Adjustable compensated nut for a stringed instrument

Abstract

An adjustable compensated nut system for a stringed musical instrument allows for improved intonation of each string of the instrument regardless of string gauge, desired tension, material, or construction. The adjustable compensated nut includes a seat which accepts one or more individual and interchangeable saddles featuring different intonation portions which have different dimensions which allow for achieving the desired pitch or intonation of each individual string of the instrument. Optimally, the number of intonation portions is equal to the number of strings of the instrument, and each particular intonation portion is dimensioned to improve the intonation of a particular string according to string tension and properties. Advantageously, the saddles of the nut are interchangeable and so that it is possible to adjust the degree of compensation to correspond with string choice.

Claims

1. An adjustable compensated nut for a stringed instrument, the stringed instrument having one or more strings, a body and a neck, the nut comprising: one or more string saddles; an elongated nut base having a length sufficient to extend across at least a portion of the neck of the stringed instrument; a fitting on the tip of the base which is dimensioned to accept and hold said one or more string saddles featuring geometry that matches with geometry of the base to facilitate assembly therewith without additional fasteners, the intonation saddles having different dimensions according to the desired pitch compensation for each string.

2. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 1, wherein the number of individual compensated intonation saddles are equal to the number of strings of the instrument.

3. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 1, wherein a single intonation saddle features compensation portions which are equal to the number of strings of the instrument.

4. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 1, further including one or more grooves extending along at least a portion of a top side of the nut, each of the grooves configured to receive one of the strings of the instrument.

5. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 4, wherein each of the grooves is aligned with one of the intonation portions.

6. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 1, wherein the intonation portions are cut-out or extended sections which have a depth between about 0.001 inches and about 0.150 inches.

7. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 1, wherein the intonation saddles feature extended sections which extend over the fingerboard of the instruments neck, the extended sections including a first side wall and a second side wall extending from the front side of the elongated base of the compensated nut.

8. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 7, wherein the side walls are generally parallel and the side walls are joined by a lower surface.

9. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 7, wherein the side walls are between about 0.010 inches and about 0.200 inches in length.

10. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 7, wherein the side walls are generally the same length and the side walls are joined by a curved lower surface.

11. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 1, wherein the intonation portions comprise a plurality of projections that extend outwardly from the nut base.

12. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 1, made from long fiber reinforced engineering resins.

13. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 12, wherein the percentage of long fiber reinforcement is 10% to 70%.

14. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 12, wherein the long fiber reinforcement is 0.5 mm to 25 mm in length.

15. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 12, wherein the long fiber is comprised of glass fiber, carbon fiber, aramid fiber, or basalt fiber.

16. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 12, wherein the base resin is comprised of PA66, PA12, PEEK, TPU, or PP.

17. The adjustable compensated nut of claim 12, wherein the base resin is modified by the addition of PFTE, graphite, or silicone.

18. A guitar or bass guitar, comprising: a body; a neck connected to the body; a bridge connected to the body; an adjustable compensated nut according to claim 1, connected to the neck.

19. The guitar or bass guitar of claim 18, wherein the bottom side of the nut base contacts the neck of the instrument and the front side of the nut base faces the body of the instrument.

20. A musical instrument neck with an adjustable compensated nut of claim 1, wherein the bottom side of the nut base contacts the neck of the instrument close to the head stock and the front side of the nut base faces portion of the neck to be mounted to the body of the instrument.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The appended drawings contain figures of a exemplary embodiments of the adjustable compensated musical instrument nut. The above-mentioned features of the adjustable compensated musical instrument nut, as well as other features, will be described in connection with the exemplary embodiments. However, the illustrated embodiment is only intended to illustrate the invention and not limit the invention. The drawings contain the following figures:

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an assembled adjustable compensated nut featuring a female seat geometry and a pre-configured saddle with male fittings for all the strings on the instrument;

