Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
  • G10D—STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACCORDIONS OR CONCERTINAS; PERCUSSION MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; AEOLIAN HARPS; SINGING-FLAME MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G10D3/00—Details of, or accessories for, stringed musical instruments, e.g. slide-bars
  • G10D3/14—Tuning devices, e.g. pegs, pins, friction discs or worm gears
  • G10D3/147—Devices for altering the string tension during playing
  • G10D3/153—Tremolo devices

Definitions

• the individual saddles of the present tremolo apparatus incorporate first and second elements thereon, the first element being adapted to have a guitar string passed thereunder, and the second element being spaced rearwardly from the first and being adapted to have the string passed thereover. Tl e string then enters a ball-end receptacle on the tremolo plate.
• the string is held downwardly on the intonation point of the saddle even at the extreme up ward -pivoted angle of the tremolo plate, yet the saddle is firmly clamped down on the tremolo plate without need for any clamping screws.
• the down clamping is effected by the second or rearward element, which cooperates with the string and ball-end seat to prevent the saddle from lifting off the tremolo plate, twisting about its longitudinal axis, or otherwise becoming maladjusted.
• the set screws of the saddle seat in grooves in the tremolo plate and that it is important that at least one such set screw remain in its groove so that the saddle will be properly laterally located and the strings will be spaced the desired distance apart.
• Fig. 1 is an enlarged isometric view showing one of the saddles and an associated string extended thereover;
• Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view, taken longitudinally of the neck of the guitar, and illustrating two positions of a tremolo apparatus incorporating the present invention.
• the present tremolo apparatus is incorporated in a conventional guitar, one classic guitar being shown by Fender patent 2,741,146, which is hereby incor ⁇ porated by reference herein.
• the neck and head of the guitar are also conventional, reference being made to patent 4,204,679, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
• the nut is, however, not that of patent 4,204,679, but instead the clamping nut of U.S. patent application Serial No. 697,220, filed January 31, 1985, for Clamping Nut & Method, inventors Charles A. Gressett, Jr., and John F. Page. Said application is hereby incorporated by referenced herein.
• the guitar has a wooden body 10, a portion of which is shown in Fig.
• such body having a large recess 11 in the upper side thereof in order to receive portions of the tremolo apparatus.
• the recess is so shaped that there are suitable lands on one of which seats a pivot block 12, such block being anchored to the body of the guitar by fasteners, not shown.
• a V-groove 13 is provided in the outer side of pivot block 12 to receive a knife blade 14 that is anchored in the tremolo plate 15.
• Such plate 15 extends rearwardly from blade 14 and terminates at an upstanding flange 16.
• the tremolo plate seats six saddle elements for the six-stringed conven ⁇ tional guitar, so that most elements described below are duplicated six times in side-by-side relationship.
• three such saddles are preferably "left” and three "right”.
• the three adjacent saddles on one side of a vertical plane containing the longitudinal axis of the guitar are mirror images — relative to said plane — of the three adjacent saddles on the other side of such vertical plane.
• the shapes are preferably such that saddle heads 21, described below, extend laterally toward said vertical plane from the saddle shanks 20.
• a single screw . 5 18 for each saddle Projected forwardly through an oversized hole in flange 16 is a single screw . 5 18 for each saddle, the screw being threaded into an internally-threaded bore 19
• Fig. 1 in a shank portion 20 of the saddle.
• the saddle also has a large, integral, laterally-extending head portion 21, shown at the right in Figs. 1 and 2.
• the 15 screw 23 is pointed, and fits in a V-groove at the upper-forward portion of tremolo plate 15.
• the other (unshown) set screw is relatively flat on the bottom and seats on a wide, smooth groove, the result being that the association between the pointed set screw 23 and V-groove 26 is what determines the lateral position of the saddle.
• the longitudinal position of the saddle, to change the intonation, is determined solely by rotation of the single screw 18 to move the saddle closer to or farther away from flange 16.
• a helical compression spring 27 is mounted around the shank of screw 18, between flange 16 and the rear end of saddle shank 20, to maintain the saddle spaced away from flange 16 to the maximum extent
• the strmg 22 passes over the forward edge of the saddle at a region between the two set screws, this being the intonation point and numbered 28. Then, the string passes rearwardly below a first horizontal member 30 that, in the illustrated embodiment, projects laterally from shank 20 and is preferably
• the string 22 bends upwardly over a second horizontal member 31, which is disposed between member 30 and the rear end of the shank 20.
• the second horizontal member 31 is
• the ball end 34 passes downwardly through an opening 32 in the tremolo plate, following which the ball end is moved forwardly beneath a notch 33 in such plate, the size of the notch being insufficiently large to permit upward passage of the balL
• the angle of the string portion between intonation point 22 and the ball end vary in accordance with the longitudinal position of the saddle. In the present apparatus, on the other hand, such angle is constant, because the location of the first horizontal member 30 is fixed relative to the location of the intonation point 28.
• a very important function of the second horizontal member, number 31, is to prevent the saddle from twisting or lifting off the bridge plate 15.
• Such member 31 cooperates with the string portion between it and the ball end, and with the ball end and the seat for the ball end, to hold the saddle down, even when the bridge plate 15 is pivoted upwardly to an extreme position shown in dashed lines in Fig. 2.
• the bottom of set screw 23 remains seated in its groove 26, and there is no twisting or tilting (rotation of the saddle generally about its horizontal axis).
• the tilting of the bridge plate 15, that is to say, the pivotal movement thereof at the junction between knife blade 14 and the V-groove 13 in pivot block 12, is effected by a tremolo handle shown, in part, at 36.
• the force exerted by the string 22 and other strings is counterbalanced by spring means 37 that is suitably anchored at a forward region of the guitar body and that extends rearwardly to a downwardly-extending crank 38, the latter being fixedly secured (as by screws or welds, not shown) to the underside of the bridge plate 15.
• Adjustment means, not shown, are provided to vary the tension of the spring means 37.
• the preferred adjustment means is described and illustrated in co- pending patent application Serial No.
• first horizontal member 30 By causing the first horizontal member 30 to be somewhat larger, it may be internally threaded and a fine-timing screw threaded downwardly there- through.
• fine-tuning screw may have, at the lower end of its shank, a freely .rotatable member the bottom surface of which is provided with a groove to receive the string.
• fine tuning may also be effected.

Landscapes

• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Stringed Musical Instruments (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=24800291

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Families Citing this family (3)

Family Cites Families (3)

• 1986
  • 1986-01-28 EP EP86901214A patent/EP0210255A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1986-01-28 AU AU53938/86A patent/AU5393886A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1986-01-28 WO PCT/US1986/000185 patent/WO1986004713A1/en unknown

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events