Patent Application
20090007753
The present invention relates to a practice mute, and more particularly to a practice mute for string instruments that is formed by combining a primary unit and at least one secondary unit embedded in the primary unit.
It is known a string instrument produces sound by means of vibrating a plurality of strings, and the vibration of strings is amplified via a sound box provided on a body of the string instrument. Conventionally, a bridge is located immediately on a top of the sound box. Strings are caused to pass through a top of the bridge, so that the bridge functions as a medium for transferring sound wave. When performing in a somewhat narrow space or doing practicing, a string instrument player would usually attach a mute to the bridge to damp the vibration of the strings, so as to lower the volume of produced sound.
As it is known among the string instrument players, it is troublesome to attach the conventional mute to the bridge, and the bridge tends to become damaged when the mute attached thereto is too tight or too heavy.
The conventional practice mute 10 is usually made of a metal material to provide better sound-absorbing effect. However, the metal-made practice mute 10 is heavy and tends to damage the bridge. There are also rubber-made practice mutes having a largely reduced weight to avoid damaging the bridge. However, the rubber-made practice mutes are less effective in sound-absorbing.
Therefore, it is desirable to develop a practice mute that on the one hand has reduced weight and on the other hand provides good sound-absorbing effect to overcome the drawbacks in the conventional practice mutes.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a practice mute for string instruments that has reduced weight and provides improved sound-absorbing effect.
To achieve the above and other objects, the practice mute for string instruments according to the present invention includes a primary unit and at least one secondary unit. The primary unit is provided at a lower side with a groove in parallel with an axial direction of the primary unit, so that the primary unit may straddle a bridge of a string instrument with the groove engaged with a top of the bridge. The primary unit is also provided at the lower side with a plurality of recesses perpendicular to the axial direction of the primary unit, allowing strings of the string instrument to extend through the primary unit via the recesses. Part of the material of the primary unit at a predetermined position is removed to format least one cavity or chamber in or on the primary unit for receiving or embedding the secondary unit therein, so that the primary and the secondary unit together form an integral body.
The primary unit is preferably made of a rubber material. Part of the rubber material at a predetermined position inside or on an exterior of the primary unit is removed to form a cavity or a chamber, in which the secondary unit is received or imbedded. The secondary unit is preferably made of a metal material.
By combining the rubber-made primary unit and the metal-made secondary unit, the practice mute of the present invention may have a reduced overall weight, and provide improved sound-absorbing effect.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
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In another operable embodiment of the present invention, the primary unit 20 is made of a rubber material to possess a relatively high flexibility. In this case, it is not necessary to remove part of the material of the primary unit 20. In stead, the secondary unit 30 is directly embedded in the primary unit 20 to form an integral body.
In designing the practice mute for string instruments according to the present invention, the following points are taken into consideration:
The practice mute of the present invention has simplified structure for easy fixing to a top of the bridge 42 of the string instrument 40. The secondary unit 30 may be received in the cavity or chamber 23 formed inside or on the primary unit 20, or be directly embedded in the rubber material of the primary unit 20, so that the completed practice mute for string instruments according to the present invention provides relatively improved sound-absorbing effect and has reduced overall weight, and can be more easily fixed to the top of the bridge 42. Moreover, the practice mute of the present invention also shows a spatial form different from that of conventional mutes for string instruments.
The present invention has been described with a preferred embodiment thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
