US3486408A - Guitar converter - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 30; 1969 J. E. GROSS 3,486,403

GUITAR CONVERTER Filed July 10, 1967 Fig.4 Ca 5 5/8756 54 MW "I" M" .m" .n' ,n'" .W"

Fig.5 W ,60 42 48a 48b 480 480 48a 48f 4 50a 50b 50c 50a 50e 50f INVENTOR. JAMES E GROSS BY PEA/DLETO/V, NEUMA/V SE/BOLD 8 W/LL/AMS ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,486,408 GUITAR CONVERTER James E. Gross, 1812 Prairie Ave., Glenview. Ill. 60025 Filed July 10, 1967, Ser. No. 652,225 Int. Cl. Gd 1/08, 3/00, N00 US. 'Cl. 84--267 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A guitar converter device for conversion of a multistring guitar to a guitar of fewer strings comprising a support member adapted for attachment to a guitar body under the strings thereof, a string engaging element, one end of which is pivotally engaged with the support member and the other end of which has a plurality of string engaging and securing elements for securing and by pivotal movement of the element moving the strings so secured with the string engagement portion out of playing position, and a locking arm for holding the string engagement portion out of play.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a novel device for converting a multi-string guitar to a guitar of fewer strings and more particularly relates to a novel device for attachment or affixing to a multi-string guitar which will permit the ready conversion of a multi-string guitar to a guitar of few strings without dismantling of the guitar.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The ordinary conventional Spanish or classical guitar comprises a fretted neck piece, a plurality of string tightening means or keys at one end thereof, a sounding box or body, usually hollow, affixed at the other end thereof. A plurality of guitar strings are affixed to a tail piece attached to the end of the sounding box or body and stretched tautly over a bridge, between the tail piece and the tightening keys at the other end of the neck. The strings are thus held away from the neck and body of the guitar to permit full vibration of the taut string (usually of wire or wire wound gut) over the sounding box which by resonance amplifies the sound made by the vibration of the string and produces the desired tonal response when the string is plucked. More recently the resonant and amplifying effects of the hollow body or classical guitar have been accomplished by the use of one or more electronic pickups mounted in a solid body guitar. The vibration of the guitar strings in the magnetic field of the pickup is converted to an electric current which is fed into an amplifier and both are then amplified and reconverted into an audible frequency. It can be appreciated that the vibration of the string on a solid body instrument produces a different tonal effect than is achieved by the use of hollow body wood guitars where many overtones and harmonies were created in the cavity. Since the degree of vibration of a string varies at different points over its length, it has been the practice to install several pickups at various points along the guitar under the strings and blend the outputs of one or more of the pickups in the amplifier for various tonal effects. Along with this development has been the introduction of the 12. string or Beatle type guitar in which six pairs of strings tuned in 3,486,408 Patented Dec. 30, 1969 various ways are used. The result is of course a completely new tonal effect. Other guitars of 10, 9 and 8 strings, have also been made for various effects. The net result of this proliferation of guitar types has been the requirement for performers or even casual players to have more than one instrument since music is and has been especially written for multi-string or classical guitars. This obviously becomes a problem both from the point of view of cost and cumbersorneness of multiple instruments.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a guitar converter whereby a multi-string guitar can be easily converted to a guitar of fewer strings and back again.

A further object is the provision of a guitar converter which may be easily affixed to commercial guitars of the multi-string type.

A still further object is the provision of a guitar converter which is simple in operation.

A still further object is the provision of a guitar converter which is economical to produce.

A still further object is the provision of a guitar converter Which permits conversion of a 12 string guitar to a guitar of fewer strings without dismantling the guitar, disturbing the tuning of the guitar and adjustable as to the number and sequence of strings which may be removed from play.

The fulfillment of these and other objects of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following specification, attached drawing and appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a guitar of the 12 string solid body variety with the guitar converter of the present invention affixed thereto;

FIG. .2 is an enlarged top plan view of the support and base member of the converter shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged top plan view of the string engaging portion of the converter shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged top plan view of the handle of the converter;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged front elevation of the string engaging portion of the converter shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an end view of the string engaging portion (taken from the left) shown in FIGURES 2 and 3; and

FIG. 7 is an end view of FIG. 6 showing the support and string engaging portion assembled.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawing, there is there illustrated a guitar 10 of the 12-string type having a body portion 12, a neck-piece 14, a string adjustment plate 16, having a plurality of keys 18 aflixed thereto. The keys 18 are of the conventional worm gear type used to adiust guitar string tension and thereby produce the desired tone effect. A plurality of strings 20 are stretched between the keys and secured at the other end to the guitar body by tail piece or holding means 22. A bridge 24 is also provided to raise the strings above the guitar body 12 and permit the vibration of the string between the bridge 24 and the point 26. The length of the string and consequent tone result is achieved by holding the strings 20 with finger pressure against the frets 28 which are slightly raised above the surface of the neck or finger board portion thereof as is well known, An electronic pickup 30 is also shown in the top surface of the body 12 which has leads to an amplifier (not shown) which is also a conventional arrangement. The converter device 32 afiixed to guitar 10 is also shown in mounted position. The converter device 32 includes a support member 34 which is also shown more clearly in FIGS. 2 and 6 and string engaging member 42 also shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. The support member 34 comprises a fiat support plate 35 with a forward lip 36. The support has a plurality of apertures or holes 38 formed therein for mounting screws to affix the support 34 to the body of the guitar. A bushing or separator 40 is shown in FIG. 6 for maintaining the member 34 elevated above or spaced from the top surface of the guitar body 12.

