United States Patent us! 3,685,385
Rendell (45) Aug, 22, 1972
(54) GUITAR 765.019 7/1904 Larson... 84/267
(72] Inventor: Stanley E. Rendell, Kalamazoo, 3474697 10/1969 Kaman. 84/291 X
et FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS
(731. Assignee: Chicago Misical Instrument Coy 414,158 5/1925 Germany. 84/291
[22] Filed: June 22, 1971 Primary Esaminer—Richard B-wWilknson
Assistant Examiner—John F. Gonzales
[21} Appl. No. 185,554 ‘Attorney —Carlton Hill etal.
152] US.Ch. 84/267, 84/291 [ST] ABSTRACT
151] Intl. G10d 1/08, G10d 3/00, ; i
top of a guitar body is provided on its underside
158] Feld of Seare.....84/267, 290, 291, jeaiang With two pais of braces, arranged as crosses, and &
transverse brace. In addition, there are two transverse
thin wood strips and a longitudinal wood strip, the
el aan grain of which strips extends transversely to the grain
UNITED STATES PATENTS. of the top.
72,591 12/1867 Bini 84/291 13 Claims, § Drawing FiguresPATENTED us22 i972
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1
GUITAR
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field ofthe Invention
This invention relates to musical instruments, and 5
‘more specifically to bracing utilized on the underside of
the top of a guitar body.
2. Prior Art
Flat top guitars, sometimes referred to as classic
guitars, are normally not electrified and therefore they
depend to a great extent upon the construction of the
body for the purpose of imparting the sound that the in-
strument gives off when a particular string is caused to
vibrate at a particular frequency. Disregarding em-
bellishments, the general appearance of a poor sound-
ing guitar is not too different from that of a good sound-
ing guitar, Nevertheless, there is quite a spectrum of
quality than can be obtained from instruments which
hhave quite strikingly similar appearance. Thus it has
been the goal of serious guitar designers for a long time
to provide a tonal response that will be as pleasing as
possible to the musical car.
Thave found that superior tonal response can be ob-
tained, all things else being equal, when the top is pro-
vided with appropriate unique bracing. This bracing in-
cludes two pairs of braces each arranged as crosses,
there being other bracing in the forms of strips of wood
which have their grain running transversely to the grain
of the top,
Accordingly, itis an object of the present invention
to provide a construction of a guitar by which improved
tonal response is obtained.
A further more specific object of the present inven-
tion is to provide a guitar body that is so constructed
that the sound will be exceptionally clear.
Another specific object of the present invention is to
provide a guitar body having bracing so arranged that
the tonal reponse of the instrument will be uniform
along the length of all six ofits strings.
Another specific object of the present invention is to
provide bracing for a guitar body such that the ability
of the body to sustain notes in all registers will be ex-
ceptional
Thus itis an object of the present invention to pro-
vide a guitar body having a unique sound wherein the
tones are sustained longer, where there is greater
resonance, where there is ‘clearness of sound, and
where the high range and low range and middle range
all sound better.
A sill further object of the present invention is to
provide uniformity of vibration of the top in various
areas thereof.
Many other advantages, features and additional ob-
jects of the present invention will become manifest to
those versed in the art upon making reference to the
detailed description of the accompanying drawing in
which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating
the present invention is shown by way of illustrative ex-
ample.
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ON THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a plan elevational view of the underside of
the top of the body of a guitar provided in accordance
with the present invention;
FIG. 2is aside elevational view of such guitar top;
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken
along line Ill—IIl of FIG.
6s
385
2
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken
along line IV—IV of FIG. 1; and
FIG, 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken
along line V—V of FIG. 1.
‘AS SHOWN ON THE DRAWING
The principles of the present invention are particu-
larly useful when embodied in a string instrument such
as a guitar having a body to which is secured a bridge
and a neck which supports strings, as is conventional
In order to understand the novel construction of this
guitar, itis only necessary to consider the bracing that
is applied to the underside of the top of the body.
‘The guitar body thus includes a top 10, its underside
being shown in FIG. 1 as if it were viewed from the
side of the body. The top has an aperture 11 and is con-
structed of wood, such as spruce, and to assure sym-
metry in appearance and in performance, the wood is
‘cut or sliced along a plane with the edges thereof
abutted together to form a central seam 12. (If the
seam 12 were a hinge, the two halves of the top could
‘be moved back to the relative position in which the
portions of the top grew.)
Spruce is preferred wood for the top, as is conven-
tional, and bracing means are provided on the under-
side of the top 10.
According to the present invention, the bracing
‘means lying on opposite sides of the central seam 12 is
symmetrical, one side with the other.
The bracing means include primarily a first pair of
braces 13,14, a second pair of braces 15,16 and a cross,
brace 17.'The first pair of braces 13,14 form a cross
having two arms 18,19 lying adjacent to the aperture
11, They are substantially tangent thereto except that
they are set back, one reason being to minimize the ex-
tent to which they are seen. The first pair of braces
13,14 has two arms 20,21 which are disposed to be ad-
Jjacent to the bridge. The bridge is not shown, but the
dotted line 22 indicates an area on the upper side of the
guitar approximately where the bridge is located. The
second pair of braces 15,16 has two arms 23,24 which
also lie adjacent to the bridge. The first pair of braces
13,14 has an intersection 25 and the second pair of
braces 18,16 has an intersection 26 which overlie the
central seam 12.
‘The four arms 20,21,23,24 jointly define a quadri-
lateral area over which the bridge is supported. In that
the arm 24 is parallel to the arm 20 and the arm 23 is
parallel to the arm 21, the quadrilateral area is a paral-
Telogram. In that such arms are equal in length, such
parallelogram is a rhombus.
