Bizarre Patents
User-operated amusement apparatus for kicking the user's buttocks
An apparatus including a user-operated and controlled apparatus for self-infliction of repetitive blows to the user's buttocks by a plurality of elongated arms bearing flexible extensions that rotate under the user's control.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8153874 | Stringed musical instrument convertible between fretted and fretless playing configurations A stringed musical instrument that is convertible between fretted and fretless playing configurations includes a body, a neck connected to the body at one of its ends, a fingerboard disposed on the neck, a plurality of movable frets spaced apart at positions along t... | 04/10/2012 |
| 7795517 | Pythagorean fret placement The method provides luthiers of fretted instrument with a novel approach for installing frets with increased accuracy. The method is an improvement in calculation of fret placement over the “Rule of 18” because it relies on the length of the vibrating string. Th... | 09/14/2010 |
| 7763786 | Unitary fingerboard and method of making same A stringed musical instrument has a head assembly, a tail, and an elongate neck extending from the head assembly to the tail. The neck defines a fingerboard having a surface layer and a substrate. The surface layer includes an exposed surface formed of sheet metal d... | 07/27/2010 |
| 7732687 | Stringed instrument fretboard for use with light-system A fingerboard (or fretboard) for use with a stringed instrument and light-system is disclosed and has a bottom surface adapted to mate or be attached to a neck of the instrument, and has wells extending from the bottom surface toward, but not through, a top surface.... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7728210 | Device for string instruments A device for string instruments comprising a fretboard with a plurality of frets, arranged at a distance from each other along the lengthwise direction of the fretboard and running transversely across the fretboard. Over the fretboard, at right angles to and above t... | 06/01/2010 |
| 7714218 | String instrument frets and associated fret optical apparatus An instrument comprising a body, a neck and a plurality of strings. The neck comprises a first end having a headstock, a fretboard, at least one mineral fret coupled to the fretboard, and a second end one of coupled and integrated to the body. The mineral fret may b... | 05/11/2010 |
| 7692080 | Fret wire with bending notches The invention is a novel fret wire for use on the fingerboards of stringed instruments. The fret wire has a crown of any usable shape for contact with strings, as usual, but is distinguished by the structure of the tang affixed to the crown. The tang comprises bendi... | 04/06/2010 |
| 7507888 | Fret and fingerboard for stringed instruments A fret and fret board assembly for a stringed instrument provide increased fret stability and serve to increase the duration of fretted notes played on the instrument. Each fret includes a string-engageable cap, a relatively high-mass tang or resonation bar which fi... | 03/24/2009 |
| 7491875 | Fret dressing mask The problem caused by the time consuming and potentially damaging process of applying a standard masking to the neck of a stringed instrument is solved by providing a strip of polymer material having slots formed therethrough and being complementarily configured to ... | 02/17/2009 |
| 7427707 | Stringed musical instrument neck assemblies Described herein are fingerboards and neck assemblies for use with stringed musical instruments. The neck assembly can include a light-system disposed therein. The light system has a light matrix of light elements. The fingerboard is adapted to conceal the presence ... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7427704 | Stringed instrument fingering guide A finger guide plate includes a fret plate; a circuit board coupled to a bottom of the fret plate; and a support plate including fret relief notches coupled to a bottom of the circuit board. A learning apparatus for a stringed instrument includes a replacement fret ... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7423208 | Stringed instrument and associated fret mapping method A stringed instrument and associated fret mapping method. The instrument includes a neck having a fret board provided with a plurality of frets having offset string contact regions along their length, whereby accurate intonation of a note is achieved when a string i... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7408105 | Instrument training device for stringed instruments An instrument training device for use with a stringed instrument includes a plurality of training members. Each training member is constructed of a flexible material and includes opposed ends. Each end includes complementary fastening material such as hook and loop ... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7402746 | Training apparatus for learning to play the guitar A training apparatus for guiding and independently teaching a user to quickly play a guitar by interpreting stored encoded MIDI music data to guide the user's hands by illuminating sequences of desired finger positions on the frets of a guitar to play the music.... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7381878 | Musical instrument display A visual display mounted on a musical instrument for use as a teaching aid, for teaching fingerings and chords, a performing aid for displaying information relevant to a user's performance, and a visual effects aid, for displaying visual effects to an audience while... | 06/03/2008 |
| 7368646 | Stringed musical instrument A stringed musical instrument includes a string which, when vibrated, produces sound. Both ends of the vibrating portion of the string touch glass. ... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7355110 | Stringed musical instrument having a built in hand-held type computer An apparatus and method is disclosed for storing, editing, deleting and visually displaying personal information within a stringed musical instrument. A hand-held type computer (34) located in and forming a portion of the envelope or housing of the stringed m... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7335831 | Brass instrument A brass instrument with improved tonal characteristics that includes a tonal material attached to the brass instrument. The instrument may be a trumpet. The tonal material may have a Mohs hardness of greater than about 6, such as a semi-precious stone. Also disclose... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7304224 | Exercise and training device for acoustic guitar players A practice and exercise device for acoustic guitar players. The device includes a housing, a plurality of strings, and a circuit to generate a sound having a tone, wherein the tone is selected from the group consisting of A, D, and E tones. The circuit is housed in ... