Adjustable guitar pillow

Abstract

An adjustable locking pillow for a stringed instrument, including a zero pillow, is made of a variety of materials. An adjustable locking pillow for a stringed instrument, including a zero pillow, is color-coded.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to guitar nut. Background Technology

[0002] Experts agree that the guitar is an imperfect instrument, and it's impossible for it to be played perfectly in tune. This is because guitars have serious design flaws that cause them to play out of tune. Furthermore, guitars lack the ability to adjust pitch at the nut.

[0003] Guitars and other stringed instruments are precision instruments. To produce accurate pitch in semitone increments across the entire fretboard, the Y-axis positions of the strings and their anchor points need to be individually calibrated to the correct values. This process is often referred to as "intonating." Small adjustments are made to compensate for the tension and strain characteristics of the strings under tension.

[0004] Because proper pitch is specific to tension and string characteristics / materials, each time you change the type, size, or brand of strings, or use a different tuner, you need to perform pitch correction and adjust the instrument to match the new tension and string variations.

[0005] Pitch correction shortens or lengthens the string by shifting the anchor point's Y-axis position. This allows the string to be properly mapped onto the fingerboard and accurately reproduce the pitch.

[0006] Adjust the tuning pegs at the bridge of the guitar and work up the pitch from the 7th fret upwards.

[0007] The adjustment at the nut maps to the strings and corrects the instrument's pitch from the 1st to the 6th fret.

[0008] Almost all guitars have an adjustable bridge, but none have an adjustable nut.

[0009] The guitar nut serves three purposes:

[0010] 1. It anchors and positions the strings in the correct location;

[0011] 2. It directs the energy of the string vibrations into the musical instrument;

[0012] 3. It anchors the strings in specific X, Y, and Z coordinates. The position of these coordinates controls the pitch.

[0013] All statically designed guitar nuts, which are usually made of a single material or composite material, make it impossible to tune the instrument because the anchoring points are fixed.

[0014] There are two main types of piano nuts:

[0015] 1. A straight-edge nut, wherein the front edge of the nut also serves as an anchor point for fixing the X, Y, and Z positions of the broken points of the strings;

[0016] 2. A compensating nut with an offset anchor point on the Y-axis, which is responsible for the tuning of the strings from the 1st to the 6th fret. An internal compensating nut has an anchor point within the nut body, while a stepped compensating nut extends the string separators above the fingerboard.

[0017] Instruments with standard straight-edge nutes are never truly tuned. Instruments equipped with Ernie Ball's internally compensated nut or Earvana's compensated stepped nut can only be truly tuned when the correct string gauge / characteristics are used and the instrument is tuned.

[0018] Because performers constantly use different strings and tunings, they need instruments that can adjust two anchor points.

[0019] Besides string positioning, the nut material plays a crucial role in amplifying the instrument's sound. Therefore, nutes are typically made of high-density materials such as bone, metal, and glass fiber and / or metal powder reinforced plastic resin.

[0020] Another consideration is the tribological properties of the nut material. Guitar strings constantly bend, stretch, and slide within the string grooves during playing. Commonly, strings get stuck and adhere to the nut, binding the strings to the nut material and causing the guitar to play out of tune. This is why some companies use lubricant additives (such as graphite, polytetrafluoroethylene (PFTE), silicone, etc.) in their plastic guitar nuts to minimize friction between the strings and the nut material.

[0021] The size of the string slot is also important; its diameter should match the diameter of the string that the slot holds and positions in place. While it's possible to use a smaller diameter string in a wider string slot, it's impossible to use a larger diameter string in a narrow slot. The string will not be at the proper depth and will be unplayable or unable to maintain its tune.

[0022] The density of the nut is also important, because dense nut materials are generally better at transferring the vibrational energy from the strings into the instrument.

[0023] There are three main types of guitar nuts:

[0024] 1. A standard nut with string grooves, made of bone, brass, plastic, etc.;

[0025] 2. Locking vibrato unit, which guides and locks the strings in place to prevent string movement and tension changes;

[0026] 3. Zero-fret nut: A zero-fret is a guitar fret placed in the "zero position" (at the beginning of the neck, usually directly in front of a standard nut) to hold the strings in place. This type of nut is popular on headless guitars.

