A foldable stringed instrument having a neck and/or body that may assume a reduced profile by folding an upper neck portion away from the playing position through the use of a translating bridge assembly and a translating truss assembly, wherein the foldable stringed instrument is capable of housing or otherwise being coupled to any of a variety of electronics or electrical components (e.g. a smart phone or tablet computer) having one or more applications (apps) for driving the operation, functionality and/or effects associated with the foldable stringed instrument.

A foldable stringed instrument having a neck and/or body that may assume a reduced profile by folding an upper neck portion away from the playing position through the use of a translating bridge assembly and a translating truss assembly, wherein the foldable stringed instrument is capable of housing or otherwise being coupled to any of a variety of electronics or electrical components (e.g. a smart phone or tablet computer) having one or more applications (apps) for driving the operation, functionality and/or effects associated with the foldable stringed instrument.

A thumb guard apparatus comprising a flat panel portion with a front and back side is disclosed. In one embodiment, the thumb guard apparatus comprises a curved portion or lip contiguous to the flat panel portion, wherein the curved portion or lip extends from the flat panel portion and curves away from the back side of the flat panel portion creating a channel. The channel creates a space which guards the thumb of a guitar player and prevents the thumb from moving on or over the top of the neck of the guitar. The flat panel portion of the apparatus may be attached to the back of the neck of the guitar. A method of use is also disclosed.

A thumb guard apparatus comprising a flat panel portion with a front and back side is disclosed. In one embodiment, the thumb guard apparatus comprises a curved portion or lip contiguous to the flat panel portion, wherein the curved portion or lip extends from the flat panel portion and curves away from the back side of the flat panel portion creating a channel. The channel creates a space which guards the thumb of a guitar player and prevents the thumb from moving on or over the top of the neck of the guitar. The flat panel portion of the apparatus may be attached to the back of the neck of the guitar. A method of use is also disclosed.

A musical instrument, particularly a stringed instrument, has a structure that decouples the body of the player from all parts of the instrument which are indirectly responsible for the sound production for preventing the body of the player from damping the vibrations of the instrument. Instead of a top cover being the main source of indirect sound production, the musical instrument now has an annular plate which is positioned between covers. Any damping effect on the resonance of the annular plate is minimized by positioning a bridge on the annular plate to avoid any contact between the bridge and the top cover, and applying an acoustically decoupling layer between the covers and the annular plate. The covers provide protection against any damping effect of the player's body on the annular plate. This structure also minimizes the tendency of an acoustic feedback loop, 2 which may occur in the case of an electrically amplified stringed instrument.

A musical instrument, particularly a stringed instrument, has a structure that decouples the body of the player from all parts of the instrument which are indirectly responsible for the sound production for preventing the body of the player from damping the vibrations of the instrument. Instead of a top cover being the main source of indirect sound production, the musical instrument now has an annular plate which is positioned between covers. Any damping effect on the resonance of the annular plate is minimized by positioning a bridge on the annular plate to avoid any contact between the bridge and the top cover, and applying an acoustically decoupling layer between the covers and the annular plate. The covers provide protection against any damping effect of the player's body on the annular plate. This structure also minimizes the tendency of an acoustic feedback loop, 2 which may occur in the case of an electrically amplified stringed instrument.

An instrument support for a guitar including a bridge for resting on a leg of a person, the bridge lying in an x-z plane, wherein at the opposite ends of the bridge with respect to a direction x a first holder and a second holder are respectively provided for receiving the guitar, the first holder having a first holding member and a second holding member for holding the guitar, the holding members each having a nominal bearing surface with a normal, against which it is intended to bear the guitar, the first member being alignable in such a way that its normal is aligned along the y-direction, the second member being alignable in such a way that its normal is aligned along the z-direction, wherein in that the second member is aligned in such a way that its normal is aligned along the z-direction.

A guitar armrest designed to relieve the arm stress that a guitarist experiences in the Palmaris Longus muscle caused by the arm resting against the acoustic guitar's lower bout and soundboard side edge. It is made of a one piece injection-molded flexible rubber solid body, with a durometer so as to hold the weight of a guitarist's arm off of the front soundboard so as to prevent scratching and deadening of the sound projected therefrom. Replaceable suction cups extend through the body of the armrest such that their attachment buttons protrude from the armrest's top face and their suction disks protrude from the bottom face. The armrest is temporarily affixed to the lower bout of the guitar by suction means.

A guitar armrest designed to relieve the arm stress that a guitarist experiences in the Palmaris Longus muscle caused by the arm resting against the acoustic guitar's lower bout and soundboard side edge. It is made of a one piece injection-molded flexible rubber solid body, with a durometer so as to hold the weight of a guitarist's arm off of the front soundboard so as to prevent scratching and deadening of the sound projected therefrom. Replaceable suction cups extend through the body of the armrest such that their attachment buttons protrude from the armrest's top face and their suction disks protrude from the bottom face. The armrest is temporarily affixed to the lower bout of the guitar by suction means.

A customized musical instrument support for use in supporting a musical instrument on or against a portion of an instrument player's body, includes a universal component having a standardized configuration and attachable to various sized single-type instruments for use by multiple instrument players, and an individually customized element attachable to the universal component. The individually customized element has an individually customized surface contoured corresponding to an impression to substantially fit to the instrument player's contoured body surface which is in proximity to placement of the customized musical instrument support on the instrument player during playing of the musical instrument.