JP7054715B2 - Stringed instruments with frets and zero frets used for them - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a stringed instrument with frets and the zero frets used therein .

Conventionally, an electric guitar having a plurality of strings, for example, 6 strings (hereinafter, also referred to as an electric guitar) consists of a body to which a pickup and a bridge are attached and a neck connected to the body, and is used as a saddle and a neck of the bridge. There is a string between it and the attached nut. A fingerboard with multiple frets is provided on the part of the neck facing the strings on the bridge side from the nut.

The frets are provided on the surface of the fingerboard and have a chevron shape with a high center and low sides when viewed from the side, and are provided to change the pitch. Moving one fret from one fret raises or lowers the pitch by a semitone. Such frets are attached to the calculated positions as described in Patent Document 1. Specifically, in the case of the twelve equal temperament, which is a temperament in which one octave is divided into 12 equal temperaments, the ratio of the frequencies of adjacent sounds (semitones) is 2 to the 12th root (≈1.05946 or its reciprocal 0.94388). Is. Therefore, the first fret is at 0.94388 times the length between the nut and saddle, in other words, the length of the string that is effective for playing, and the second fret is only 0.94388 times the length of the first fret. Attach each to the position where the length of the string becomes shorter. Then, by repeating the above calculation, the twelfth 12th fret is attached to the position of 0.94388 to the 12th power of the length of the open string, that is, the position of 1/2 of the length between the nut and the saddle. Be done. In the case of an electric guitar, the frets are generally provided up to the 22nd fret.

Such an electric guitar, for example, presses a string against a fret to produce a desired pitch. In the six strings, the pitch of the open string is tuned to a pitch determined according to the thickness of the string. As an example, the 1st string is E (sound name written in English, the same applies hereinafter), the 2nd string is B, the 3rd string is G, the 4th string is D, the 5th string is A, and the 6th string is the 6th string. It is tuned to E, which is two octaves below the first string. Before tuning each string, adjust the distance between the frets and the strings, that is, the string height, by adjusting the height of the bridge so that the strings do not touch the fingerboard when vibrating. Keep it. The string height is generally higher at higher positions than at lower positions near the nut.

One tuning method is to compare the actual pitch (frequency of the note) on the 12th fret with the pitch on the open string, and tune the former so that the pitch is one octave higher than the latter. be. If the actual pitch of the 12th fret and the pitch of the open string do not reach the pitch of one octave in this way, move the position of the saddle of the bridge toward or away from the neck to the pitch of one octave. Make the saddle stationary at the position where is established.

However, with an electric guitar tuned in this way, there is almost no difference between the actual pitch and the pitch corresponding to that fret around the 7th to 13th frets, but the other 1st fret ~ The inventor has found that there is a difference (hereinafter, also referred to as sound deviation) between the actual pitch and the pitch corresponding to the frets on the 6th fret and the 14th to 22nd frets. As shown in Fig. 9, the difference in pitch is up to 10 cents in the direction in which the pitch is generally higher when looking at the entire 1st to 6th strings (1 cent is 1/100 of a semitone). High).

This means that the tuning was performed at the 12th fret to a pitch of one octave, and the actual pitch of the sound produced by pressing the strings against the frets with respect to the pitch at the fret position obtained by calculation. It is considered that this is due to the change due to the change in the tension of the strings. In particular, the tension of the strings is considered to have a large effect on the pitch because the tension increases by pressing the strings against the frets. Moreover, since there is a limit to how low the string height can be as described above, if the string height is lowered based on the difference in pitch at the high position, the string will touch or touch the fret when playing at the low fret. There was a limit to lowering the string height.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-189690

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining a fret position of a stringed instrument with frets, which adjusts the position of the fret so that the deviation of the pitch is minimized for each fret. And.

