1. Field of the Invention
An apparatus and method for protecting the fingerboard of a stringed musical instrument from the natural acidity and friction of the players fingers that can cause damage and wear to the fingerboard during normal playing of the instrument.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Stringed musical instruments that embody fingerboards, such as guitars, bass guitars, ukuleles, mandolins, banjos, violins, fiddles and cellos are all susceptible to damage and wear merely by being played by a musician. While playing these types of instruments, the musician must apply pressure and push the instruments strings into the frets and the fingerboard to create notes or chords. This physical contact in addition to the natural acidity of the players fingers can wear down the fingerboard creating indentations as well as tarnishing the fingerboard with friction and grime. In the case of a fretless instrument, the strings are pushed directly into the fingerboard causing the wear to occur at a much faster rate. This embodiment sets out to solve this problem by creating a protective barrier between the players fingers and the fingerboard, safeguarding it from undesirable wear during normal playing of the instrument as well as giving the instrument a unique new look.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,238,870, to Stewart, entitled “Enhanced Fret Saving Device and Process” (2007) describes a specialized at least bilayered device similiformic with the fretboard/fingerboard/keyboard of an instrument is designed to be removingly disposed between the strings and fretboard or frets of the instrument and prevents or mitigates fret damages (from, for example, dimpling or string grooving) owing to string pressures, such as during transport and storage of the instrument in a case or other. Fret integrity and active or functional life is extended in an industrially efficient, economical and elegant way heretofore uncontemplated and/or commercially realized.
This prior art is limited to only protecting the frets of an instrument only when the instrument is not being played, such as during transport and storage or while the instrument is in a case or otherwise and makes playing the instrument impossible while the prior art is installed on the instrument. This embodiment creates a protective barrier between the players fingers and the fingerboard, safeguarding it from undesirable wear while the instrument is being played by the musician.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,704,066, to Jacobsen, entitled “Removable Fretboard Stickers With Musical Indicia” (2014) describes a device and method for teaching note locations, fretboard patterns, scales and chords on the fingerboard of a fretted stringed instrument (“fretboard”), such as an electric or acoustic guitar. The invention comprises a set of independently affixable fretboard adhesive labels (“Stickers”) that adhere to the surface of the stringed instrument, using a mild adhesive, so as not to damage the instrument, and a number of markings, which indicated musical indicia. The device is applied to the instrument by slipping the various individual stickers between the corresponding frets and strings of the stringed instrument and affixing the stickers directly to the fretboard.
Even though the prior art embodies affixable fretboard adhesive labels (“stickers”) to be installed directly to the fretboard of the stringed instrument, the primary object of this prior art is to create a visual device to aid students in learning the location of various musical concepts and features. The prior art calls for the “stickers” to be installed and removed in sets according to what musical concept the student is learning. By either removing or not installing certain sets of “stickers”, the prior art allows areas of the fingerboard to remain uncovered, thus exposing those areas to the natural acidity and friction of the players fingers that can cause damage and wear to the fingerboard during normal playing of the instrument. A great disadvantage of the prior art that I have found, calls for an amount of the “sticker” to be folded over the edge of the fingerboard as to grip the sides of the neck of the instrument. I have found that any amount of a “sticker” that extends onto the sides of the neck of the instrument is prone to peeling and interfering with the players hand movements while it travels up and down the neck during normal playing of the instrument. This embodiment does not interfere with the musicians ability to play the instrument, whereas it is applied only to the face of the fingerboard and does not overlap onto the neck of the instrument. Because the prior art calls for the height of the “stickers” to be smaller than the distance between the frets, as shown on FIG. 3, large areas of the fingerboard are left exposed. Thus the prior art is not suitable as a protective barrier but merely a teaching tool. This embodiment is designed to be used during normal playing of the instrument thereby creating a protective barrier which protects the fingerboard from the natural acidity and friction of the players fingers that can cause damage and wear to the fingerboard. This embodiment will not affect the sound quality of the instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,080, to Coonce, entitled “Note Locator for Stringed Instruments” (2002) describes an apparatus and method for a note locator for stringed instruments and method of use. Note locator (10) comprises a flexible planar top and bottom surface wherein the top surface has note position indicators (60) of color and the bottom surface has an adhesive for placement beneath the strings of the instrument along the fingerboard without interfering with the normal operation of the instrument. The user learns correct finger placement by visually identifying colors with notes of the equitempered chromatic scale. Diatonic scale note position indicators (32, 36, 38, 42, 46, 50 and 52) are indicated with various distinct colors while other half step note position indicators (30, 34, 40, 44 and 48) are indicated with a color different from that of the diatonic scale note position indicators. Segmentation (70,72) is provided for dividing note locator (10) so that segments can be added or removed from the fingerboard if desired.
Although the prior art embodies a thin vinyl, or similarly flexible top material with an adhesive bottom surface that is to be installed onto an instruments fingerboard, the primary objective of the prior art is to precisely indicate to the player the location on the strings where the notes are to be played. It is stated in the summary of the prior art, that segmentations means are provided for dividing the note locator so that segments can be added or removed from the fingerboard if desired. By removing segments from the fingerboard, the prior art exposes areas of the fingerboard to the natural acidity and friction of the players fingers that can cause damage and wear to the fingerboard during normal playing of the instrument. Although the prior art is not stating itself to be a fingerboard protector, I have found that it would have a great disadvantage as a fingerboard protector due to the suggested removal of segments of the prior art from the fingerboard, thus exposing said areas of the fingerboard to the natural acidity and friction of the players fingers that can cause damage and wear to the fingerboard during normal playing of the instrument. I have found another disadvantage of the prior art which calls for sufficient additional material for overhang, to wrap around the fingerboard to stabilize the device on the curved fingerboard of the instrument. I have found that any amount of material that extends onto the sides of the neck of the instrument is prone to peeling and interfering with the players hand movements while the players hand travels up and down the instruments neck during normal playing of the instrument. This embodiment does not interfere with the musicians ability to play the instrument, whereas it is applied only to the face of the fingerboard and does not overlap onto the neck of the instrument. This embodiment will not affect the sound quality of the instrument.