Electrical stringed instrument

Abstract

The invention relates to an electrical stringed instrument system comprising an electrical stringed instrument. The electrical stringed instrument comprises i) an audio output circuit electronically connected to said one or more pickups, and to a first channel of a multichannel output jack; and ii) a first communication circuit comprising a variable impedance unit, and electronically connected to a second channel of said multichannel output jack.

Claims

1. An electrical stringed instrument system comprising: an electrical stringed instrument including a body, a neck having a head, a bridge assembly connected to the body, a plurality of metal strings positioned between the head and the bridge assembly, and one or more pickups positioned on the body and beneath said metal strings; the electrical stringed instrument further comprising: an audio output circuit (300) electronically connected to said one or more pickups, and to a first channel (210) of a multichannel output jack (200); and a first communication circuit (100) comprising a variable impedance unit (110), and electronically connected to a second channel (220) of said multichannel output jack (200).

2. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 1, further comprising: a second communication circuit (400) configured to measure an impedance of the variable impedance unit of the first communication circuit (100), and to convert a measured impedance to a digital representation.

3. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 2, wherein the second communication circuit (400) is positioned in a communication unit (500) that is configured for wireless communication with an audio signal processing device.

4. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 3, wherein the communication unit (500) is releasably coupled to the multichannel output jack (200).

5. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 2, wherein the second communication circuit (400) further comprises an operational amplifier (410) configured to amplify a voltage from the first communication circuit (100).

6. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 5, wherein the second communication circuit (400) further comprises an analog-to-digital converter (420) configured to convert to an amplified voltage from the operational amplifier to a digital representation.

7. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the audio output circuit (300) and the first communication circuit (100) share a same ground wire (230).

8. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the first communication circuit (100) further comprises a switch (120) adapted to switch between a primary circuit (130) and a secondary circuit (140), and wherein the secondary circuit (140) has a relatively higher impedance than the primary circuit (130).

9. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 8, wherein the switch (120) is operably connected to a push button mounted on the body of the electrical stringed instrument.

10. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the variable impedance unit (110) is operably connected to a rotary or slidable knob mounted on the body of the electrical stringed instrument.

11. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 7, wherein the first communication circuit (100) further comprises a capacitor (150) in parallel with an electrical load between the variable impedance unit (110) and the ground wire (230).

12. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 6, wherein the second communication circuit (400) further comprises a processor (430) configured for communicating with an audio signal processing device.

13. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 12, wherein the processor (430) is configured for wirelessly communicating with the audio signal processing device.

14. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 2, wherein the second communication circuit (400) is positioned in a communication unit (500) either built separately or built into a chassis of an audio signal processing device.

15. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 14, wherein communication unit (500) further comprises a multichannel input jack (600) and a single-channel output jack (700) electronically connected to one another.

16. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 15, wherein the second communication circuit (400) comprises an analog-to-digital converter (420) configured to convert an amplified voltage from an operational amplifier connected to the variable impedance unit (110) to a digital representation; wherein said analog-to-digital converter (420) is connected to a microcontroller (430) configured for communicating with an audio signal processing device.

17. The electrical stringed instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the electrical stringed instrument is selected from the group consisting of an electric guitar, an electric violin, and an electric bass guitar.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0035] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary first communication circuit in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

[0036] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary wiring of an electrical stringed instrument in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

[0037] FIG. 3 shows an exemplary second communication circuit in accordance with various embodiments of the invention; and

[0038] FIGS. 4-5 are examples of electrical stringed instrument systems in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

REFERENCES

[0039] 100 First communication circuit [0040] 110 Variable impedance unit [0041] 120 Switch [0042] 130 Primary circuit [0043] 140 Secondary circuit [0044] 150 Capacitor [0045] 200 Multichannel output jack [0046] 210 First channel [0047] 220 Second channel [0048] 230 Ground wire [0049] 300 Audio output circuit [0050] 310 Pickup [0051] 320 Tone potentiometer [0052] 330 Tone capacitor [0053] 340 Volume potentiometer [0054] 400 Second communication circuit [0055] 410 Operational amplifier [0056] 411 Resistor [0057] 412 Resistor [0058] 420 Analog-to-digital converter [0059] 430 Microcontroller [0060] 440 Voltage source [0061] 450 First resistor [0062] 500 Communication unit [0063] 600 Multichannel input jack [0064] 700 Mono/single-channel output jack