That is, the fret position determination method of the present invention comprises a finger plate in which a string is stretched between a nut or zero fret and a saddle of a bridge and has a plurality of frets under the string, and the string is attached to the fret. It is a method of determining the fret position of a fret-equipped string instrument having a plurality of strings for selecting the pitch by contacting with, and attaching the frets up to the 12th fret to the fret position obtained by calculation, wherein the fret is attached to the finger plate. The fret is placed on the fret near the position of the nth (n is a natural number of 13 or more) fret after the open string is tuned, and the fret is placed on the fret. The string is vibrated while the string is pressed, and the position of the fret is adjusted so that the frequency of the vibrating fret corresponds to the pitch of the nth fret. This is a fret position determination method, characterized in that the fret position is set as the fret mounting position when the frequency of the nth fret and the frequency of the pitch of the nth fret match.

According to such a configuration, the nth fret is a finger when the frequency of the string and the pitch frequency of the nth fret match in the same situation as when playing a stringed instrument with frets. Determine the position of the frets on the board. Therefore, when playing a stringed instrument with frets with all frets attached, it is not affected by changes in the tension of each string, and the pitch corresponding to the frets and the actual sound at the frets above the 13th fret. The difference from the pitch of the fret can be minimized.

In order to minimize the sound deviation up to the 12th fret, it is desirable to tune the open string and then adjust the position of the nut or the zero fret to tune the open string again. By adjusting the position of the nut or zero fret in this way, even at the fret mounting position obtained by calculation, the pitch shift in the open string becomes smaller, so the sound when the fret is pressed The deviation can also be reduced.

Considering the position of the strings with respect to the fingerboard, it is desirable that the open strings to be tuned are treble strings.

In order to easily place the frets on the fingerboard, it is desirable that the frets are made of a chevron wire having a flat lower surface and a high center and low both sides when the upper surface is viewed from the side surface. In this way, if the lower surface is made flat, the frets can be easily brought into close contact with the fingerboard when placed on the fingerboard, and can be easily moved on the fingerboard.

Examples of the fret-attached stringed instrument to which the fret position determination method of the present invention is applied include an electric guitar or an electric bass, or an acoustic guitar or an acoustic bass.

The fret-attached string instrument nut or zero fret of the present invention is the fret-attached string instrument nut or zero fret in the fret position determination method of the present invention, and is a nut body or zero fret body that supports two strings each, and the nut. A fret-equipped string instrument nut or zero fret, comprising a pedestal that supports the body or zero fret body in a position-adjustable manner in the chord length direction.

According to such a configuration, when determining the fret position, it is possible to adjust the support position of the string by adjusting the position of the nut body or the zero fret body with respect to the pedestal after tuning the open string. Become. Therefore, the string length up to the 12th fret can be adjusted in detail, and the sound deviation at the low fret can be eliminated.

In order to facilitate the position adjustment of the nut body or the zero fret body, the pedestal supports the nut body or the zero fret body so as to be rotatable around the space between the two strings. Further, it is desirable that the pedestal supports the nut body so as to be movable in the chord length direction between the two strings.

As the zero fret body in such a zero fret, it is desirable that the shape seen from the side is the same as the fret attached to the fingerboard, which is composed of high central and low chevron wires on both sides.

Examples of the fretted stringed instrument to which the nut or zero fret of the fretted stringed instrument of the present invention is applied include an electric guitar or an electric bass, or an acoustic guitar or an acoustic bass.

As described above, according to the fret position determining method of the present invention, it is possible to reliably and substantially eliminate the sound deviation in the frets at high positions above the 13th fret. In addition, by using the nut or zero fret of the stringed instrument with frets of the present invention, it is possible to substantially eliminate the sound deviation at all frets.

Further, according to the nut or zero fret of the stringed instrument with frets of the present invention, the tuning accuracy of the open string can be improved, and the sound deviation at the frets up to the twelfth fret can be eliminated.

The front view of the electric guitar which concerns on this embodiment. The perspective view of the fret of this embodiment. The perspective view of the fret used when deciding the mounting position of this embodiment. The partial front view which shows the attached state of the nut and the zero fret in the neck of this embodiment in an enlarged manner. An exploded perspective view of the zero fret of the present embodiment. The front view which shows the electric guitar before performing the fret positioning work of this embodiment. An enlarged side view of a main part showing a state in which the fret position determination work of this embodiment is being performed. A table showing the difference in pitch at each fret of each string in this embodiment. A table showing the difference in pitch at each fret of each string in a conventional electric guitar.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The stringed instrument with frets in this embodiment is a 6-string electric guitar 100, and FIG. 1 is a drawing of the completed electric guitar 100. The completed electric guitar 100 includes a body 1 to which a pickup 11, a bridge 12, a volume controller 13, a sound quality controller 14, a pickup changeover switch 15, and the like are attached, and a neck 2 connected to the body 1. As the body 1, a generally known configuration can be applied.

