United States Patent: 3552255

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( 131012 of 131286 )

United States Patent	3,552,255
Kaston	January 5, 1971

MUTE FOR STRINGED INSTRUMENTS

Abstract

A mute having a groove in one direction to fit over the edge of the bridge of a violin or other stringed instruments, at least one slot of limited dimensions to allow the mute to be slipped onto a string or strings and to remain there both when the mute is in use and when it is not, and one of two channels or passageways perpendicular to the groove to encircle one or two strings.

Inventors:	Kaston; Henryk (White Plains, NY)
Appl. No.:	04/843,258
Filed:	May 26, 1969

Current U.S. Class: 84/310 ; 984/113; D17/20

Current International Class: G10D 3/00 (20060101); G10D 3/04 (20060101); G10d 003/04 ()

Field of Search: 84/274,310,311,273

References Cited [Referenced By]

U.S. Patent Documents


D126040	March 1941	Alemany
759375	May 1904	Istas
2175007	October 1939	Warner
2483268	September 1949	Fawick

Primary Examiner: Wilkinson; Richard B.
Assistant Examiner: Gonzales; John F.

Parent Case Text

This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 735,005, filed Jun. 6, 1968, now abandoned.

Claims

I claim:

1. A mute for a stringed instrument having a bridge, said mute comprising: a body comprising a clamping portion; a channel through said body; a substantially closed slot through said body to said channel to permit said body to be slipped onto a string of said instrument; and a leg extending alongside said clamping portion and resiliently biased toward said clamping portion to pinch an edge of said bridge between said leg and said clamping portion.

2. The mute of claim 1 in which said body is entirely one piece of resilient material and has a surface that is soft relative to said bridge.

3. The mute of claim 2 in which said mute is made of rubber.

4. The mute of claim 2 in which said leg is an integral part of said body.

5. The mute of claim 1 in which said channel is elongated in one direction and said leg extends from one end of said body near one end of said channel toward the opposite end of said body.

6. The mute of claim 5 comprising, in addition: a handle extending from said one end of said body portion to prevent said mute from rotating more than a predetermined amount on said string.

7. The mute of claim 6 in which a part of said channel extends through said leg and the free end of said leg is bifurcated by said channel.

8. The mute of claim 7 in which the portion of said channel through said leg is wider than the thickness of said string adjacent to said bridge.

9. The mute of claim 7 in which an end of said leg is integral with said body and the portion of said channel through said leg extends farther toward the integral end of said leg and said body than the adjoining portion of said channel through said body.

10. The mute of claim 1 in which said leg is an integral portion of said body and extends along one side thereof and is joined thereto in a limited region, the remainder of said leg facing said body and forming therewith a groove to fit over and resiliently hold said bridge.

11. The mute of claim 10 in which said channel extends into said region farther than said groove, whereby, when said mute is pressed onto said bridge as far as possible, a portion of said channel will extend above said bridge.

12. The mute of claim 1 comprising, in addition: a second channel through said body; and a second substantially closed slot through said body to said second channel to permit said body to be slipped onto a second string of said instrument at the same time it is slipped onto said first-named string.

13. The mute of claim 12 in which said first-named channel and said second channel are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the spacing about said first-named string and said second string and said channels are large enough to encircle said strings without touching them.

14. The mute of claim 12 in which each of said slots extends directly from its respective channel to the outer perimeter of said body.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to mutes for stringed instruments and, in particular, to a novel mute having one or two passageways through which one or two of the strings passes and one or two portions that clamp the mute onto the bridge of a stringed instrument.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mutes for stringed instruments are usually made so that they clamp onto the relatively sharp edge of the bridge that transmits vibrations from the strings to the body of the instrument. The exact analysis of the acoustical modification in sound transmission produced by the mute is complex, as indeed the analysis of sound production by the instrument is itself most complex. Suffice it to say that the mute does add mass to the bridge and perhaps damps out some of the high harmonics of the string vibrations or at least does not permit the bridge to transmit such harmonics as readily.

