AU700686B2 - Guitar with deviations to straight fret architecture - Google Patents

Description

r WO 95/07528 PCT/AU94/00540 1.

GUITAR WITH DEVIATIONS TO STRAIGHT FRET ARCHITECTURE TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to the tuning of the conventional guitar or similar fret bearing stringed musical instrument which specifically encorporates the use of fixed standard right angle frets on the face of the instruments neck, the fretboard, with the frets as fundamental to the selection of the notes the instrument produces.

There is disclosed a measured deviation in the fret architecture for the purpose of improving the tuning accuracy of the instrument, principally within the "primary" or "first position" playing area of the fretboard (fig. 2.1-1 depicts this as the area of the fretboard contained within the first three frets adjacent to the fixed nut at the head of the instrument.

DISCUSSION OF BACKGROUND ART Conventional art provides a bridge which is located in the lower portion of the instrument, the body the strings are tensioned from fixing points over the bridge and across the full length of the fretboard then continuing over a fixed nut similar to a small bridge, finally being fixed to tuning keys located on the head Zo. of the instrument.

As is well documented in patents relevant to the art, the frequency of a note played on a fret bearing stringed musical instrument is determined by the distance between the aforementioned fret and the bridge, a point of permanent ZS. fixture of the string. In essence, the pitch of a string is dictated by its tension, thickness and length when picked or strummed.

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The conventional fretboard provides straight wire frets affixed parallel to each other at right angles to the length of the fretboard and positioned at diminishing intervals in the direction from the head to the body of the instrument.

S, The strings passing perpendicular over the conventional fretboard do so in an equidistant manner at each fret interval as a result of the straight and parallel positioning of said frets on the conventional fretboard of the instrument. The tuning of the conventional instrument constructed in this manner is termed "equal temperment tuning" a direct reference to the equal positioning of the fret intervals over which all the strings traverse on the fretboard of the conventional instrument.

Mass produced quantities of the guitar of various makes and tS. quality currently provide for the tuning of these instruments exclusively in equal temperment by way of the conventional fretting architecture embodied upon the fretbuard.

The invention of predetermined deviation to conventional fret architecture herein disclosed was born out of observing an inherent tuning flaw in the parallel right angle fretting arrangement of the conventional guitar consisting of a distinct pitch "sharpening" being apparent in correctly tuned instruments of various makes and quality, when application of two or more "fretted" notes, ie chords, were 2S. played simultaneously within the range of the first position referred to in the aforementioned technical field.

As this first position is the most common playing area of the fretboard, for the purpose of chord formation, by guitar players of various abilities, the pitch "sharpening" effect 3o. produced by conventional fretting detracts from the accuracy of the tuning and therefore also from the overall performance of the instrument.

It should be noted that discrepancies in tuning of fretted WO 95/07528 PCT/AU94/00540 3.

stringed musical instruments has long been problematic to performers of this type of instrument, with lutenists having been known centuries ago to "fine tune" their instruments prior to performances by adjustment of the gut string frets S. of the day which wore wrapped around the neck of the instrument and tied in place.

In 1829 a 30 page booklet of instructions accompanied the first fret adjustable guitar invented by Englishman, General T. Perronet Thompson. This instrument required specific to. refretting for each key the performer chose to play in, a very time consuming and complicated matter of interchanging a different fret for each note, with these frets fitting into pre-drilled holes in the fretboard. The impractical task of interchanging frets for each of the twelve keys in the iS. diatonic musical scale was further complicated by the performer having to sit in a mc-ner which did not allow the instrument to be tilted forward as the frets were unfortunately also prone to fall out of their positions.

In this century the first guitars to use unusual fretting were designed in 1920 by Mexican Julian Carillo and iin the 1930's by Alois Haba of Czechoslovakia. Both these were designed to achieve quarter tone intervals in the various scales and did not depart from straight and parallel fret architecture to achieve these tone intervals.

2. In 1940 American Harry Partch provided the first guitar which achieved the accuracy of tuning Thompson was seeking over a century earlier. Partch's instrument was designed to produce what is termed "Just Intonation", ie to play on the guitar pure intervals within the diatonic musical scale, though So. again the use of parallel and straight fret architecture formed the basis of the fretboard layout of Partch's guitar, S. varying only in the length and the positioning of the frets on the fretboard.

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American Tom Stone later borrowed from Partch's understanding that the offending tuning problems of equal temperament eminated only from the fretboard and in 1970 patented the Interchangeable Fret Board consisting of 12 metal fretting '$"templates" which were mounted on a magnetic guitar neck, thereby negating the need to inter::hange 12 guitars (one for each key) by now interchanging 12 fretboards. Each template still relied on the straight and parallel fret architecture, varying only in length and placement of the frets depending io. upon the particular musical key to be used in performance of the instrument.

At about the same time of Stone's invention, a German lutenist, Walter Vogt, devised the Fine Tuneable Precision Fretboard as his solution of the "out of tuneness" of equal temperament. This instrument functioned by way of each string of the instrument having a corresponding groove cut into the fretboard directly underlying each string, and each fret/string intersection comprising of a "IT" shape single fret piece positioned within the underlying grooves to each Zo, string, the frets being held in place by "10" rings and able to be repositioned so as to achieve the just intonation tuning for each of the 12 keys of the diatonic musical scale as required by the performer. Once again an exacting and I very time consuming process to undertake during performance ZS, of the instrument without incorporating twelve similar instruments individually pretuned to each key of the diatonic musical scale.

