60 items in Patents
Year: 2004
Novel ergonomic guitar body design incorporating an angled waist on the treble side of the roundback bowl and a contoured ridge along the bass side. The angled waist facilitates ergonomic support on the performer leg and allows correct playing position on either leg. The contoured ridge with a concave portion stabilizes the guitar and prevents rocking when held in seated or standing positions.
Year: 2004
Ergonomic roundback guitar body design featuring an angled waist on the treble side and a contoured ridge on the bass side of the bowl, improving player comfort by preventing rotation on the leg when seated and reducing rocking when standing. Filed by Kaman Music Corporation with priority date July 31, 2003.
Year: 2003
This European patent describes a top member (soundboard) for the body of an acoustical stringed instrument, such as a guitar, utilizing a laminated composite material construction. The forward part features an interior portion with paired composite material layers bonded around a core layer, and a surrounding core-free flex edge portion that allows the interior sound board to vibrate more freely than prior art designs. The invention also includes optional rearwardly projecting skirts and sound hole flanges that provide structural reinforcement, reducing the need for traditional bracing while improving tonal, dynamic, and sustain characteristics.
Year: 2002
This European patent application by Kaman Music Corporation describes a bridge-type piezoelectric pickup for guitars and other stringed instruments featuring a flexible circuit board carrying pairs of transversely polarized piezoelectric crystals for each string. Each string has two closely spaced crystals supporting a common saddle, allowing differentiation between in-plane and longitudinal string vibrations through voltage bucking circuitry. The design incorporates active semiconductor operational amplifier circuits near each crystal set to provide high impedance input and low impedance output, reducing cross-talk between strings and improving frequency response.
Year: 2002
This patent describes an acoustical stringed instrument featuring a hollow body with a composite material top member and bowl-shaped back member, combined with a neck member that mounts to the body at two points — at the upper and lower sections of the body side wall — to provide rigid alignment in all three axial directions. The neck member includes an elongated upper portion extending upwardly from the body and an elongated lower portion extending through the hollow interior of the body, with upper and lower mounting means fixed to the inner side wall surfaces. This dual-point neck/body connection significantly reduces the need for traditional structural reinforcements such as neck blocks and torsion bars, improving both structural integrity and acoustic performance.
Year: 2001
Japanese patent application for an improved composite top member (soundboard) for acoustic stringed instruments. Features a center-free flex edge design with paired composite material layers and a center layer, allowing the soundboard to vibrate more freely than conventional laminated tops. Reduces the need for internal bracing. Filed by Kaman Music Corporation with US priority 09/574356.
Year: 2001
A piezoelectric bridge pickup for guitars and other stringed instruments featuring a flexible circuit board with pairs of laterally polarized piezoelectric crystals for each string, mounted beneath individual saddles. The design reduces crosstalk between adjacent strings, improves assembly ease, and includes active semiconductor circuits (op-amp modules) for each channel providing high-impedance input and low-impedance output. The pickup body is made from graphite/epoxy composite material with a decorative plastic cap.
Year: 2001
This patent describes a bridge-type piezoelectric pickup for guitars and other stringed instruments that uses a flexible circuit board carrying pairs of transversely-polarized piezoelectric crystals for each string. Each pair of crystals is closely spaced along the string length, with a common saddle resting on both crystals to support the associated string, enabling differentiation between in-plane and longitudinal string vibrations. The design reduces cross-talk between strings, minimizes frequency response losses, and supports multiple independent signal channels with active operational amplifier circuits mounted via surface-mount technology on the flexible circuit board.
Year: 2001
Japanese patent application for an acoustic stringed instrument with a composite material body and neck assembly. Features a neck block-free design where the neck member attaches at two points on the body inner wall, providing structural strength with reduced weight. Uses graphite fiber reinforced composite materials. Filed by Kaman Music Corporation with US priority 09/575320.
Year: 2001
This European Patent Application by Kaman Music Corporation describes an acoustical stringed instrument featuring a body with a flat forward top member and a back member with a side wall having upper and lower sections. The instrument includes a neck member with an elongated upper portion extending upwardly from the body side wall and an elongated lower portion extending through the interior of the body, mounted to the inner side wall surface at both upper and lower sections. The design aims to improve structural integrity and playability of the stringed instrument through its unique neck-to-body mounting configuration.
Year: 2001
This European Patent Application by Kaman Music Corporation describes an acoustical stringed instrument featuring a hollow body with a top member, a bowl-shaped back member, and a neck member mounted at two points to provide superior neck-to-body alignment and rigidity in all three axial directions. The neck member includes an elongated upper portion extending upwardly from the body side wall and an elongated lower portion extending through the body interior, with upper and lower mounting means fixed to the inner side wall surface. The instrument is primarily constructed of composite materials such as carbon fiber fabric embedded in epoxy resin, reducing the need for traditional structural reinforcements like neck blocks and torsion bars while maintaining acoustical performance.
Year: 2001
This European Patent Application by Kaman Music Corporation describes a composite top member for the body of an acoustical stringed instrument, such as a guitar. The top member features a forward part with an interior sound board portion having paired composite material layers bonded around a core layer, surrounded by a core-free flex edge portion that allows more unrestricted vibration than traditional wooden or prior composite soundboards. A rearwardly projecting skirt along the edge of the flex portion slidably fits over the instrument body sidewall during assembly, providing structural reinforcement while reducing the need for internal bracing.
