Kabushiki Kaisha Kawai Gakki Seisakusho

Masakazu Matsumoto

Shinji Tagaki

Satoru Hayashi

Kenkichi Kaneko

Takayuki Goshima

Riichi Kitashima

Takeshi Hattori

Kensaku Hakamada

Katsuyuki Tanaka

Kensaku Hakamata

A portable keyboard-type musical instrument includes detachable end support frames which can be attached to the musical instrument in either an extended supporting position or a retracted storage position, a support for the keyboard of the instrument being rigidly supported by members which are in turn rigidly attached to the frame of the musical instrument.

Portable keyboard-type musical instrument

A pickup for an electric string type instrument comprising an elongated piezo-electric member formed by mixing a high molecular material with piezo-electric ceramic powder and a vulcanizing or cross-linking agent and then vulcanizing or cross-linking the mixture. In order to complete the pickup a pair of electrodes are mounted on the elongated member and the member is then subjected to a polarization treatment. The piezo-electric member can be formed as a flat belt-shaped member with the electrodes mounted on both surfaces thereof or it can be formed as a cylinder in which one of the electrodes extends axially in the piezo-electric member and the other electrode is mounted on the outer periphery of the piezo-electric member. A plurality of the pickups can be joined in parallel relation within an elastic support and the latter can be mounted between the strings and the frame of the string instrument through the intermediary of a bridge member.

Pickup apparatus for an electric string type instrument

An electric piano having a casing provided with a frame made as a casting or the like with a plurality of strings stretched on the piano and supported at intermediate portions by a bridge member. A plurality of hammers driven by respective keys strikes the strings and pickups are provided for detecting vibrations of the strings. An amplifier is connected to the pickups and a speaker is connected to the amplifier. The bridge member is supported on supporting members attached to the frame through shock absorbing members of rubber or the like, and the pickups are constituted by piezoelectric elements mounted at any desired position in the supporting members.

Electric piano

Growing community of inventors

Hamamatsu, Japan

Masakazu Matsumoto