In 1989 American inventor Ralph Novak touched on the area of departing from conventional fret architecture with US Patent -3a. 4,852,450, however the basic design still relied on straight, though not parallel, fretting architecture with the object of a Novak's guitar to provide a different scale length.

Japanese patent 1-197792 once again varies from conventional IssClr~~4L ICa WO 95/07528 PCT/AU94/00540 art by reducing the length of the straight and parallel frets along the length of the fretboard though this effectively renders half of the strings without any frets at all and departs from conventional fret architecture again in S, length only.

US Patent 5,133,239 proposes a fret arrangement of the guitar in a manner providing an oblique like fretting arrangement eminating from the nut and extending longitudinally down towards the body of the guitar. Though departing from conventional fret architecture, the essence and objective is achieving a colouring or vibrato effect whereby the vibrato technique applied in playing of non fretbearing stringed instruments, eg the violin, can be adapted to the fretbearing instrument, ie the guitar, by means of the oblique fretting iG. arrangement. Fret architecture for the purpose of improving the tuning performance of the guitar is not a consideration of Rudolf Thomas in this invention as stated in his 1992 patent.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION The deviations in the frets herein disclosed directly 2o. counters the pitch "sharpening" in conventional art. This is achieved by departing from the straight line fret architecture at the pitch offending fret/string intersections within the first position playing area of the fretboard. The deviation in the frets at these offending fret/string Z. intersections provides for a measured "flattening" of the pitch of the notes produced at said intersections. By adjusting the form o lthi straight fret to provide a distinct shift in the fret/string intersection points in a direction away from the body and towards the head of the 0. instrument a lengtheninq of the string from the bridge to the new fret/string intersections directly results in the required flattening of pitch at said offending fret/string

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WO 95/07528 PCT/AU94/00540 6.

intersections. The restructuring of the frets that results in th z improved tuning qualities herein referred to are achieved at the positions indicated in Fig. 2 as i) the note "G SHARP" formed by finger pressure applied to S string number three of the instrument being the string which is tuned to the note of "G natural" of the diatonic musical scale. This finger pressure is applied to the string within the area (12) of the affixed nut and the first new fret/string intersection (13); ii)the note "C SHARP" formed by finger pressure applied to string number two of the instrument (14) being the string which is tuned to the note of "B natural" of the diatonic musical scale with this finger pressure t applied to the string within the area (15) of the first fret/string intersection and the second new fret/string intersection (16).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is an illustration of the face of a conventional string-fretted guitar as representative of the known art.

i. 2 is a compressed view of the Fig. 1 illustration taken at 2-2 bearing the fret deviations of this invention embodied within the primary playing position of the fretboard BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT OF THE INVENTION As is specifically referred to in the Disclosure, the optimum flattening effect of the offending fret/string intersections aZ. are rendered to said intersections at points (13) and (16) of fig. 2.

The amount of deviation at the aforementioned points of WO95/07528 PCT/AU94/00540 7.

fret/string intersections prov.ue an adjustment to pitch at these points (13) and (16) equal to one twelfth of a semitone of the diatonic scale, which is the direct result of the physical deviation from the conventional straight fret S. architecture.

The disclosed deviations at said new intersections of this invention reduces the distances between the conventional fret/string intersections and their respective preceding fixed points or next lowest notes, ie points (17) and (18) by iu a factor of 8.333 cents, being one twelfth the distance between the original conventional intervals of prior art.

Tha new frets with the measured deviation are affixed in the conventional manner by way of a preceding groove being cut into the face of the fretboard at the conventional points of these fret intervals specifically accommodating in shape to the two new frets subsequently affixed in position by a bonding agent in the conventional manner.

SUMMARY OF INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY OF INVENTION The introduction of new fretting architecture to the primary or first position playing area of the fretboard of the guitar 2o. herein disclosed requires minimal departure from current manufacturing and assembly procedure of conventional art as the invention directly involves minor measured reshaping of only two new frets coupled with corresponding grooves to be cut into the fretboard to accommodate the two new frets being 6S. mounted.

Application of the two new frets' to various guitars has shown that this invention significantly enhances the tuning i performance of even the most modest and inexpensive examples of the instrument.

Claims (2)

1. 7. (new). The musical stringed instrument according to claim 5 wherein: said linear member being configured to alter the musical notes of the strings intersecting the linear member by a factor; said curved portion being configured to alter the musical note of said one of said strings by a second factor, said second factor being said first factor flattened by up to about 1/12th of a semitone of diatonic musical scale (new) The musical stringed instrument according to claim 5 wherein: the musical note produced by said one of said strings intersecting said curved portion being G sharp altered by a factor up to about 1/12th of a semitone of diatonic musical scale,
2. 9. (new) The musical stringed instrument according to claim 5 wherein: the musical note produced by said one of said strings intersecting said curved portion being C sharp altered by a factor up to about 1/12th of a semitone of diatonic musical scale. 0 a (new) The musical stringed instrument according to claim 5 wherein: said curved portion of said fret is retrospectively affixed to said musical instrument. e o 0 0 (NEW) The musical stringed instrument according to claim 5 wherein: said linear member being configured to alter the musical notes of the strings intersecting the linear member by a factor, and; means which acts to alter the musical note of said at least one of said strings by a second factor; said second factor being said first factor altered by up to about 1/12th of a semitone of diatonic scale. ki-t