Patent Application
20130247744
Learning how to play a stringed instrument can be very challenging, musical compositions are often comprised of a complex series of hand, arm and finger movements. The person playing a stringed instrument needs to be in control of both hands/fingers; one hand and its fingers is used to shape the tone(s), note(s) or chord(s) by pressing down the string(s) against the fret(s) of a fretboard (also referred to as a fingerboard) and the other hand is used to make the strings vibrate via plucking, strumming or bowing. Timing and a firm and correct positioning of the hand and fingers shaping the tone(s)/note(s)/chord(s) using the string vs. fret interaction is needed to allow for pure tones to be generated.
More and more instructional videos on how to play a stringed instrument and certain musical compositions are also available on the internet; one drawback with these instructional videos is that it sometimes is very hard to distinguish between which strings are being used/pressed down when the musical composition is being played.
Also, musicians performing on stage or in a music video often seek to use lighting effects associated with their style of music and their style of play to further enhance the visual experience for an audience.
Musical instruments not having frets, like a violin or a cello, are very difficult instruments to learn and one major reason is that these instruments are lacking an indication on where to place the fingers while playing to achieve the right tone or pitch.
Various solutions to facilitate the learning process and make it easier to master stringed instruments have been suggested in the art. Examples of such solutions are US 2007/0113720 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,981 but these are complex solutions that can be both difficult to manufacture and expensive to employ. At the same time these and other solutions can have a negative effect on the tactile feel of the instrument.
Therefore, there is room for improvement and to provide a stringed instrument with a non-expensive and intuitive way of adding instructional functionality and visual effects without impairing the feel and function of said instrument.
It is a general objective to provide a stringed instrument with light emitting members that are activated/lit by pressing down the strings of said instrument against the frets of said instrument.
The above and other objects are obtained by the invention which provides a stringed instrument with an electric circuit comprised of an electrical conductor (referred to as the fret conductor) in electrical contact with the frets (capable of transmitting electric current) of said instrument, one or several power sources, light emitting members (in one embodiment light emitting diodes, LEDs, without integrated resistors), one or several resistors when said resistors are needed to limit the current to the light emitting members, electrical conductors connecting together the different components of the invention and finally the strings (capable of transmitting electric current) of said stringed instrument. Once a string and fret connected to said circuit touches an electrical pathway is created and the light emitting member(s) associated with this specific string is lit.
A vast majority of frets mounted in/on stringed instruments are made of a metallic material and since many strings of stringed instruments (for instance the strings on an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar with steel strings) are also made of a metallic material both the fret and the string naturally has the natural capability of transmitting electric current. Therefore, in many cases neither the frets nor the strings need to be modified from their original form to be electrically conductive elements in the electric circuit when said circuit is closed by the string vs. fret interaction.
From a value proposition stand point, the invention offers an intuitive learning tool and a cost effective way for a person playing a stringed instrument to visualize how he or she is manipulating the strings while playing the stringed instrument. It also creates an increased expressiveness of music played on a stringed instrument, preferably when playing the stringed instrument in front of a live audience or performing in a music video.
Also, the invention offers anyone learning to play a musical composition or note patterns a fun way of training his/her upper hand finger timing via the visual feedback from the light emitting members.
The invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be best understood by making reference to the following descriptions together with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to the drawings,
Once the person playing the instrument presses down on any of the instrument's strings 8 and hereby creating an electrical pathway between the string 8 and the fret 2 (capable of transmitting electric current) the light emitting member 7 connected to this very string is lit, hereby indicating what string(s) are used by the musician when said string(s) are pressed down against the fret(s) 2 mounted in the fretboard 3 while playing the instrument. It is important to realize that if a string is played in an open style, i.e. plucking or strumming but not pressing down the string against the fretboard, the light emitting member associated with this string is not lit.
Preferably each string 8 of the stringed instrument has at least one specific light emitting member associated with it. If multiple strings of the instrument are pressed down against the fretboard 3 all light emitting members associated with these strings will light up at the same time.
The relative position of the power source 5, resistors 6 and light emitting members 7 in the circuit is of no importance for the invention to work.