The neck 2 is attached to the neck body 21 in which the truss rod is incorporated and the mounting positions where the first fret F1 to the twelfth fret F12 are determined by calculation, and the fret 3 above the thirteenth fret F13 is a fret described later. From the fingerboard 22 with the frets 3 attached to the neck body 21 at the position determined by the positioning method, the headstock 24 with the six pegs 23 attached at the predetermined positions, and the saddle 12a of the bridge 12. It consists of a nut 25 that guides the chord 4 to the determined peg 23, and a zero fret F0 that is the starting point of the effective chord length in the vicinity of the nut 25.

The fret 3 mounting position determined by calculation is a fret position obtained by calculating the distance to each fret using the following formula with the position of the saddle 12a of the bridge 12 as the base point.

fn = 2 ^{(12-n) / 12} * L / 2

Where n is a natural number from 0 to 12, and L is the effective chord length from the saddle of the bridge to the zero fret F0.

When calculated by applying the numbers to the above formula, the first fret F1, which is f1, is located at 0.944 times the effective string length, and the fifth fret F5, which is f5, is located at 0.749 times the string length. Attach the fret 3 of. Then, the 12th fret F12 is attached at a position that is 1/2 of the string length.

As shown in FIG. 2, the frets 3 to be used are provided in a chevron-shaped crown 31 having a flat lower surface and a high center and low both sides when viewed from the side surface, and a center of the lower surface of the crown 31 in the width direction. It consists of a tongue 32 embedded in the fingerboard 21. On the side surface of the tongue 32, protrusions 33 for preventing the frets 3 from coming off the fingerboard 21 are provided at predetermined intervals. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the fret 5 (hereinafter, also referred to as a positioning fret) used when determining the mounting position in the fret position determining method of the present invention, which will be described later, is the crown 31 of the fret 3 mounted on the fingerboard 21. It consists of a wire rod of the same shape as. The positioning fret 5 is obtained by cutting out the tongue 32 of the fretboard 3 attached to the fingerboard 22 and flattening the lower surface on which the cut out tongue 32 is provided so that only the crown is formed. The first fret F1 to the twelfth fret F12 are attached to the fingerboard 21 prior to attaching the fret 3 of the thirteenth fret F13 and above.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the nut 25 and the zero fret F0 are provided on the end side of the fingerboard 21 of the headstock 24. The nut 25 has a groove 25a formed on the upper surface thereof having a width substantially the same as the thickness of the string 4 (shown in FIG. 6). Therefore, the nut 25 is attached at a position where the zero fret F0 is sandwiched between the end of the fingerboard 21 while maintaining the distance between the adjacent strings 4.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the zero fret F0 has two strings 4 each, that is, the first string 41 and the second string 42, the third string 43 and the fourth string 44, and the fifth string 45 and the sixth string. Three zero fret main bodies F01 that support each of the strings 46, a pedestal F02 that supports each zero fret main body F01 so that the position can be adjusted in the chord length direction, and a pedestal F02 for fixing each zero fret main body F01 to the pedestal F02. It consists of a bolt F03.

The zero fret body F01 has the same shape as the crown 31 of the fret 3, and a mounting hole F04 through which the bolt F03 penetrates is provided in the center in the length direction thereof. The zero fret main body F01 is set to a length that is larger than the distance between the two strings and does not come into contact with the adjacent zero fret main body F01.

The pedestal F02 is provided with elongated holes F05 into which bolts F03 are inserted at three locations. A nut (not shown) is attached to the lower portion of the elongated hole F05 so as to be movable along the longitudinal direction of the elongated hole F05 and also to be movable in the vertical direction. In this embodiment, the pedestal F02 has a structure common to the three zero fret main bodies F01. In this case, when each zero fret main body F01 is fixed, the upper surface between the elongated holes F05 and the zero fret The lower surface of the main body F01 comes into contact with the zero fret main body F01, making it difficult to move and supporting it from below. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the zero fret position from moving during the performance.