Year: 2001
This patent describes a top member for the body of an acoustical stringed instrument (such as a guitar) that uses a laminated composite construction featuring a pair of composite material layers with a core layer bonded between them in the interior (sound board) portion. A core-free flex edge portion surrounds the interior portion, allowing it to vibrate more freely than prior art laminated sound boards, thereby improving tonal, dynamic, and acoustic performance. A rearwardly projecting skirt extends along the edge of the flex edge portion and slidably fits over the sidewall of the instrument body during assembly, eliminating the need for auxiliary mounting rings or lining strips.
Year: 1999
Improved guitar headstock tuning machine head design where the adjusting handle axis of rotation is inclined rearwardly relative to the fingerboard plane at an angle between 90 and 180 degrees to the winding peg axis, making tuning more ergonomic by allowing handles to fall naturally to the player hand without uncomfortable wrist flexion. Filed by Kaman Music Corporation (Ovation parent company). UK patent application divided from earlier application 9504498.8, filed 07.03.1995, published 24.02.1999.
Year: 1998
UK patent for an improved guitar headstock tuning arrangement where each machine head has a rotatable adjusting handle with its axis of rotation inclined at approximately 30 degrees relative to the perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the instrument. The handle is also inclined rearwardly relative to the plane of the fingerboard, allowing the tuning handle to fall naturally to the player's hand for more ergonomic tuning. Multiple headstock configurations are described including inclined mounting holes, non-perpendicular winding peg axes, and rearwardly inclined headstock portions. Filed by Kaman Music Corporation (Ovation parent company), divided from application 9504498.8.
Year: 1998
This patent describes a control circuit for a guitar or other musical instrument that uses proximity-sensitive capacitive pads embedded in the instrument's body to detect when a performer's hand or finger comes near discrete areas on the outer surface. The system converts these proximity signals into control inputs that vary a parameter of the derivative sound—such as volume or intensity—without requiring traditional knobs or switches. The pads are mounted on a flexible printed circuit board adhered to the inner surface of the hollow guitar body, and an oscillator-based detection circuit responds to capacitance changes caused by the proximity of a human body part to adjust the audio output accordingly.
Year: 1997
A control circuit for guitars and other musical instruments with electromechanical pickups that uses electrically conductive pads fixed to discrete areas on the outer surface of the instrument. These pads are proximity-sensitive, allowing the performer to control sound parameters such as volume by simply touching or bringing a hand into close proximity with the pads, eliminating the need for traditional knobs and switches. The system includes oscillator and detection circuits for each pad, address encoding, a latching analog switch, and a voltage divider to provide eight discrete volume levels. Assigned to Kaman Music Corporation (Ovation parent company).
Year: 1996
Improved guitar headstock with rearwardly-inclined machine-head adjusting handles. The axis of rotation of the adjusting handle is inclined rearwardly relative to the plane of the finger-board and non-parallel to the axis of rotation of the winding peg, allowing natural hand positioning for tuning without uncomfortable wrist flexion. Assigned to Kaman Music Corporation (Ovation). Patent granted June 2, 1998; filed March 6, 1996. Application No. 612,454. 11 claims, 6 drawing sheets.
Year: 1996
This patent describes a stringed instrument (such as a guitar) featuring an improved tuning mechanism mounted on a peghead/tuning plate, where the rotation axis of the tuning knob is tilted rearward relative to the plane of the fretboard and is not parallel to the rotation axis of the winding shaft. Additionally, the tuning knob's rotation axis is angled at an acute angle (approximately 30°) relative to a perpendicular to the instrument's longitudinal axis, generally pointing toward the opposite end of the instrument. This ergonomic design allows a player to more naturally grasp and operate the tuning mechanics without awkward wrist bending or having to visually locate the tuning peg.
Year: 1996
This UK patent describes an improved guitar headstock tuning system where each machine-head has a rotatable winding peg and an adjusting handle whose axis of rotation is inclined rearwardly relative to the plane of the fingerboard and is non-parallel to the winding peg axis. The invention also incorporates the handle axis being inclined at an acute angle relative to a perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the instrument, generally toward the sound box. This design improves ergonomics by allowing the tuning handles to fall naturally to the player's hand without requiring uncomfortable wrist flexion.
Year: 1986
This is a design patent for the ornamental appearance of a guitar, filed by C. William Kaman II and assigned to Kaman Music Corporation. The patent shows multiple views of a guitar with distinctive features including a rounded bowl-shaped body and a decorative headstock design.
Year: 1984
This patent describes a molded plastic guitar top for acoustic stringed instruments, comprising a single piece of thermosetting plastic sheet molding compound consisting of approximately 40% glass fibers and 60% resin. The sounding board features a circular sound hole with concentric annular reinforcing ribs and rectilinear ribs extending longitudinally that intersect the annular ribs to provide structural reinforcement. The design aims to overcome the limitations of traditional wood soundboards, including susceptibility to humidity, cracking, and inconsistent acoustic properties, while enabling low-cost, uniform mass production.
Year: 1983
This is a design patent for an ornamental guitar design featuring a distinctive decorative pattern on the body near the sound hole and neck junction. The patent was filed by Charles H. Kaman of Farmington, Connecticut, and granted on December 18, 1984. The design shows multiple views of the guitar including front, side, rear, and bottom elevations.
Year: 1983
This design patent covers the ornamental appearance of a guitar featuring a distinctive rounded body shape with decorative cutouts on the upper bout, a standard neck with frets and tuning pegs, and a unique aesthetic design. The guitar shows characteristics typical of Ovation guitars with their distinctive rounded back design and decorative elements on the body.
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