[0027] All three designs have problems.

[0028] First, the straight-edge design shared by all these nutes causes the instrument to play out of tune, and because they all lack adjustable options, it is impossible to correct the pitch of the instrument.

[0029] Another issue is the material. Standard piano nuts are typically made of a hard, dense material to enhance energy transfer between the vibrating strings and the instrument. Bone and synthetic bone are the most popular materials for this type of nut. Bone is essentially an abrasive material, while synthetic bone is produced by adding glass fiber powder or metal particles to plastic resin to improve density.

[0030] Lubricants are typically added to the nut to minimize adhesion. Oil lubricants have been used in bone nutes for centuries, while modern synthetic bone nutes use polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), graphite, and silicone.

[0031] Unfortunately, the combination of these lubricant additives and the inherent properties of many of the resins used makes installing these nutlets difficult because there are very few effective adhesives.

[0032] Then, there are problems and effects of using abrasive materials, as the nut material is still abrasive despite the lubrication.

[0033] By designing a nut made of multiple materials, it is possible to obtain the benefits of both a dense and smooth nut. Detailed Implementation

[0034] An exemplary standard piano nut design in Figure 1 The instrument is visualized as a "multi-material guitar nut," characterized by a high mechanical transmission base material and a low-friction string groove material.

[0035] Figure 2 A second example is shown, featuring material recesses and a material layer covering the entire body of the nut.

[0036] For milled nutes (such as bone, aluminum, etc.), a second material is added in the form of an insert. For example, Figure 3 The illustration shows a milled aluminum nut with a molded, low-friction lubricated plastic insert, which is press-fitted into a milled part to form a string separator.

[0037] Another way to increase nut density without adding abrasive is to insert, overmold, and encapsulate small pieces of high-density material (such as tungsten, brass, or other dense materials) inside the nut. The addition of high-density material improves mechanical transmission.

[0038] For bone and milled nutes, the insertion of high-density material can be accomplished by milling or cutting cavities in the part and then filling those cavities with inserts.

[0039] In injection-molded plastic parts, high-density inserts are molded into the parts, where it is possible to combine glass and metal-filled resin with high-density inserts to achieve unprecedented density.

[0040] This innovation can be applied to guitar nut and bridge, as well as bridge saddle components.

[0041] Another benefit of insert molding is that it also solves the problem of plastic adhesion. Plastic nutes are difficult to glue, and no glue can adhere well to plastic nutes (which is one of the main reasons why people still use bone).

[0042] By placing high-density inserts against the front edge or bottom of the part, an adhesive surface that facilitates installation can be created.

[0043] Figure 4 The illustration shows an X-ray visualization of a series of guitar nut inserts characterized by bone, brass, and tungsten. Depending on the type and design of the guitar nut slot in which they will be installed, the inserts are molded inside the parts in different locations. Here, they are shown as being on the bottom of the parts.

[0044] The No. 1 nut features three innovations: 1. Dense powder-filled plastic resin; 2. Dense metal inserts inside the parts, placed on the bottom for good adhesion; and 3. Multi-material string grooves.

[0045] Nut No. 2 is a one-piece injection-molded compensating nut, characterized by dense powder-filled plastic resin, dense metal inserts inside the parts, a bottom for good adhesion, and a multi-material soundbox.

[0046] Nut No. 3 and Nut No. 4 are identical. Number 4 is an exploded view. The innovative feature of this nut is its top and bottom parts, characterized by concave groove fittings and high-density metal inserts that fit and hold the parts together. This would be an excellent solution for two-piece nutes milled from materials such as bone and Delrin.

[0047] exist Figure 5The image shows a part with an alternative geometry and placement. Instead of a solid bar, an L-shaped insert forms a glued separator on the bottom and front edge of the part. Similar innovations include glass / metal-filled resin, high-density inserts, and low-friction string separators.

[0048] The multi-material nut design can also be provided for instruments without string grooves. Here, for example... Figure 6 As shown in the diagram, multiple materials can be implemented as separately shaped separators and layers.

[0049] The No. 1 nut is a two-piece compensation nut blank made of different materials in the string separation area.

[0050] Piano Pillow No. 2 is the same two-piece pre-compensation example.

