Patent Application
20090152143
The invention relates to cases for folding guitars.
Today, it also low ever before. Accordingly, they are engaged at a relatively great amount of travel. Many individuals enjoy playing the guitar and often travel with their guitar.
However, a guitar is a relatively large instrument and traveling with a full-size guitar is not often practical. Accordingly, folding guitars have been developed for the purpose of providing an instrument which may be easily move from one place to another, whether by car, train or aircraft.
Stringed instruments have been known since ancient times. These included such instruments as the lute, a guitar-like instrument with a sound box and fingerboard. A New Kingdom (ancient Egypt, 1380 BC) bronze in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art depicts a dancing Nubian raised on his toes with one knee cocked, left hand high working a fingerboard and right hand plucking the strings in a pose which might be illustrative of a modern rock musician.
But the lute has a much more ancient history, perhaps originating with West Semitic nomadic people who brought the instrument to Mesopotamia, where the archaeological record includes representations dating back to the Akkadian period (2350 to 2170 B.C.), being introduced to the Egyptians, perhaps at the end of the Middle Kingdom Hyksos dynasties (XV to XVII dynasty, 1730 to 1580 B.C.).
In more recent times, stringed lute-like musical instruments continue to be among the most popular instruments. Folk artists throughout the United States have used the guitar, sometimes one of the homemade variety, in a wide range of musical genres including blues, bluegrass, and so forth.
In contrast to percussive instrumentation, the need for amplification of the relatively weak sounds of strings, reeds, and vibrating human lips presented challenges to early musical instrument manufacturers. These challenges were met primarily by resonant systems that mechanically concentrate, and output musical sound. There is a demanding standard in the stability of the instrument if high-quality sound is to be produced.
Moreover, over the years, artists playing acoustic stringed instruments have introduced a wide variety of playing techniques into the music surrounding these instruments. While, perhaps, the ancients only plucked the strings of the lute to achieve a musical tone which gradually decayed, later artists used the bow to produce notes of relatively constant and somewhat controllable amplitude. Modern artists employ a variety of techniques in their performances. Acoustic blues performers may rap their instruments with fingertips, palms or knuckles. Certain violin compositions, typically played by having a horsehair bundle slide across the strings, also call for the strings to be plucked. This results in yet greater demands being put on the mechanical stability of the instrument.
Given the popularity of stringed musical instruments, especially the guitar, people often take them along when traveling. However, they are bulky and poorly suited to convenient transport. They are unlikely to fit into airlines stowaway spaces or under airline seats. In response to this need, guitars with folding necks have been proposed. See for example my earlier U.S. Design Pat. No. 516,114, and my earlier pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/640,095, filed Dec. 15, 2006. While this instrument is effective, it is difficult to make requiring significant handwork and fine tuning.
Accordingly, there is a need for a stringed instrument which may be a guitar, violin or the like and which is easy to use during a performance, consistent, and rigorous in its transduction of artistic interpretations into an acoustic or other performance and easily transportable. It is believed that the structure disclosed herein is a most effective solution in providing for a highly mobile instrument which may be accommodated to a range of user preferences.
In accordance with the invention, a case which may accommodate a folding guitar, whether it is in the. told edition or any unfolded playing position is provided.
The inventive guitar case comprises a guitar body receiving case portion, a guitar body portion cover and a neck portion case top. A neck portion case bottom and a neck portion case sidewall off further provided. A top neck zipper portion secures the neck portion case top to the neck portion case sidewall. A bottom neck zipper portion secures the neck portion case bottom to the neck portion case sidewall. A zipper portion secures the guitar body portion cover to the guitar body receiving case portion.
The operation of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:
Referring to a
A neck top cover 20 is also secured by zipper 16. A neck bottom cover 22 it secured by a zipper 24. Guitar case 10 also includes a neck side portion 26.
If one desires to open the inventive case 10, neck top cover 20 is opened and engaged by grasping zipper pull 28 and advancing it to point 30. The zipper pull 32 is advanced to point 34. This allows the inventive guitar case to be put into a position with its top cover 12 open as illustrated in
If desired, zipper pull 32 may be moved from the position illustrated in phantom lines an
In accordance with the preferred embodiment, zipper pulls 28 and 32 may be moved in either direction. In similar fashion, hook connector 44 may be brought into contact with loop connector 46 after zipper 24 has been opened, causing neck side portion 26 to lie flat as illustrated in
By providing a separate zipper for neck top cover 20, the inventive guitar case 10 may be put in the configuration illustrated in
Still yet another alternative embodiment of the inventive guitar case is illustrated in
It may also be opened so that it may be put into a configuration suitable for a folded guitar by opening as illustrated in
As illustrated in
In accordance with the present invention, it is contemplated that a guitar in the position illustrated in solid lines in
When the guitar is fully folded, with its neck in the position illustrated at 214a, it fits into the guitar case when guitar case 10 is put in the position illustrated in
In accordance with the invention, it is contemplated that zippers in all embodiments may be zippers which operate in two directions, for added functionality.