The musical effect of a mute is quite noticeable and many musical compositions call for muted passages for various stringed instruments. Such passages may be rather short and may occur after only a short rest, during which the musician must put the mute into place in such a way that it is not in danger of falling off in the middle of the muted passage and does not substantially affect the active length, and thereby the fundamental frequency, of any of the strings.

Musicians may carry a number of mutes in their pockets to be sure to have one readily available when it is needed during a performance, since it is quite common to lose a mute while it is being put on or after it has been taken off, and normally it would be impossible or at least inconvenient to search for a lost mute during a performance.

Heretofore mutes have been molded of elastic material in a simple bifurcated shape that allowed them to be slid onto the upper, rather sharp edge of the bridge between two of the strings. Nothing prevented such a mute from falling off except the pinching pressure of its own two parts, and in order to increase this pressure, wire has been molded into the elastic material, which substantially increased the cost of the mute.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, a mute is provided with one of more channels or passageways through its body and one of more cuts to permit the mute to be slipped onto one or more of the strings and left there. In addition to the body with the passageway through it, the mute comprises a second part that serves as a clamp to attach the mute to the bridge. For example, the mute may be made of rubber or other relatively soft elastic material molded or formed with a groove substantially perpendicular to the passageway or passageways. The groove partially divides the mute into two parts elastically joined together. The size of the passageway must be sufficient to allow the clamping portion to be raised up over the edge of the bridge without completely disengaging the mute from the string. When the mute passage is finished, the mute may be disengaged from the bridge and allowed to hang on the inactive part of the string or strings between the bridge and the tailpiece of the instrument, ready to be used again at any time.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a mute which is always attached to the musical instrument at a place close to the location in which it will be used. Other objects may be determined from the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 shows a violin with a mute constructed according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a mute of the type shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the mute in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the mute in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a modified embodiment of the mute in the FIG. 1--4; and

FIG. 6 is another embodiment of a mute according to the invention.

The violin 11 shown in FIG. 1 is conventional and need not be described in detail. It has a body 12 and a neck 13 on which four strings 15--18 are strung between four tuning pegs 20--23 at the end of the neck and a tailpiece 24. Standing on the body is a bridge 26 with notches through which the strings are guided. The active part of each of the strings is between the bridge and the tuning pegs, while the other part of each string between the bridge 26 and the tailpiece 24 is considered the inactive, or dead, part. The inactive part of each string is quite short and its resonant frequency would there be quite high.

In a regular violin the strings 15--18 are tuned to the notes G, D, A, E, respectively. A mute 27 is shown on the D String at the bridge. The mute 27 is also shown in dotted lines in an alternative position. The latter portion is that occupied by the mute when the violinist is playing normally, unmuted passages.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the mute 27 which includes a body portion 28 shaped somewhat like a violin. The body 28 has an elongated, generally triangular channel 29 extending through it with relatively long sides 31 and 32 and a relatively short side 33. A slot 34 is cut clear through the lower part of the body 28 and into the channel 29. For reasons to be described hereinafter, the slot 34 enters the channel 29 at a region along one of the longer sides 32 somewhat removed from the short side 33 and, in particular, away from either corner where the short side 33 meets one of the long sides 31 or 32.

The mute 27 has a divided clamping portion 36a and 36b separated from each other by an enlarged continuation 29a of the channel 29. The clamping portion may be, and in this embodiment is, formed along with the body portion 28 by molding the mute.

FIG. 3 shows the mute 27 with the D string 16 existing through the channel 29 and with the upper edge of the bridge 26 gripped between the body portion 28 and the clamping portion 36. The active part of the string 16 is to the left of the bridge and the inactive part to the right. The clamping action occurs when the upper edge of the bridge enters a groove, or slot, 37 between the body portion 28 and the clamping portion 36.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the mute 27 on the bridge 26. The reason for the enlarged channel 29a can be more easily visualized in this view which shows that the sides of the enlarged channel 29a do not touch the active part of the string 16, although the sides 31 and 32 can and do touch the inactive part of the string just behind the bridge 26.