[0051] The No. 3 nut is a single-piece compensation nut blank with string separators made of different materials.

[0052] Nut 4 to Nut 6 are versions of nut where a low-friction material layer is molded into the part as a layer. In this version, the nut body is a dense modified plastic with a low-friction material layer in the string contact area of ​​the nut.

[0053] The correct part is easily identified by making the top layer of the part from a colored, low-friction material.

[0054] Furthermore, by providing interchangeable nutes that can be mounted on a base attached to the guitar neck, a suitable nut can be easily installed when, for example, one or more strings are changed. Specifically, a compensating nut is provided that improves the intonation of each string of the instrument, regardless of string gauge, tension, construction, and materials. Advantageously, the nut / saddle is compensated by different amounts and is interchangeable according to the desired pitch of a particular string. Compensated nutes are suitable for use with a wide variety of different string gauges, desired tensions, constructions, and materials used in the most popular types of stringed instruments, and interchangeable saddle parts are clearly identified as being best suited to their optimal string gauge, desired tension, materials, and construction. Because saddles can be easily replaced or interchanged to accommodate different string characteristics, the player is not limited to the fixed intonation values ​​found in both standard nutes and standard fixed compensated nutes, but is able to improve and maintain optimal intonation regardless of the choice of string tension and characteristics by simply interchangeing the correct nut / saddle parts.

[0055] Figure 7 The illustration shows an example of color coding innovation for interchangeable parts.

[0056] As explained earlier, the diameter of the string slots must match the strings, and color coding of the nut makes recognizing and identifying the correct parts much easier. Color becomes the way to identify and select parts of the correct size.

[0057] like Figure 8 As illustrated, this color coding can also be used for other components, such as the bridge saddle of an acoustic guitar and the saddle and pole pieces on an adjustable bridge.

[0058] The bridge features adjustable pole pieces and two (2K) materials. Individually colored string saddles indicate the diameter of the string retainer slots: pink saddles for strings from 0.011 inches to 0.052 inches, red saddles for strings from 0.010 inches to 0.046 inches, and blue saddles for strings from 0.009 inches to 0.042 inches. Color is one way to organize the bridge and nut components.

[0059] Figure 9 The illustration shows compensated acoustic guitar saddles. Each saddle is compensated with a different compensation value to help identify the compensation value of the part and for visual differentiation.

[0060] Acoustic guitar saddles can be one-piece designs, featuring a high-density body and a low-friction string contact section made of multiple materials. Acoustic guitar saddles can also have high-density inserts molded into the parts, or in cases where the saddle is hollowed out and filled with dense inserts.

[0061] exist Figure 10 The diagram illustrates a locking tremolo nut in an assembly form, designed to replace standard uncompensated parts.

[0062] Figure 11 This is an exploded view showing the compensation inserts with different color codes used for this component. Several innovations are highlighted here: 1. Replaceable compensation inserts; 2. Low-friction materials, multi-material and single-material options; 3. Insert molding to improve compactness. Red, blue, and green inserts provide different compensation values ​​during assembly, and the inserts interlock with the base parts.

[0063] Figure 12 The diagram illustrates the interaction between the compensation insert and the base.

[0064] Figure 13 The diagram illustrates a stainless steel nut system.

[0065] Figure 14 The illustration shows a steel component with a polymer-compensated upper section featuring colored coding. The polymer material reduces friction and eliminates string hum. The color helps identify the nut used.

[0066] Figure 15The diagram illustrates the slot and magnet fitting for the nut with the frets. The center part is the embedded magnet, and the side part is the slot for press-fitting the nut with the frets.

[0067] Figure 16 The illustration shows an example of a standard nut, which is adjustable via a mortise and tenon joint between the base and the nut, allowing for easy interchangeability of nuts designed for different string widths.

Claims

1. An adjustable, compensated-locking vibrato nut for stringed instruments.

2. An adjustable compensating fret nut for stringed instruments.

3. A nut for a stringed instrument, the nut having a high mechanical transmission base material and a low friction string groove material.

4. A nut for a stringed instrument, the nut comprising an insert of high-density material.

5. A multi-color coded part that can be interchangeably mounted on a stringed instrument.

Images