The zero fret F0 is assembled by inserting the bolt F03 inserted into the mounting hole F04 of the zero fret main body F01 into the elongated hole F05. As shown by the arrow A1 in FIG. 4, the assembled zero fret F0 can rotate the zero fret body F01 to a desired angle around the bolt F03 with the bolt F03 loosened, and the arrow A2 in the figure. As shown by, the zero fret body F01 can be moved to a desired position in the chord length direction. Finally, by tightening the bolt F03, as shown in FIG. 4, the zero fret main body F01 is fixed at a desired position at a desired angle.

Prior to attaching the fret 3, as shown in FIG. 6, the electric guitar 100 can be played as an electric guitar 100 by attaching the neck 2 to the body 1 with no frets above the 13th fret F13 on the fingerboard 22. That is, it is assembled so that the sound can be output via the guitar amplifier. Then, in order to determine the position of the fret 3, one end of the first string 41, which is a high-pitched string in this embodiment, is fixed to the bridge 12, and the other end is wound around the peg 23, so that the saddle 12a and the zero fret of the bridge 12 are determined. Stretch between F0.

First, the first string 41 first turns the peg 23 to gradually increase the tension of the first string 41, and then tunes the frequency of the first string 41, that is, the frequency of the pitch of the open string to 326.63 Hz. do. After that, the position of the zero fret F0 is moved to the bridge 12 side or the headstock 24 side in the chord length direction, and the actual pitch is tuned so as to match the pitch at the 12th fret. A tuning meter (tuner) may be used for tuning. In addition to commercially available tuning meters for guitars, measuring devices that can measure the frequency of strings or the frequency of sound emitted by vibrating strings can be used.

After completing the tuning of the first string 41, the work of determining the mounting position of the nth fret is performed. In the work of determining the mounting position of the nth fret, the positioning fret 5 described above is used. The work procedure is as follows. In addition, n is a natural number of 13 or more. In this embodiment, the maximum value of n is 22.

Step 1: Place the positioning fret 5 on a location considered to be the mounting position of the nth fret of the fingerboard 22 (the area 6 in the case of the 13th fret is shown by a dotted line in FIG. 6). Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the first string 41 is pressed against the fingerboard 22 with, for example, a finger 7 in the vicinity of the positioning fret 5. With the first string 41 pressed down, the portion of the first string 41 on the saddle 12a side of the positioning fret 5 is flipped to vibrate the first string 41.

Step 2: Measure the frequency while the first string 41 is vibrating. If the measured frequency matches the pitch frequency of the nth fret, the position where the positioning fret 5 is placed at this point is determined as the fret mounting position of the nth fret.

Step 3: If the measured frequency does not match the pitch frequency of the nth fret and the measured frequency is higher than the pitch frequency of the nth fret, set the positioning fret 5 to the zero fret F0 side (Fig.). 7 is moved to (indicated by arrow A3). On the contrary, when the measured frequency is lower than the pitch frequency of the nth fret, the positioning fret 5 is moved to the saddle 12a side (indicated by the arrow A4 in FIG. 7).

Step 4: After the movement of the positioning fret 5 is completed, the first string 41 is pressed against the fingerboard 22 by the finger 7 in the vicinity of the positioning fret 5. With the first string 41 pressed down, the portion of the first string 41 on the saddle 12a side of the positioning fret 5 is flipped to vibrate the first string 41.

Step 5: Measure the frequency while the first string 41 is vibrating. If the measured frequency matches the pitch frequency of the nth fret, the position where the positioning fret 5 is placed at this point is determined as the fret mounting position of the nth fret.

The above steps 1 to 2 or steps 1 to 5 are performed for each fret position, and the mounting position of each fret is determined.

After determining the fret mounting positions, the first string 41 is once removed from the electric guitar 100, and a groove for embedding the tongue 32 of the fret 3 is cut at each fret mounting position of the fingerboard 22. After that, the tongue 32 is inserted into the groove cut at each fret mounting position, and the fret 3 is mounted. The fretboard 3 is attached up to the last 22nd fret F22 to complete the fingerboard 3.

