US2261358A - Pickup for electrical stringed musical instruments - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 4, 1941. w. L. FULLER PICKUP FOR ELECTRICAL STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed March 18, 1940 ATTORNEY.

INVENTOR. WALTER L. FULLEE BY W%@ V to Patented Nov. 4,- 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT- orrlce Walter L. Fuller, Kalamazoo, Micla,

assignor to Gibson, Inc., Kalamazoo, Micln, aoorpo'ration of. Michigan Application March 18, 1940, Serial No. 324,461

3 Claims. (Cl. 84-115) This invention relates to improvements in pickups for electrical stringed musical instruments.

The main objects of this invention are:

First, to. provide an improved magnetic pickup Ior electrical reproduction of the playing of stringed instruments which is compact and efiective in operation.

Second, to provide a pickup of the type described which is readily applicable to and detachable .trom stringed musical instruments of various types.

Third, to provide a pickup which can be mounted on or removed from an instrument with a minimum of difiiculty and which in mounted position thereon does not detract from the appearance of the instrument or handicap the playing thereof in the usual'man'ner.

Further objects of my invention will appear from the description to follow. The invention is defined in the claims. A structure embodying the features of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top view illustrating an instrument with-the pickup of my invention applied therein a position assumed thereby when mounted on the instrument, which is indicated in dotted lines.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in section on line 3-3 of Fig. 4, illustrating the construction and arrangement of the parts of the pickup and the relation thereof to the strings of the instrument.

to be effectively mounted on the exterior thereof in a simple manner so as to convert the conventional sound box bodied instrument into one for electrical amplification. To this end the de- Fig. 2 a perspective view illustrating the gen-f eral appearance of the pickup with the instrument resides in the details or constructionpi the pickup per se which render the same highly effective in operation though exceedingly compact in form. A still further and highly important feature is to provide a device having'these advantages which does not interfere with or handicap the player. 7

Referring to the drawing, reference numeral i indicates a guitar type instrument on which the pickup of my invention, generally designated 2, is mounted. This pickup comprises a housing or case i which is open at one end and has secured in the open end an insulated outlet block 4 affording a pair of connector sockets Ii for the reception of the prongs of a plug 6 on a cord 1 by which the pickup is connected to a suitable amplifier. A jack 8 is disposed on the other end of the cord for this purpose.

The socket connections 5 are connected to the ends oi! a coil 9 of fine wire, which is wound around an elongated laminated metal core ll encased in suitable insulating material H. The thus constituted elongated coil is disposed in the bottom half of the casing 3 and above the same I place an elongated magnetic bar i2. The coil and bar extend practically the entire length of the case I, as illustrated in Fig. 3, and are disposed beneath the strings II of the instrument in such manner that the variation in the intensity 0! the magnetic field oi the magnet, conventionally indicated by the dotted lines H in Fig. 4, sets up small electrical currents in the coil which are transmitted by the cord 1 to the amplifier and magnified therein. The amplifier is connected to a suitable loud speaker in a manner which will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

In order to enable the pickup to be readily mounted on the instrument, I secure the above described casing to a flexible fibrous or cloth strap ll, utilizing prongs l8 spot welded on the bottom of the housing or case 3 for this purpose. If desired, a protective strip of felt or other material ll may be secured beneath this strap so as to avoid any likelihood of scratching or marring the finish of the instrument. A suitable buckle I! attached to the strap enables the same to be vice to be hereinafter described is simple, compact in its parts,'and may bereadily applied and removed, and does not detract from the appearance of the instrument when in operative position thereon. Another aspect of the invention similarly fitted to an instrument of any type or size. Thus, in Fig. 1, I show the pickup attached to a guitar type instrument at the narrowest part of the\ girth thereof, 1. e., between the bridge and tret arm, and it will be appreciated that it may be atta'chedto any instrument.

In Fig. 5, I illustrate a modified embodiment of my invention, wherein the pickup 2 is spot welded to a bar it carried on a wire rod adjusting arm 19!. A clip 20 is adjustably slidable and securable with relation to arm I! in order to permit the desired spacing of the pickup lengthwise of the strings and I contemplate that this clip be removably attachable to the bridge of the instrument utilizing e wing nut 2| thereon for this purpose.

In the modification of Fig. 6, the pickup 2 is attached to the medial point of a clip member 22 which has 2. forked end provided with spring arms 2%. One of these arms may be inserted in the tone hole of instrument having such a tone hole directly beneath the strings thereof, the arms 23 irictionally gripping the wood of the top surface or smell of the lnstrucent body. The other extremity ii of the clip ill-is bent so as to rest on the at the opposite side of the tone hole from that with which the arms 23 are frlctionally engaged. The pickup 22 is spot welded to a cross bar '23 such manner as aud extend transversely of the st: 5.

In each or the pick 1 ing means .e above described modifications, s per se the same, the mountfor uni? varying, depending upon or the type of instrument yed. I find that a pickup I ted in Figs. 3 and i is extremely re? re since the disposition of the maguet l2 above and over the two sides of the elongated coil provides the some effect as two magnets the lines of force as indicated. The

- slightest vibration of the strings is efiective to set up currents in the coil which are faithfully representative in their intensity of the vibration occurring in the string, "whether it be bass or treble. The whole unitis exceedingly compact and proof against damage by mistreatment. It

may be assembled and removed in an instant and,'

being quite inexpensively produced, is available widely to convert the conventional instrument for electrical reproduction in a seconds time.

i lmmmsum I have illustrated and described my improvements in embodiments which are very practical. I have not attempted to illustrate or describe other embodiments which I contemplate as it is believed this disclosure will enable those skilled in the art to adapt my invention as may be desired.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an electrically amplified stringed musical instrument having a bridge and a pickup disposed transversely of the strings, means for adjustably mounting the pickup on the instrument for adiustment longitudinally of the strings, comprising a clip removably engageable with the bridge of the instrument, an arm extending longitudinally of the strings and secured to the pickup, and means for adjustably securing said arm to the clip to variably pQsitlon the pickup longitudinally of the strings.

2. In an electrically amplified stringed musical instrument having a bridge and a pickup disposed transversely of the strings, means for edjustably mounting hte pickup on the instrument for adjustment longitudinally of the strings, comprising a support removably engageable with the irstrume'nt, an arm extending longitudinally of the strings and secured to the pickup, and means for

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