(3) FIG. 2 is a exploded view of a disassembled adjustable compensated nut per FIG. 1, showing both the female geometry of the seat and the corresponding male geometry of a pre-configured saddle set, a preferred embodiment of the present invention for those wanting a saddle which is pre-configured for a specific string gauges and which encompasses all the strings of the instrument;

(4) FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a saddle in the upside-down position to show the detail of the corresponding male geometry per FIG. 1

(5) FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an assembled adjustable compensated nut with individual saddles with female geometry seat and male geometry saddles;

(6) FIG. 5 is an exploded view of an adjustable compensated nut with individual saddles per FIG. 4 showing both the female geometry of the seat and the corresponding male geometry of the individual saddles, a preferred embodiment of the present invention for those wanting a compensated nut with saddles which allow individual compensation of each string;

(7) FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a saddle in the upside-down position to show rear view of the corresponding male geometry on the individual saddles per FIG. 4;

(8) FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an assembled adjustable compensated nut with a pre-configured saddle for all the strings on the instrument featuring a male geometry seat and female geometry saddles;

(9) FIG. 8 is an exploded view of an adjustable compensated nut with a pre-configured saddle set per FIG. 7 showing both the male geometry of the seat and the individual saddles;

(10) FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a saddle in the upside-down position to show rear view of the corresponding female geometry on a pre-configured saddle set per FIG. 7;

(11) FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an assembled adjustable compensated nut with individual saddles with male geometry seat and the individual saddles which allow individual compensation of each string;

(12) FIG. 11 is an exploded view of an adjustable compensated nut with individual saddles per FIG. 10 showing both the male geometry of the seat and the individual saddles;

(13) FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the individual saddles in the upside-down rear position showing the corresponding female geometry on the individual saddles per FIG. 10;

(14) FIG. 13 is a perspective view of an assembled adjustable compensated nut with a pre-configured saddle featuring a slot type geometry seat with matching slot geometry pre-configured saddle for all the strings on the instrument;

(15) FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view of an adjustable compensated nut with a pre-configured saddle for all the strings on the instrument featuring a slot type geometry seat and pre-configured saddle per FIG. 13;

(16) FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a pre-configured saddle in the upside-down position to illustrate the rear view of the corresponding matching slot type geometry on the pre-configured saddle per FIG. 13;

(17) FIG. 16 is a perspective view of an assembled adjustable compensated nut with individual saddles featuring a slot type geometry seat and individual saddles with matching slot geometry;

(18) FIG. 17 is an exploded view of an adjustable compensated nut with individual saddles per FIG. 16 showing the slot type geometry of the seat and the individual saddles;

(19) FIG. 18 is a perspective view of the individual saddles in the upside-down position to show rear view of the corresponding slot type geometry of the individual saddles per FIG. 16;

(20) FIG. 19 shows an after-market guitar neck with a pre-installed adjustable compensated nut according to an embodiment of the present invention;

(21) FIG. 20 shows headstock detail of after-market guitar neck per FIG. 19;

(22) FIG. 21 shows a guitar having an after-market guitar neck per FIG. 19;

(23) FIG. 22 shows an embodiment of an adjustable compensated Gibson style nut.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(24) The present invention involves an adjustable compensated nut for a stringed instruments such as guitars and bass guitars. In the present embodiment, the nut is a comprised of a seat and a saddle component/components. The principles of the present invention, however, are not limited to guitars or basses. It will be understood that, in light of the present disclosure, the compensated nut disclosed herein can be successfully used in connection with other types of stringed musical instruments.

(25) There exists compensation calculators which help to determine the optimal amount of compensation based upon string gauge, tension and properties however experimentation and testing is the preferred method of determining the particular sizing and degree of compensation for each instrument, instrument scale length, string type, tuning, and string properties. The embodiments disclosed below are for an adjustable compensated nut which the inventors constructed.

(26) A detailed description of the compensated nut now follows.

(27) As seen in FIG. 1, the basic configuration of an assembled adjustable compensated nut 1. string slots are molded or cut into the saddle parts but it is possible to supply saddles without any groove cut into them.