In the electric guitar 100 to which the 13th fret F13 to the 22nd fret F22 are attached in this way, even if each fret 3 is pressed during performance, the tension of each string 4 is the same as the tension when determining the fret attachment position. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, the pitch difference between the pitch of each fret 3 and the actual pitch is approximately plus or minus 3 cents or less. Such sound deviations are very difficult to recognize audibly. Therefore, since no sound deviation is felt during performance, especially when playing chords, it is possible to play a song with almost no muddy musical sound, and the impression in hearing can be remarkably improved.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.
Although the 6-string electric guitar 100 has been described in the above embodiment, it can be applied to a stringed instrument with a fret such as an electric bass, an acoustic guitar, and an acoustic bass. The electric guitar may be a string other than the 6th string, such as a 7th string, a 10th string, or a 12th string. In that case, the number of pegs 23 and saddles 12a is increased according to the number of strings 4, and the pickup 11 is also used with an increased number of pole pieces. It may be applied to a headless or a headless type electric guitar.

Further, the stringed instruments with frets include those of the genus Mandolin, banjos, zithers, bouzoukis, and the like.

Although the fret 3 including the crown 31 and the tongue 32 has been described in the above embodiment, it may be the same as the fret only for the crown 31, that is, the fret 5 for positioning described in the above embodiment. In this case, the frets without tongues are attached by fixing them to the fingerboard 22 via an adhesive or the like. Further, in the case of frets without tongue, since the frets without tongue can be used for positioning work when determining the fret mounting position, the positioning fret 5 used in the above embodiment becomes unnecessary. .. Further, since it is not necessary to provide the fingerboard 22 with a groove into which the tongue 32 is inserted when the fret without the tongue is attached, the number of steps can be reduced.

In the above embodiment, the electric guitar 100 provided with the nut 25 and the zero fret F0 has been described, but the zero fret F0 may be used as the nut. In this case, since the zero fret body F01 has a structure that can be rotated around the bolt F03, a string guide is provided between the zero fret F0 and the peg 23 instead of the nut 25, and six strings are always used. It is configured to come into contact with the zero fret F0 at the same intervals.

Further, the zero fret body F0 may be one in which the zero fret body F01 is rotatably attached to the pedestal F02 around the bolt F03, or one in which the zero fret body F01 is movably attached to the seat F02 in the chord length direction.

Further, the pedestal F02 is not common to the three zero fret main bodies F01 as in the above embodiment, but may be provided for each zero fret main body F01.

In addition, an independent zero fret body may be provided for each string, and each zero fret body may be provided on the pedestal so that the position can be adjusted independently.

In the above embodiment, the zero fret body F01 is adjusted in position after tuning the open string. However, when a fixed zero fret or nut whose position cannot be adjusted is used, the fret is adjusted after tuning the open string. In order to determine the mounting position, the above steps 1 to 5 may be performed as appropriate.
In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

100 ... Electric guitar (stringed instrument with frets)
4 ... String 25 ... Nut F0 ... Zero fret 12 ... Bridge 12a ... Saddle 3 ... Fret 22 ... Fingerboard

Claims (4)

A freted stringed instrument with a zero fret placed between the nut and the first fret.
The zero fret includes a zero fret body that supports the strings and a pedestal that supports the zero fret body so that the position can be adjusted in the chord length direction.
The zero fret body supports two adjacent strings.
A stringed instrument with frets, wherein the pedestal rotatably supports the zero fret body at a central portion in the length direction of the zero fret body, centered between the two strings. The stringed instrument with frets according to claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the zero fret body has a chevron shape with a high center and low sides. The fretted stringed instrument according to claim 1 or 2, which is an electric guitar, an electric bass, an acoustic guitar, or an acoustic bass. A zero fret placed between the nut of a stringed instrument with frets and the first fret.
It is provided with a zero fret body that supports the strings and a pedestal that supports the zero fret body so that the position can be adjusted in the chord length direction.
The zero fret body supports two adjacent strings.
The zero fret is characterized in that the pedestal rotatably supports the zero fret body at a central portion in the length direction of the zero fret body centered between the two strings.

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