Pick-up assembly for stringed musical instruments

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6414233
  • Patent Number
    6,414,233
  • Date Filed
    Tuesday, February 20, 2001
    23 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, July 2, 2002
    22 years ago
Abstract
A pick-up assembly for a stringed musical instrument includes first and second identical pick-ups in respective housings. The first pick-up is positioned toward strings of the instrument and the second pick-up is positioned toward inside of the instrument. The first and second pick-ups are attached back to back with a hard rubber sound suppressing material sandwiched between the back of the two housings. The sound suppressing material has the same size as the back of the housing. The second pick-up is grounded with a metal wire.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The invention is related to pick-ups for stringed musical instruments such as guitars and, more particularly, to a pick-up assembly having two pick-ups with a sound suppressing material.




2. Background Art




There has been a problem with musical instrument pick-ups and amplifiers for many years in slab body type guitars and string musical instruments. When people started coming out to hear musical concerts in large numbers, musicians started turning the volume up on their instruments, so that all the people in the back row could hear them. The instruments started picking up harmonics and sound waves not pleasing to the human ear. The manufacturers started building slab or solid body instruments to help eliminate the undesired tones. To make the sounds more perfect the tones should be eliminated. The invention addresses this problem, and eliminates the need for solid body instruments, for those who do not like the harsh sound of a solid body instrument. The invention will solve this problem.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The broad purpose of this invention is to improve the tone of musical instruments by eliminating undesired frequencies or notes, and tones before they are amplified by pick-ups and amplifiers.




Guitars and instruments that have electrical pick-ups have problems. The pick-up or string amplifier, amplifies all sound waves that hit the string pick-up. This invention will suppress that sound wave that strike the string pick-up from the backside and will eliminate the sound wave thereby eliminating the need for solid body instruments.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

illustrates a drawing of the Humbucking pick-up and housing used on instruments today;





FIG. 2

illustrates a pick-up assembly attached to a stringed musical instrument such as a guitar in accordance with the invention;





FIG. 3

illustrates a sound suppressing material in a cavity underneath the under side of a pick-up of the pick-up assembly in accordance with the invention;





FIG. 4

illustrates a wire attached by soldering to each pick-up and grounded to the shield of the wires running to the main amplifier and electrical system of a pick-up of the pick-up assembly in accordance with the invention; and





FIG. 5

illustrates the top of the guitar and the pick-up assembly shown in FIG.


2


.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)




Referring to

FIG. 1

, a pick-up and tuner amplifier


5


is shown. Pick-up


5


is a Humbuckler pick-up tuner and includes a housing, big E string pick-up


10


, big E string


11


, A string pick-up


12


, D string pick-up


14


, D string


15


, G string pick-up


16


, G string


17


, B string pick-up


18


, B string


19


, E string pick-up


20


, E string


21


, big E string side of the housing and pick-up, housing bracket screwed to the guitar


22


and little E string side of the bridge and pick-up screwed to the guitar


23


.




Referring to

FIG. 2

, a pick-up assembly


50


in accordance with the invention is shown. Pick-up assembly


50


includes two like pick-ups


5


and


6


. Pick-ups


5


and


6


are attached back to back to the underside of the other respective pick-up. Second pick-up


5


includes big E string pick-up 2


nd


tuner pick-up


24


, A string pick-up


25


, D string pick-up


26


, G string pick-up


27


, B string pick-up


28


, and little E string pick-up


29


. First and second pick-ups


5


and


6


of pick-up assembly


50


are attached back to back with screws, glue, or the like. As shown in FIG.


2


and with reference to

FIG. 5

, first pick-up


5


faces the strings of musical instrument


8


and second pick-up faces interior


40


of the musical instrument. One of first and second pick-ups


5


and


6


is tuned to zero amplification, or is grounded out through a shielded wire that returns to a power source.




Referring to

FIG. 3

, a piece of material such as lead or any sound suppressing material


7


within the housing of a pick-up such as pick-up


5


is shown. Sound suppressing material


7


is a hard rubber material or the like which is sized to fit the cavity in the housing of pick-up


5


. Sound suppressing material


7


is attached to the underside of the housing of pick-up


5


. The thickness of sound suppressing material


7


is determined by the material used.




Referring to

FIG. 4

, a conductive wire


41


attaching elements


10


,


12


,


14


,


16


,


18


and


20


of pick-up


5


together for grounding undesired frequencies or notes is shown.




Referring to

FIG. 5

, the of the guitar cavity showing the bridge housing is shown. Guitar


8


includes a bridge


32


, a tail piece and bridge


33


, and a tuner housing and pick-up


5


facing away from exterior surface


9


of guitar


8


. Second pick-up


6


of pick-up assembly


50


is contained within interior


40


of guitar


8


underneath first pick-up


5


in accordance with the invention.



Claims
  • 1. A pick-up assembly for a stringed musical instrument comprising:a first pick-up in a housing, the first pick-up being positioned toward strings of the instrument; and a second identical pick-up in a housing, the second pick-up being positioned toward inside of the instrument; wherein the first pick-up and the second pick-up are attached back to back with a hard rubber sound suppressing material sandwiched between the back of the two housings, the sound suppressing material having the same size as the back of the housing, and the second pick-up being grounded with a metal wire.
  • 2. A pick-up assembly for a stringed musical instrument comprising:a first pick-up in a housing, the first pick-up being positioned toward strings of the instrument; and a second pick-up in a housing, the second pick-up being positioned toward inside of the instrument; wherein the first pick-up and the second pick-up are attached back to back with a rubber sound suppressing material sandwiched between the back of the two housings.
  • 3. The pick-up assembly of claim 2 wherein:the first pick-up and the second pick-up are identical.
  • 4. The pick-up assembly of claim 2 wherein:the second pick-up is grounded.
  • 5. The pick-up assembly of claim 4 wherein:the second pick-up is grounded with a metal wire.
  • 6. A pick-up assembly for a stringed musical instrument comprising:a first pick-up in a housing, the first pick-up being positioned toward strings of the instrument; and a second pick-up in a housing, the second pick-up being positioned toward inside of the instrument; wherein the first pick-up and the second pick-up are attached back to back with a sound suppressing material sandwiched between the back of the two housings, wherein the sound suppressing material has the same size as the back of the two housings.
  • 7. The pick-up assembly of claim 6 wherein:the sound suppressing material includes a rubber sound suppressing material.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number Name Date Kind
3541219 Abair Nov 1970 A
4581974 Fender Apr 1986 A
5668520 Kinman Sep 1997 A