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The electrical conductors 4 linking together the different components of the invention can be fed into the stringed instrument to make them non-visible to the person playing the stringed instrument via drilled holes or milled cavities made in the body of said instrument during manufacturing of the instrument. The same hiding principle applies to the power source 5 and the electrically resistive elements; they can all be hidden on the inside of said instrument by means of positioning them in an already existing cavity or one that is specifically created for said components, for instance but not limited to a cavity in the neck of said instrument. Another way of hiding the components of the circuit, except the light emitting members, would be to place them on a surface of the stringed instruments that is totally or in large portions non-visible to the person playing the instrument or the person viewing the instrument from a spectator position. Yet another way of hiding the components would be to place them in a small container arbitrarily located on or inside said instrument. The power source/battery package and the resistors could, in one arrangement, easily be fitted on the inside of an acoustic guitar using Velcro tape.
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As already pointed out the strings 8 of the stringed instrument needs to be made of an electrically conductive material, preferably a metallic material or a combination of metallic materials. An electrically conductive polymer material or a polymer having a metal coating is another example of a possible conductive string material.
The power source 5 can also be expanded to comprise two or more batteries in electrical connection, for instance but not limited to button cell batteries or AA batteries connected in series. In one arrangement two 1.5 Volt AA batteries are connected in series and for example used together with 30 mA LEDs without integrated resistors and near 100Ω metal film resistors individually connected to said LEDs. If multiple power sources are used they can also be installed at different locations in the circuit.
The light emitting members can be arbitrarily positioned on the body of the stringed instrument, underneath the strings, above the opening of an acoustic guitar mounted on a separate component and even inside the sound hole of an acoustic guitar. In one arrangement the light emitting members are placed in a semi-circular pattern just outside the sound hole of an acoustic guitar. In yet another arrangement the light emitting members are connected to the upper part of a flexible tube, hereby allowing the person playing the instrument to freely position the light emitting members which also may be installed in an array.
If the saddle or bridge are made from electrically conductive materials the strings needs to be isolated from one another by covering them with an electrical isolator, for instance a sleeve/tubing made from soft polyamide or by means of applying a polymer coating to a portion of the string where it contacts the bridge and saddle.
The light emitting members 7, 18 can all have different colors, for example one individual color for each string. The light emitting members could also be used to illuminate numerical numbers {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} or letters {E, A, D, G, B, E}.
When a light emitting member 7, 18, is flickering or only partially lit this indicates that a clean tone is hard to achieve and indicates to the person playing the instrument that a better grip or hand or finger placement is needed.
Optical fibers can be used together with the light emitting members to further enhance the visual effect, directing the light away from the light emitting members 7 to arbitrary locations on the stringed instrument.
The light emitting members 7 can also be used to light up a transparent or semi-transparent piece of décor/drawing/picture installed in front of them, hereby creating another type of visual effect.
One way of connecting the strings 8 to the circuit would be to connect the strings before they enter the bridge or saddle or in between said components, for instance by means of soldering or mechanically clamping the string 8 and an electrical conductor 4 linking together the string and the light emitting member. Another way would be to intertwine the string 8 and electrical conductor 4 and clamp them together inside the bridge.
An on/off switch can be integrated into the invention to allow the person playing to decide whether or not the invention shall be in an activated or de-activated state, in the de-activated state the light emitting members will not be lit when the string 8 and the fret 2 touches.
The invention is preferably installed during the manufacturing of the stringed instrument, it can also be provided as a separate retrofitted system.
It is possible to use flashing LED circuits together with the invention.
In one embodiment an external power source can be used to provide power to the electrical circuit, hence making the power source/battery 5 superfluous.
Various changes could be made by those skilled in the art to the above mentioned arrangements and embodiments, circuit layouts, relative positions/number of components and methods of joining together said components and structures of the invention. Two such examples of joining together components or structures are different types of snap fittings or crimp bonds. Another example is to use an electrically conductive material with a high enough electrical resistivity for the strings, saddle or bridge so that no added electrically resistive elements are needed when the current flowing through the light emitting members needs to be limited. One such example is strings made from NiChrome alloy wire. It is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be viewed upon in a non-limiting sense.