FIG. 1 has been shaded to show the direction in
which the grain of each component extends. Thus the
braces 13-16 extend transversely, and more specifi-
cally diagonally, with respect to the direction of the
‘wood grain, while the cross brace 17 extends at right
angles to the direction of the grain of the top 10. The
‘eross brace 17 is also adjacent to the aperture 11 but is
remote from the intersection 25.
A stiffener plate 27, preferably of hard maple, sub-
stantially fully underlies the quadrilateral bridge area
and provides a thickening of the top in such area.
A strip of wood 28 like the stiffener plate 27 is
disposed to span the seam 12, and the strip of wood 28
has its grain running transversely to its length so that
the grain thereof is at right angles to the grain of the top3,685,385
3
10. Thus substantially all of the central seam 12 is
spanned between the aperture 11 and the more remote
end of the body.
‘A further strip of wood 29 is provided centrally, such
strip here comprising a section 29a and a section 29 5
each extending ftom the intersection 25 to the adjacent
edge of the top 10 with its grain being parallel to its
length and at right angles to the length and grain of the
top 10.
A third strip of wood 30 has its grain running along 10
its length and is also disposed parallel to the cross brace
17; thus the grain of the strip 30 is transverse, namely
perpendicular, to the grain of the top 10,
Preferably, other strips of wood 31,32, and 33 may
be provided as shown, they being conventional. It is 15
also conventional to taper the end of any brace that ex-
tends up to the edge of the top 10, such tapering ending
with virtually a feather edge that blends tangentially
into the surface. This is shown at the opposite ends of
the braces 13-17 and the strips 29,30 to provide 20
clearance so that the top 10 with its bracing means can
be attached to the side of the guitar body. The upper
tends of the braces 15,16 have also been cut away
slightly to provide constructional clearance, The stif-
fener plate 27 has a beveled edge as shown.
Intersections 25,26 are formed by each of the braces,
being provided with a notch that extends halfway
therethrough whereby each of the braces is continuous.
With the construction of the present invention, the
instrument produces an exceptionally clear sound and 30
has uniformal tonal response along the length of each
of the six strings associated with such guitar. Further-
more, when a string is plucked, the tone produced
thereby is sustained irrespective of which string or
which frequency is involved, to an improved extent.
‘Although various minor modifications may be sug-
gested by those versed in the art, it should be un-
derstood that I wish to embody within the scope of the
patent warranted hereon, all such embodiments as
reasonably and properly come within the scope of my 40
contribution to the art.
T claim as my invention:
1. A guitar having a body provided with an apertured
top for supporting a bridge on its upper side, and brac-
ing means secured to the underside of said top, said
bracing means comprising:
a. a first pair of braces arranged as a cross with two
arms thereof disposed adjacent to the aperture in
said top, and with two arms thereof disposed ad-
jacent said bridge; and
b. a second pair of braces arranged as a cross with
two arms thereof disposed adjacent to said bridge.
2. A guitar according to claim 1 in which said arms
adjacent to said bridge define a quadrilateral area.
3. A guitar according to claim 1 in which one arm of $3
each cross is parallel to one arm of the other cross,
whereby the area jointly defined by the arms adjacent
to said bridge is a parallelogram.
4. A guitar according to claim 3 in which said area is,
shaped as a rhombus.
5. A guitar according to claim 2 in which said quadri-
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6s
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Tateral area is substantially fully undertaid by a stiffener
plate secured to said top.
6. A guitar according to claim S in which said top and
stil 0d eri
Stifter ate befng transeense 10° he SoG Behn
said top.
7. A guitar according to claim 1 in which said top is
wooden and has a central seam along its length, the in-
tersections of both os said pais of arms underlying said
seam.
8. A guitar according to claim 7 in which the bracing
means includes further bracing so that substantially the
‘entire seam from the aperture to the more remote end.
of said top is spanned thereby.
9. A guitar according to claim 7 including a stiffener
plate secured to said top and disposed in a quadrilateral
area defined by said arms adjacent to said bridge, said
plate spanning said seam, and a strip of wood secured
to said top and having its grain transverse to its length
and disposed in spanning relation to said seam remotely
from said stiffener plate.
10. A guitar according to claim 1 in which said top is
‘wooden and has its grain running along the length of
the top, and at least one strip of wood secured to said
top and having its grain parallel to the length of said
strip and disposed in spanning relation to the grain of
the top between the intersection of one of said pairs of |
arms and the adjacent edge of said top.
11. A guitar according to claim 1 in which said top is
‘wooden and has its grain running along the length of
the top, said bracing including a cross brace extending
transversely to said grain adjacent to said aperture
remotely from the intersection of said first pair of
braces, and a strip of wood secured to said top parallel
to said cross brace.
12. A guitar according to claim 1 in which the con-
struction of said bracing is symmetrical along the
Tength of said body.
13. A guitar according to claim 4,
a. said top being wooden and having a central seam
parallel to its grain, said seam extending over the
intersections of both of said pairs of arms; includ-
ing
». astiffener plate of hardwood substantially fully un-
derlying said rhombus-shaped area with its grain
transverse to that of said top and to said seam;
¢. astrip of wood secured to said top and having its
sgrain transverse to the length of said strip, and the
grain of said strip being in spanning relation to said
seam remotely from said stiffener plate;
4. at least one strip of wood secured to said top and
having its grain parallel to its own length and
spanning the grain of the top between the interse
tion of said first pair of braces and the opposite
edges of said top;
¢. across brace extending transversely to the grain of
said top adjacent to said aperture remotely from
the intersection of said braces; and
f. a strip of wood secured to said top parallel to said
cross brace.