Tremolo bridge apparatus
First Claim
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1. A bearing system for a tremolo bridge of a guitar, comprising:
- a bearing surface mountable on a body of a guitar;
a rocker mountable on the tremolo bridge, said rocker defining a rocker surface contactable to and cooperating with said bearing surface to provide smooth movement of the tremolo bridge;
the bearing surface and the rocker surface being configured so that in an assembled bearing system on a guitar an imaginary plane intersecting the surfaces through a point of contact between them defines two lines having a point of contact at the intersections of the plane with the surfaces, the line defined by the intersection of the imaginary plane with the bearing surface being straight adjacent the point of contact and the line defined by the intersection of the imaginary plane with the rocker surface defining a continuous curve adjacent the point of contact, whereby a smooth rocking action with minimal resistance is facilitated.
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Abstract
A bearing system for a floating bridge tremolo device where a bearing surface carried by the guitar and a rocker surface carried by the bridge cooperate to provide a smooth rolling action, the intersection of the bearing and rocker surfaces with an imaginary plane through a point of contact between the surfaces yielding a straight line in the case of the bearing surface and a smooth continuous curve in the case of the rocker surface, this configuration giving the result that resistance to rocking is minimized.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A bearing system for a tremolo bridge of a guitar, comprising:
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a bearing surface mountable on a body of a guitar; a rocker mountable on the tremolo bridge, said rocker defining a rocker surface contactable to and cooperating with said bearing surface to provide smooth movement of the tremolo bridge;
the bearing surface and the rocker surface being configured so that in an assembled bearing system on a guitar an imaginary plane intersecting the surfaces through a point of contact between them defines two lines having a point of contact at the intersections of the plane with the surfaces, the line defined by the intersection of the imaginary plane with the bearing surface being straight adjacent the point of contact and the line defined by the intersection of the imaginary plane with the rocker surface defining a continuous curve adjacent the point of contact, whereby a smooth rocking action with minimal resistance is facilitated. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A guitar tremolo bridge bearing system supporting a tremolo bridge, comprising:
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a bearing surface carried by a guitar body, said bearing surface being configured such that the intersection of said bearing surface and at least one plane gives a line having a straight central portion intermediate two confinement portions which diverge from the straight central portion to define a valley shape having a flat bottom and confining sides; a rocker in rolling contact with the bearing surface, the rocker defining a rocker surface in contact with said bearing surface, said surface being configured such that the intersection of the at least one plane with said surface defines a line which is continuous and curves smoothly, said rocker being carried by the tremolo bridge, the rocker cooperating with the bearing surface to provide a smooth rolling action in allowing the tremolo bridge to rock back and forth on the tremolo bridge bearing from a first neutral balance position. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A tremolo bridge support bearing system for a guitar, comprising:
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a support post carried by a guitar, the support post further comprising a bearing seat surface segment having a longitudinal axis and a first end and a second end, the bearing seat segment further comprising a first frustoconical segment having a decreasing radius along the longitudinal axis in a direction from the first end of the bearing segment to the second end of the bearing segment, and a second frustoconical segment having an increasing radius along the longitudinal axis in a direction from the first end of the bearing segment to the second end of the bearing segment, and a right circular cylindrical segment intermediate the first and second frustoconical segments; a rocker having a curved surface in contact with the bearing seat surface segment of the support post, the rocker being carried by the tremolo bridge and facilitating a smooth relative movement between the bridge and the guitar body to provide a tremolo effect.
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Specification