The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 07, 1988
Filed:
Sep. 03, 1986
Steven C Marshall, Baltimore, MD (US);
Other;
Abstract
An electric string instrument, e.g. an electric guitar, has one or more resistive elements associated with each fret whereby sideways deflection of a string while in contact with a fret creates a change in the effective resistive value of that fret. This may be used to provide 'blending' of a note. Each such fret has one conductor, thus enabling a 144 wire harness in the neck of a guitar to be reduced to 24 conductive paths, which may be provided on a printed circuit board. Preferably both the strings and the frets are electrically scanned. The instrument may be employed as a MIDI guitar controller or an audio guitar or simultaneously as a combination of both. A guitarist can use a normal playing style, without special adaptation, to obtain a full range of expression, including pick velocity.