The present invention relates to electrical transducers and more particularly to the positioning of an electrical transducer on the bass bar of the violin family of acoustical instruments. For purposes of this application, the violin family includes the violin, the viola, the cello, and the upright bass or double bass. It is to be understood that the present invention has application to any stringed instrument employing a bridge on which musical strings are disposed, and is further adapted to receive a bass bar in the interior of the instrument.
The purpose of the electrical transducer to be employed with the aforementioned instruments is to amplify the sound of the instrument. Without sound amplification, various sounds are not heard while a group of instruments is playing anywhere from a concert hall, an outdoor venue or a noisy drinking establishment with live music for example.
Sound amplification devices employed with stringed musical instruments of the type discussed are well known. None of these devices have been employed in such a fashion where they have been secured inside the instrument on the bass bar.
In the present invention an electrical transducer is used to translate the vibrations of the acoustical musical instrument being played into an electrical signal. This electrical signal is then used to amplify the sound of the acoustic musical instrument. For the purposes of this invention, the electrical transducer may be also referred to as a pickup. There are several types of well known electrical transducers used in the musical industry. When an electrical transducer is referred to, it is to be understood that any electrical transducer which has the capability to change vibration to an electrical signal is being referred to. Additionally, wireless electrical transducers are also considered to be viable in this invention.
The present invention comprises the placement of an electrical transducer on the bass bar on any of the Violin Family of instruments including a violin, viola, cello and upright bass. The present invention may also be employed with the recently constructed Octet developed primarily under the direction of American luthier Carleen Hutchins The Octet includes the following eight stringed instruments: a treble violin, a soprano violin, a mezzo violin, a tenor violin, a baritone violin, a small bass violin, and a contrabass violin. In the worldwide musical community, the aforementioned stringed instruments may go by other names, designations or slang terms; one example of such a stringed instrument called by another name would be the fiddle. It is to be understood that the present invention contemplates the placement of an electrical transducer on any musical instrument which has a bass bar, whatever such musical instrument may be called.
The placement of the electrical transducer on the bass bar may vary for an optimum signal to be generated. Additionally, each instrument may have its own “sweet spot” on the bass bar for transducer placement. This invention in no way limits where on the bass bar that the electrical transducer may be placed for any instrument. There may be a position on the bass bar that would give a desirable signal for a musician which may not give a perfect audio reproduction of the instrument.
In the future, designers of devices which produce music may produce such currently unknown musical instrument that includes a bass bar as one of the components. If such a musical instrument is created or designed it is anticipated that the current invention would be able to be mounted on the bass bar in such a fashion that the future acoustic instrument will be able to be amplified.
There are several advantages to using an electrical transducer on the bass bar. One is that there is an ease of installation compared to the transducer being inlaid into the top of the instrument in a position under the bridge foot, or inlaid into the bass bar. Additionally, placing the electrical transducer on the bass bar gives better tonal reproduction. The harmonic content of an electrical transducer placed on the bass bar better matches the harmonic content of a non-amplified musical instrument.
In
Referring now to
The invention centers around the placement of an electrical transducer 30 on the bass bar 20. Although the electrical transducer is shown roughly on the center of the bass bar 20, the invention does not limit the placement to this location. The electrical transducer 30 may be closer to the lower bout 45, just as it may be closer to the upper bout 80. Just for clarity, the electrical transducer 30 would not be mounted anywhere other than on the bass bar 20, the last sentence merely gives a sense of range of where that placement may be. In
Referring specifically now to the elements 23 on the bass bar 20, one must recognize that the bass bar 20 is not a linear piece of wood. Near the distal and proximal ends of the bass bar 20, the bass bar 20 extends upwardly from the top inside surface 10 of the violin by a small but measurable amount. The black parabolic shadings 23 on the bass bar 20 as we move from the distal and proximal ends of the bass bar 20 towards the center, show how the height of the bass bar 20 extends upwardly and increases to a maximum generally quite near the center of the bass bar. This is merely a conventional bass bar 20 and this small discussion merely demonstrates what the parabolic shadings 23 indicate.
In the embodiment shown in
In the embodiment shown in
The electrical transducer 30 as shown in
Additionally, it has been considered that a wireless electrical transducer may be mounted on the bass bar 20. It may be similarly shielded as the ceramic piezo transducer; however, this is merely an example and in no way is limiting. Different shielding may be utilized if desired.
The electrical transducer 30 may be connected to the bass bar 20 in any of a variety of ways. Materials which are highly viscous may be employed. Such materials would mate the electrical transducer 30 to the bass bar 20, but at the same time may remain viscous. These materials may include clay, putty, butyl putty, tape, moldable plastics, wood-particle and adhesive compositions and the like. Although not employed in the primary embodiment of the invention, any of the entire family of wood glues have been considered to be with in the scope of this invention. Again, the present invention may employ such attachment means for attaching the electrical transducer 30 to the bass bar 20, but it in no way is limited to such attachment materials or additional attachment materials. If employed, the wireless electrical transducer may be mounted in a similar fashion as discussed above, or by any known attachment means which permits the greatest sound reproduction quality available.
It is to be understood that the preceding is merely a detailed description of the invention, and that alterations to the disclosed invention can be made in accordance with the disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The preceding description is not meant to limit the scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is to be determined by the appended claims and their equivalents.