US3424049A - Combined bridge,tailpiece and manual vibrato for guitars - Google Patents

Description

, Jan. 28, 1969 N. I. DANIEL COMBINED BRIDGE, TAILPIECE AND MANUAL VIBRATO FOR GUITARS Filed Aug. 9, 1967 ,1 I7 24 us /i FIG. 4

l6 INVENTOR BY J 64. b/2

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,424,049 COMBINED BRIDGE, TAILPIECE AND MANUAL VIBRATO FOR GUITARS Nathan I. Daniel, Deal, N.J., assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Danelectro Corporation, Neptune City,

N.J., a corporation of New York Filed Aug. 9, 1967, Ser. No. 659,369

US. Cl. 84-313 Int. Cl. Gd 3/04, 3/12 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A guitar attachment having manual vibrato comprising a bridge section for a connection to the guitar surface and combined with an integral tailpiece connected to the bridge. The tailpiece is not connected to the guitar surface but is cantilevered and is therefore free for substantially vertical movement. A handhold bar is connected to one end of the tailpiece so that manual vibration of the handhold bar actuates the tailpiece and thus effectively lengthens and shortens the strings to produce frequency vibrato by manual actuation of the bar.

This invention relates to a guitar vibrato and more particularly to a combined bridge and tailpiece attachment with a manually operated vibrato bar connected to the tailpiece.

Manually operated vibrato bars are well known but they are complex in construction and often require excessive force which is most objectionable to the player.

I have solved this and other problems by a simplified structure wherein a single strip of resilient metal is formed into a bridge section which is connectable to the guitar surface. Integral with the bridge section is a tailpiece which extends freely rearwardly in cantilever fashion. The guitar strings of course extend over the bridge and are locked, as usual in the tailpiece. A handhold bar is connected to the tailpiece. Accordingly, when the handhold bar is manually vibrated, the strings ends are lifted or rocked, resulting in alternate shortening and lengthening of the strings to produce vibrato when the strings are struck.

My invention will be further understood from the following description and drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a guitar provided with the improvement of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the structure of this invention;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged, substantially elevational view of the invention as depicted in FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

The guitar body 10, neck 11, head 12, and pickups 13, are all conventional. The strings S are connected between the pegs 14 and tailpiece 15. Tailpiece 15 is integrally connected to the bridge as will now be described.

Obviously the strings S must lie on a bridge, as is conventional. I provide a combination bridge and tailpiece of special construction. Thus the combination structure comprises a flat, mounting or base strip 16 which is fastened to the guitar top face as by screws 17. A substantially vertical wall 18 (which is in fact slightly rearwardly inclined), integrally follows the base strip 16. Following wall 18 is the arcuately formed tailpiece 15, said tailpiece being concavo along its top surface so as not to contact 4 Claims "ice the strings along said top surface as illustrated in FIG- URE 3.

The rear edge of tailpiece 15 is formed with an upward- 1y directed lip 19 having a series of open ended cut-outs or slots 20 which receive the headed ends 21 of the strings S. Such cut-outs or slots 20 are of course conventional per se.

The combined base 16, wall 18, and tailpiece 15 are formed from a single piece of spring steel of an approximate thickness of .1 inch. The junction line of wall 18 and tailpiece 15 forms the highest line of the structure and thereby provides the bridge 22. The strings S simply rest on bridge 22 and are locked within the slots 20.

The cantilevered rear end of the combined bridge and tailpiece lends itself to manipulation to provide manual vibrato, and to this objective, I provide the steel handhold bar 23 which is itself well known, but in far more complex, and relatively inefiicient environments.

Through a laterally disposed opening in cantilevered tailpiece 15, I insert a threaded bolt 24, which receives a complementary opening through end strip 25 of substantially S-shaped handhold member or bar 23. A nut 26 firmly secures strip 25 to the tailpiece 15 so that the handhold member 23 is firmly connected adjacent to the free end of the tailpiece or adjacent to the cut-out slots 20. The lateral disposition of bar 23 actuates the higher frequency strings more than the other strings and produces a more discernible vibrato.

The production of vibrato will be evident. Briefly, the player will strum or pluck the strings as usual in playing the instrument. From time to time, as the player desires, he will grasp the handhold bar 23 and physically vibrate it. This will cause the tailpiece 15 to rise and fall relative to the bridge section 22. This will produce alternate shortening and lengthening of the strings S which will provide vibrato as long as the strings are still vibrating from the strumming or plucking thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A combined bridge, tailpiece and vibrato for guitars comprising a mounting base section, a bridge section integrally connected to said base section and rising upwardly therefrom, a tailpiece integrally connected to said bridge section, said tailpiece having means thereon for engaging string ends, said tailpiece extending freely from said bridge section in cantilever fashion, and a vibrato bar connected to said tailpiece for manual actuation thereof to produce vibrato.

2. A device according to claim 1 and wherein said base section, bridge section and tailpiece are all formed from resilient steel so as to be bendable by the action of said vibrato bar.

3. A device according to claim 2 and wherein said vibrato bar is substantially S-shaped with one end thereof connected to the free end of said tailpiece and laterally disposed thereon adjacent a side of said tailpiece so as to be adjacent to the higher frequency strings.

2,741,146 4/1956 Fender 84-313 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner. L. R. FRANKLIN, Assistant Examiner.

Images