A string engaging member 42 is shown in FIGS. 3, and 6. Member 42 has a flat body plate 44 having groove 46 in the surface thereof adapted to receive lip 36 from support member 34 in sliding arrangement to provide both a hinging action and permit sliding lateral (with respect to the guitar) movement, A plurality of string engaging L-shaped hooks or string capturing elements 48 (designated in FIG. 5 as 48a through 48f) are provided at one end of the string engaging portion of the member 42. Each hook 48 is provided with a string capturing groove 50 (designated in FIG. 5 as 50a through 50]) which passes over strings 20, as shown schematically in FIG. 3 in string capturing relationship. When the forward edge 52 of member 42 is pressed downwardly toward the guitar body, the captured strings are pulled down and thereby taken out of play. The locking member or handle 54 shown separately in FIG. 4 is rotatably and pivotally afiixed to member 42 by fastening means 56 such as a screw or rivet through an aperture 58 in handle 54 and aperture 60 in string engaging member 42. The handle as assembled with member 42 is shown in FIG. 1. In operation the string engaging means 42 is slidably mounted under support 34 so that the lip 36 is slidably engaged with groove 46, as shown in FIG. 7, and pivotal as shown by the arrows. The string securing hooks are engaged with the strings 20 and forced downwardly against the string tension by downward motion of the edge 52, When the selected strings are pulled down out of play, the handle 54 is locked under the holding means or catch 62 shown in FIG. 1. The string tension tends to force the member 42 upwardly and away from the guitar surface. The tension force thus imposed by the strings on member 42 holds the handle in secure engagement with holding means 62.

The conventional tuning of a twelve-string guitar is illustrated in FIG. 3, where the first pair of strings designated in the drawing as E, E are tuned in unison, and the second pair are also tuned in unison and designated B, B. The 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th pairs of strings are tuned an octave apart and are designated G, G; D, D; A, A; and E, E. In the particular sequence shown in FIG. 3, one unison E and B string and the lower octave of the string sets, namely, those designated G, D, A and E are engaged and held out of play. This converts the 12-string guitar to a regular 6-string Spanish or classical guitar. Movement of the unit to the right one string results in a shift removing the upper octave strings G, D, A, E from play, as well as the pair of union strings E and B. Since the string engaging member 42 is freely slidable along the groove 46 in which the lip 36 is engaged, it is possible to disengage from play a series of any up to 6 strings counting from either end. Thus, one may remove, for example, strings D, A, E" or A, E", or A, D, G, B, E from play by moving the unit to engage the selected strings with the hooks on the left hand portion of member 42.

4 It should also be understood that in addition to the particular embodiment shown, other embodiments of the string engaging unit may be formed which have another.

sequence of string engaging hooks instead of the regularly spaced hooks shown in the drawing. For example, hooks 50b and 50d may be deleted, or a member with 50c, 50d and 502 deleted can be devised. Likewise a member with hooks 50d, e and f, can be made. Thus, it is possible in a single installation to have a plurality of string engaging members which have a variety of hook sequences and numbers. This makes for ready convertability of a 12 or multi-string guitar to a broad variety of other instruments producing novel and unusual sound effects. While the specific instrument discussed is a 12-string guitar, it is obvious that a variety of other guitars with other multistring arrangements, i.e., 10 or 9 strings, can be adapted to use the device of this invention and unusual sound effects.

What is claimed is:

1. A guitar converter for converting a multi-string guitar to a guitar of fewer strings which comprises a support member securable to a guitar body face underlying the strings, a string-engaging member pivotally cooperative with said support about an axis parallel to said body face, spaced outwardly therefrom, and adjustable relative to said support in a direction transverse to said strings, said string-engaging member having a plurality of stringcapturing members thereon and a locking means attached to the string-engaging member outwardly of said body face for holding said string-engaging member in a fixed position of adjustment with respect to the guitar face.

2. A guitar converter for converting a multi-string guitar to a guitar of fewer strings which comprises a support member securable to a guitar body face underlying the strings, a string-engaging member pivotally cooperative with said support having a plurality of string-capturing members thereon and a locking means attached to the string-engaging member for holding said string-engaging member in a fixed position of adjustment with respect to the guitar face, said support member being in spaced relationship to said strings, said string-engaging member being slidably cooperative with said support member at the one end thereof and said locking means comprising a locking arm pivotally and rotatably secured to the stringengaging member for securing the string-engaging means in a relatively fixed position to the guitar body.

3. A guitar converter for converting a multi-string guitar to a guitar of fewer strings which comprises a support member securable to a guitar body face underlying the strings, a string-engaging member pivotally cooperative with said support having a plurality of string capturing members thereon and a locking means to the string-engaging member for holding said string-engaging member in a fixed position of adjustment with respect to the guitar face, said string-engaging member having groove means at the one end thereof engageable with the support in laterally sliding relationship and pivotal at the point of sliding engagement in angular relationship to the guitar body face and having a plurality of string-capturing means at the other end thereof adapted to secure selected strings of the guitar and hold the same away from the original plane of play.

4. The converter device of claim 3 wherein the groove means is a slot integrally formed in the string-engaging member.

5. The converter device of claim 3 wherein the support member has a lip downwardly directed and extending laterally of the guitar body axis.

6. A guitar converter for converting a multi-string guitar to a guitar of fewer strings which comprises a support member secureable to a guiter body face underlying the strings, a string-engaging member pivotally cooperative with said support and adjustable relative to said support in a direction transverse to said strings, said stringengaging member having a plurality of string-capturing members thereon and a locking uneans attached to the References Cited string-engaging member for holding said string-engaging member in a fixed position of adjustment with respect to UNITED STATES PATENTS the guitar face- 568,108 9/1896 Brown s4- 297 X 7. A guitar converter according to claim 6, wherein said locking means includes a catch mounted on said body 5 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner face, said locking means holding said string-engaging member relatively flat against said face when said lock- U.S. C1. X.R.

ing means is engaged. 84-263, 297

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