Transducer and musical instrument employing the same

Abstract

An electrical pickup for use with a stringed musical instrument is disclosed, as well as a stringed musical instrument employing such a pickup. The pickup is formed of a plurality of magnetoresistive elements, whose electrical resistance decreases as the magnitude of a surrounding magnetic field increases. A first pair of the magnetoresistive elements form two opposite legs of a Wheatstone bridge, and a second pair forms the remaining legs. The magnetoresistive elements forming the two pairs are electrically opposite one another, but are physically located side by side. The first pair is located on a first side of the vibrating string, and the second pair is located on the other side. A magnetic field is established which interacts with the magnetoresistive elements. The pickup is positioned so that the vibration of the string causes perturbations in the magnetic field, which in turn alter the resistance of the magnetoresistive elements. When a DC voltage is applied across the input terminals of the Wheatstone bridge, an output voltage signal is developed across the output terminals that varies with the changing resistance of the magnetoresistive elements. Because the resistance of the magnetoresistive elements changes with the instantaneous position of the vibrating string, the output voltage is representative of the vibration of the string.