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0065] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary first communication circuit 100 in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. The first communication circuit 100 allows the musician to instruct audio signal processing devices connected (see FIGS. 4 and 5), directly or indirectly through a communication unit, to the electrical stringed instrument to process the audio signal in accordance with predefined rules.

[0066] The first communication circuit 100 comprises a variable impedance (here shown as a potentiometer) unit 110, and is electronically connected to a second channel 220 of a multichannel output jack 200, i.e. a different channel than the audio output circuit 300 is connected to, which is the first channel 210. The audio output circuit 300 and the communication circuit 100 is shown sharing the same ground wire 230. The potentiometer 110 is here shown with a maximum resistance of 50 kOhm. By varying the resistance through the first communication circuit 100, each individual value or range of values may represent a code for a specific instruction for the audio signal processing device(s) connected thereto. The first communication circuit is also shown comprising a switch 120 adapted to switch between a primary circuit 130 and a secondary circuit 140. The primary circuit 130 is shown comprising a resistor of 6.2 kOhm, while the secondary circuit 140 is shown comprising a resistor of 62 kOhm. This configuration allows for doubling the number of possible codes. The first communication circuit 100 further comprises a capacitor 150 in parallel with the electrical load. The capacitor is here shown with 10 nF. This configuration avoids a noticeable “click or pop” (electrical transient signal) into the common ground terminal each time the switch 120 is activated.

[0067] The audio output circuit 300 is here shown with a pickup 310, a tone potentiometer 320, a tone capacitor 330, and a volume potentiometer 340.

[0068] FIG. 2 shows the wiring of an electrical stringed instrument (Fender Stratocaster) in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

[0069] In order to receive the instructions via the first communication circuitry 100, a second communication circuit 400 (FIG. 3) may be present in a communication unit 500 either built separately or built into the chassis of the audio signal processing device. Alternatively, the second communication circuit may be integrated into a wireless transmitter unit that is configured for wireless communication with an audio signal processing device.

[0070] The second communication circuit 400 is configured to amplify, measure, and convert the voltage from the first communication circuit 100 to a digital representation that is forwarded to a microcontroller configured for communicating with an audio signal processing device.

[0071] In FIG. 3, the second communication circuit 400 is shown comprising an operational amplifier 410 configured to amplify the voltage from the first communication circuit 100. The voltage is in this example amplified 21 times via the resistors 411, and 412 of 1 kOhm and 20 kOhm, respectively. The second communication circuit 400 also comprises an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter 420 configured to measure the voltage, pre-amplified by the operational amplifier 410, from the first communication circuit 100 and to convert said voltage to a digital representation. The analog-to-digital converter 420 is here shown connected to a microcontroller (MCU) 430 configured for communicating, preferably wirelessly, with an audio signal processing device. The second communication circuit 400 also comprises a voltage source 440 (150 mV) connected to a first resistor 450 (224 kOhm) of a voltage divider. The second resistor of the voltage divider is a part of the first communication circuit 100 that comprises the potentiometer 110, and the resistors in the primary 130 and secondary 140 circuits.

[0072] The communication unit 500 further comprises a multichannel input jack 600 and an audio mono/single-channel output jack 700 electronically connected to one another. The multichannel input jack 600 is electronically connected to the multichannel output jack 200 through a stereo (TRS) cable. This configuration allows for the audio signal to be directly transmitted to the audio mono/single-channel output jack 700, while the communication signal is passed to the second communication circuit 400.

[0073] FIGS. 4-5 are examples of electrical stringed instrument systems in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.