As may be also seen in FIG. 4, the vertical distance from the short side 33 of the channel 29 to the bottom edges of the clamping portions 36a and 36b must be great enough to allow the bottom edges of the clamping portions to clear the top of the bridge 26 when the mute 27 is lifted up so that the string occupies the position 16a shown in broken lines. This is required to allow the mute to be slipped onto and off of the bridge easily, although, since the mute 27 will normally be made of rubber or a similar elastomeric substance, it may be stretched a bit if the vertical distance between the short side 33 and the lower edges of the clamping portions 36a and 36b is not quite sufficient.

The slot 34 is shown in FIG. 4 as having a tapered form. This facilitates attaching the mute to the string while still making it difficult for the mute to become disengaged to easily. It is for the same reason that the slot 34 intersects the channel 29 above the short side 33 and not at one of the corners.

When the mute is to be moved from the position shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 to the inactive position, the concave side surfaces of the body portion make it easy to grasp. The mute is then lifted so that the clamping portions 36a and 36b clear the bridge. Thereafter, the mute may be dropped, in which case it will hang freely on the inactive portion of the string between the bridge and the tailpiece, or it can be pressed against the string to wedge the latter in the narrow part of the channel 29 between the sides 31 and 32.

While the mute 27 has been described as being attached to the D string, it may be attached to any of the strings. Furthermore, although the instrument 11 shown in FIG. 1 is a violin, a similar mute, although of different size, may be used with the viola, cello, bass or other stringed instruments.

FIG. 5 shows a modified form of mute with an elongated handle 35 that extends from the body 28 at the end of the body adjacent the narrowest portion of the channel 29. In other respects the mute is similar to that in FIG. 2. As may be seen in FIG. 5, l when the mute is in its inactive position, the elongated handle 35 extends far enough from the body of the mute to prevent the mute from twisting completely upside down on the string 16. The reason this is desirable is that it has been found that when the mute does twist upside down, as it can in the absence of the handle, the musician may have some difficulty in locating it by feel and must then look for it. The handle keeps the mute from becoming momentarily lost in this way and assures that the body of the mute will always be in the proper position to slip over the edge of the bridge.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of a mute that has two passageways 39 and 41 with spaced centers apart a distance substantially equal to the spacing between two of the strings, for example the strings 16 and 17, of the violin. The body of the mute 38 has the general configuration of a circular cylinder, one portion of which, identified by reference numeral 42 is behind the bridge 26, here shown in broken lines. The cross section of the cylindrical body need not be circular, although that shape facilitates manufacture of the mute. The other part of the body of the mute 38 is an extension 43 separated from the portion 42 by a groove, or notch, 44 so that the mute can be slipped down upon the upper edge of the bridge with the larger portion 42 behind the bridge 26 and the portion 43 in front of it and serving to clamp the mute to the bridge by frictional engagement.

The dimensions of the passageways 39 and 41 relative to the depth of the groove 44 are such that the mute can be lifted vertically upward so as to be disengaged from the edge of the bridge 26 without effecting the position of the strings 16 and 17 on the bridge. This means that the depth of the groove 44 must be less than the distance from the bottom of the passageway 39 and 41 to the upper edge of the bridge 26 on which the strings 16 and 17 lie.

In order to slip the mute onto the strings 16 and 17 two slits 46 and 47 are cut on the passageways 39 and 41, respectively, to the outer edge of the body 38. In the embodiment shown these slits are in the portion 42 of the body and they go directly from the passageways 39 and 41 to approximately the closest part of the body portion 42.

The mute 38 shown in FIG. 6 may be attached by being placed in a position more or less parallel to the strings 16 and 17 and between the bridge 26 and the tailpiece 24 (FIG. 1) and then twisting the mute to force the strings 16 and 17 through the slits 46 and 47 and into the passageways 39 and 41. The mute will then remain attached to these strings and can either be placed on the bridge 26, as indicated, or allowed to rest freely on that part of the strings between the bridge and the tailpiece when no muting action is desired. Because the mute 38 fits around two strings, there is no danger that it will slip upside down or out of sight.

* * * * *

Current U.S. Class:	84/310 ; 984/113; D17/20
Current International Class:	G10D 3/00 (20060101); G10D 3/04 (20060101); G10d 003/04 ()
Field of Search:	84/274,310,311,273