(28) The grooves in the saddles can vary in size, preferably from 0.008 in up to 0.0060 in in case of guitars but with other instruments string gauges can vary of to 0.200 in the case of bass guitar instruments.

(29) The adjustable compensated nut parts can be designed, produced and assembled using a variety of fitting methods, a tongue and groove fitting featuring the female geometry for the seat and male geometry for the saddles in the exemplary embodiment will provide the most effective mating and contact between seat and saddle parts as the seat generally has more material than the saddles.

(30) The shape and geometry of the fittings between the seat and the saddles, be it female to male, male to female or slot type fittings can vary in size, shape and geometry and are not limited to the geometry that is has been illustrated in the diagrams, what's important is the geometries match and mate with each other adequately and achieve a solid and firm connection with each other.

(31) The adjustable compensated nut as seen in FIG. 1, FIG. 4, FIG. 7, FIG. 10, FIG. 13 and FIG. 16 is configured to accept 6 strings however it should be understood that the nut may have any number of slots depending, for example, upon the number of strings of the instrument.

(32) As seen in FIG. 1, FIG. 4, FIG. 7, FIG. 10, FIG. 13 and FIG. 16 the assembled compensated nut assembly is dimensioned to be mounted in a slot 15 at the end of the guitar necks fingerboard 16 close to the headstock 17 as seen in FIG. 19, FIG. 20 and FIG. 21.

(33) As seen in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 the exemplary embodiment of the adjustable compensated nut, an assembled nut 1, the nut seat 2 featuring female geometry which accepts both male pre-configured saddle 3 encompassing all of the strings of the instrument or male individual saddle parts 4 as seen in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6.

(34) As seen in FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 one sees the assembled adjustable compensated nut 1, the female seat 2 and the individual saddle parts 4.

(35) As seen in FIG. 7, FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 one sees the assembled adjustable compensated nut 1, the male seat 5 and the female pre-configured saddle part 6.

(36) As seen in FIG. 10, FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 one sees the assembled adjustable compensated nut 1, the male seat 5 and the female individual saddle part 7.

(37) As seen in FIG. 13, FIG. 14 and FIG. 15 one sees the assembled adjustable compensated nut 1, the slot type seat 8 and the slot type pre-configured saddle part 9.

(38) As seen in FIG. 16, FIG. 17 and FIG. 18 one sees the assembled adjustable compensated nut 1, the slot type seat 8 and the slot type individual saddle part 10.

(39) As seen in FIG. 19 and FIG. 20 an aftermarket neck featuring a pre-mounted assembled compensated nut 1.

(40) As seen in FIG. 21 a guitar with a pre-mounted assembled compensated nut 1 factory installed. The instrument however can be an acoustic guitar or bass, an electric guitar or bass, a ukulele or any other stringed instrument which typically uses a nut.

(41) FIG. 22 illustrates a variation in which a nut is a Gibson style compensated nut. Shown here in a version without precut string slots. This style of nut is mounted behind the fretboard, while the other disclosed variations are all mounted into a groove in the fretboard.

(42) As discussed above, a given compensated nut is designed for a specific scale length and string set at special tuning, but by applying the principles of the invention disclosed herein, different scale lengths with different amounts of compensation could be determined. Thus, a compensated nut may be manufactured with particular dimensions and sizes for a particular instrument or desired sound, and a different compensated nut may be constructed with different dimensions for different instruments and/or desired sounds. The nut of the guitar can be used alone or in combination with other devices, such as various bridges. In addition, the nut need not be entirely solid, and the principles of the present invention could be incorporated into a multi-piece nut.

(43) Furthermore, although the invention described above is described in terms of a compensated nut, for stringed instruments with a “zero” fret and separate string guides, the zero fret could incorporate the compensated features described for the nut.

(44) Although this invention has been described in terms of certain exemplary embodiments, other embodiments apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art are also within the scope of this invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is intended to be defined only by the claims which follow.