisfactory end result. These precise results are difficult to achieve with wood due to humidity and temperature related expansion and shrinkage. In addition, no matter how thoroughly the manufacturing is done, inconvenient influence of pores, possible resin pockets, ingrain structure, and other invisible unevenness on the surface of wood often appear only while testing the finished instrument.
The problems with wooden necks have been tried to be solved with polymers mimicking wood. However, in known solutions the necks still require same manufacturing steps where the fret slots are sawed and finished before the frets can be applied. Use of plastics poses a further problem as the matrix plastics used in natural fiber composites are inclined to fracturing, i.e. that the microfractures created in the sawing process keep developing over time, resulting in the neck breaking eventually. This flaw is particularly awkward, as the product is already purchased by the user when the breaking occurs, and the flaw is difficult to notice in quality control beforehand.
Sawing of the fret slots also poses a serious health threat as in the wood types used in fretboards, the sawdust is carcinogenic and may cause asbestosis if inhaled. Therefore, expensive protective gear such as respirators and high-power vacuums must be used in the workstation, thus increasing the costs of the production. Similarly, also sawing of polymers poses a health risk as polymers are prone to melting caused by friction, which in turn may cause the neck to jam the saw, sending the neck flying across the room and potentially seriously harming the workers.
Therefore, there exists a clear need for an improved neck for a musical string instrument. Also, manufacturing processes of necks for musical instruments are lacking in many aspects.
An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned disadvantages and to provide a neck for a musical instrument which has excellent properties during use and is easy to manufacture reliably. These and other objects are achieved with a neck according to independent claim 1 and with a manufacturing method according to independent claim 12.
Preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims.
Further advantages and details of the invention are disclosed in detail in the description below.
In the following the present invention will be described in closer detail by way of example and with reference to the attached drawings, in which
The following embodiments are only examples. Although the specification may refer to “an” embodiment in several locations, this does not necessarily mean that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments. Furthermore, words “comprising” and “including” should be understood as not limiting the described embodiments to consist of only those features that have been mentioned and such embodiments may contain also features/structures that have not been specifically mentioned. All combinations of the embodiments are considered possible if their combination does not lead to structural or logical contradiction.
The primary function of the elongated support bars 30 is to strengthen and reinforce the neck by increasing its rigidity. This is advantageous as the neck 1 must be strong enough to withstand use and strong enough to withstand the forces exerted by the tension of the strings. A secondary function of the elongated support bars 30 is to transfer string vibrations from the headstock and the frets to the body of the guitar.
The lateral reinforcing tabs 22 reinforce the fretboard in regions of the fret slots 21, where the material thickness is reduced due to formation of fret slots 21. This allows the construction of the neck 1 to be hollow, without weakening the fretboard 20 too much, or adding unnecessary material to the neck 1.
The combination of the elongated support bars 30 and lateral reinforcing tabs 22 functions as a miniature soundpost under the frets. When the string is stopped on a particular fret, in effect there is a transfer of vibrations from the fret (stopped string) to the body of the neck, and along the elongated support bars 30, which preferably extends to the body of the instrument. This transfer of resonant vibrations from the neck to the body of the instrument, increases the resonant response of the body, which in turn enhances sustain and tonal color of the sound of the instrument.
The neck 1 may also further comprise a dual action trussrod 41, 42 directly below the fretboard 20 as illustrated in embodiments of
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The components of the neck 1 are preferably cemented together using epoxy cement to form a rigid neck construction.
The material of the fretboard 20 preferably comprises plastic material compound, which comprises thermoplastic polymer and natural fibers, the natural fibers having a length ranging from 0.5 mm to 5 mm. The natural fibers may be wood-based cellulose, hemp fibers, or flax fibers, for instance. This material selection provides a tone similar to high quality musical string instruments made of wood.
Preferably, the natural fibers of the plastic material compound follow the contours of the fretboard 20 in longitudinal direction of the fretboard 20. This orientation allows the sound to travel in the fretboard 20 faster than the sound would travel if the fibers would be oriented differently. This significantly improves the sound quality of the instrument.
The material of the neck body is preferably wood, or the plastic material compound as described above.
The material of the support bars 30 preferably comprises carbon fiber or glass fiber.
Preferably, the musical instrument is a musical string instrument. Particularly, preferably the musical string instrument is an electric guitar, and the neck 1 is a neck for an electric guitar.
The method comprising: taking into use in step A a mold 50 comprising a plurality of protrusions 51 corresponding with a plurality of fret slots 21 of a fretboard 20 on a first surface 50 of the mold 50, the mold 50 further comprising a plurality of detents 52 on a second surface 50b of the mold 50 corresponding at least partially with the protrusions 51; and introducing in step B a composite melt mass comprising thermoplastic polymer and natural fibers to the mold 50 in a space between the first surface 50a of the mold 50 and the second surface 50b of the mold 50 to form the fretboard 20, such that the orientation of the natural fibers follows contours of the first surface 50a of the mold 50 and the second surface 50b of the mold 50 in longitudinal direction of the fretboard 20.
The natural fibers following the contours of said surfaces 50a, 50b, improves strength of the fretboard 20, and improves the sound of the fretboard 20. This also allows a fretboard 20 comprising fret slots 21 and lateral reinforcing tabs 22 to be manufactured, such that the natural fibers of the fretboard 20 are intact. In previously known solutions, the fibers are cut in regions of fret slots, which damages the structural integrity and sound of the fretboard 20.
This method also reduces the throughput time of fretboard 20 manufacturing significantly and increases the accuracy of the manufacturing. The method also improves the working conditions of the manufacturers and improves occupational safety of the manufacturing process.
The steps illustrated in the flow chart require a mold 50 for the fretboard 20. An embodiment of the mold 50 is illustrated in
By injecting the composite melt mass from one end of the mold 50, the fibers of the composite melt mass are aligned in longitudinal direction of the fretboard 20, and the fibers follow the contours of the first surface 50a and the second surface 50b of the mold 50.
Preferably, the second surface 50b of the mold 50 is positioned opposite of the first surface 50a of the mold 50, the second surface 50b and the first surface 50a facing each other.
Preferably, a distance between the first surface 50a of the mold 50 and the second surface of the mold 50 in region of each detent 52 is arranged to be at least as great as a distance between the first surface 50a of the mold 50 and the second surface 50b of the mold 50 outside of said regions. This dimensioning ensures that the properties of the fretboard 20 are as intended, and that the curing of the fretboard 20 is even.
Preferably, the composite melt mass comprises from 20 to 60 weight percent of natural fibers, more preferably from 35 to 55 weight percent of natural fibers. In this range, the flow properties of the composite melt mass are most suitable for manufacturing of the fret board 20.
It is to be understood that the above description and the accompanying figures are only intended to illustrate the present invention. It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that the invention can be varied and modified without departing from the scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20235414 | Apr 2023 | FI | national |