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7285708 | System of stringed musical instruments with substitutable fingerboards A stringed musical instrument having an elongate neck and a body which may have a resonant cavity at one end and a head at the other end thereof. Strings extend across the neck and, when vibrated, generate musical sounds. The invention relies upon fingerboards which... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7256336 | Stringed instrument and associated fret mapping method A stringed instrument and associated fret mapping method. The instrument includes a neck having a fret board provided with a plurality of frets having offset string contact regions along their length, whereby accurate intonation of a note is achieved when a string i... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7238875 | Electronic musical instrument There is provided an electronic musical instrument which is capable of muting by a simple operation. A plurality of fret operating elements are provided on a fingerboard, for determining the pitch. Six stringed operating elements for determining sounding timing are ... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7173175 | Stringed instrument fingerboard for use with a light-system A fingerboard (or fretboard) for use with a stringed instrument and light-system is disclosed and has a bottom surface adapted to mate or be attached to a neck of the instrument, and has wells extending from the bottom surface toward, but not through, a top surface.... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7084337 | Ergonomic stringed instrument A stringed instrument having a stationary support; one part of the instrument interfacing with the musician's sternum, another part pivotally interfacing with the support using two pivot axes mounted perpendicular to each other, first axis dependent on second axis. ... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7064259 | Electronic guitar training device A training device includes a tubular sleeve mounted to the guitar neck. The sleeve extends along a longitudinal length of the guitar neck and has an open and a closed end portion. A plurality of light-emitting diodes are connected in series and nested within the sle... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7060881 | Methods for manufacturing frets for stringed instruments Frets can be provided for stringed instruments without requiring a process for scraping both ends of a fret main body after the frets are installed into a fingerboard of a stringed instrument. Both ends of the fret main body are formed in a shape along a cross-secti... | 06/13/2006 |
| 7012180 | Apparatus and method for adjusting stringed musical instruments for fretted and unfretted play An apparatus and method for extending and retracting frets of stringed musical instruments such as a guitar or bass guitar. Each of a plurality of frets is an integral part of a fret-cylinder having an axis oriented approximately perpendicular to the direction of th... | 03/14/2006 |
| 6998526 | Capo device for stringed musical instrument A capo device for a stringed musical instrument having a series of strings extending along a fretboard with spaced frets, in which each string passes through an aperture in a capo element which is slidable on the string, each element being such that when held agains... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6984780 | Stringed instrument fingerboard with position markers A stringed instrument fingerboard with position markers for the improved recognition of notes, scales, chords, positions, intervals, and, fingering patterns. The array of position markers is an orderly arrangement of position markers on the fingerboard, in which eac... | 01/10/2006 |
| 6965066 | Elongated string support for a stringed musical instrument An elongated string support for a stringed musical instrument includes a neck having a heel portion, a head portion, and a finger-board portion extending axially between the heel portion and the head portion. The finger-board portion has a spiral profile from the he... | 11/15/2005 |
| 6956158 | Method of determining the fret positions for a fingerboard The position for a fret on a fingerboard for a stringed instrument having non-parallel strings of different scale lengths is determined by interpolating between, or extrapolating from, a fret position (R1, R2 etc.; G1, G2 etc.; Q1, | 10/18/2005 |
| 6911011 | Digit therapy device A digit therapy device and method for progressively desensitizing a patient's sensitive digit tip such as a sensitive tip of a finger, thumb, toe or big toe. In one embodiment of the invention, the device comprises at least one elongated flexible member and an optio... | 06/28/2005 |
| 6911590 | Interchangeable guitar A guitar having a shell body and a main body. The main body and/or a portion of the main body is detachably connected to the shell body. A neck is connected to the main body and/or the shell body. A bridge is connected to the main body. The neck includes a headstock... | 06/28/2005 |
| 6888055 | Guitar neck support rod A support rod has a core and has a composite material covering at least a portion of the core. The support rod is suitable for use in enhancing the rigidity of the neck of a musical instrument, such as a guitar. The support rod is also suitable for use in a wide var... | 05/03/2005 |
| 6852916 | Lute This invention relates to a lute comprising a body-shaped sound box and a neck attached thereto. The sound box is made up of a domed rear section and a cover. The aim of the invention is to provide a lute which can meet the needs of modern concert performances and b... | 02/08/2005 |
| 6706957 | Intonation system for fretted instruments The present invention discloses a custom compensated nut and a custom compensated saddle for fretted instruments. Several embodiments are provided for the compensated nut and for the compensated saddle of the present invention. The nut and saddle of the present inve... | 03/16/2004 |
| 6700043 | Electric guitar with tremolo unit An electric guitar with a tremolo unit that makes it easy to tune strings and install the strings. The electric guitar includes a lock device that prevents the strings from being shifted to offset positions. The lock device has a nut, which has an incline... | 03/02/2004 |
| 6657112 | Note bending by neck pivoting An improved stringed musical instrument (10) with a neck (12) which can be pivoted by wrist motion relative to the body (11). This action changes the length and therefore pitch of the strings. In addition, the pivot motion (P) may also adjust various elec... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6657113 | Molded fretboard and guitar A molded fretboard according to the present invention has integrally molded frets. The frets are composed of a molded mixture including a higher proportion by volume of glass beads than resin, thereby providing abrasion resistant characteristics that are ... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6613969 | Fret for stringed instruments One embodiment of the present invention is a fret adapted for insertion into a fingerboard of an instrument, the fret comprising: (a) a stem adapted to engage the fingerboard when inserted therein, the stem having one or more studs; and (b) a cap having a... | 09/02/2003 |
