The present invention relates generally to a musical pickup arrangement for the conversion of sound vibrations into electrical oscillations, and more specifically, to a musical pickup arrangement incorporating a condenser-type microphone for converting sound vibrations generated in a musical instrument into electrical signals that can be supplied to a loud-speaker.
As is known, microphones and other transducers have been employed in connection with musical instruments to convert sound vibrations into electrical oscillations. By means of suitable electronic apparatus, these electrical oscillations have been amplified and reconverted into audible sounds. In certain cases, piezoelectric translating devices have been employed in pianos and stringed instruments for converting mechanical vibrations of the resonator or sounding board of the instrument into electrical oscillations which, in turn, have been amplified and reconverted into audible sounds. These devices have been placed, for example, directly on the sounding board of the musical instrument and at various other locations above the sounding board, as evidenced by the prior art. However, the sound produced by each of these arrangements has generally been poor. The reasons why the sound produced by such transducers is often poor is perhaps due to the fact that the device is secured directly to the sounding board. This may, for example, be due to the fact that the natural frequency of the sounding board is altered when contacted by the pickup.
In other cases, contact pickup devices used on musical instruments have been of the magnetic-induction type. In these devices, a vibrating or resonating cavity is in contact with a coiled magnet which transduces the vibrations of the cavity into small electrical impulses, thus creating the transformation of magnetic to electrical energy.
The magnetic-induction type of transducer has been quite reliable for many years; however a falsification of the actual color or "timbre" of certain instruments is lost when this type of pickup is used on a nylon-stringed guitar or the like. Of the six strings on the classical guitar, the top three are made of pure nylon, similar to a nylon fishing line, but milled to various thicknesses. The bottom three base strings have a nickel alloy wrapping around several fine threadlike nylon strands. A magnetic pickup device used on this type of instrument transforms sound from the bottom three base strings evenly due to their outer conductive coating, but the non-conductive nature of the top three treble strings prevents an even transfer of energy and usually results in sound which is uncharacteristic, or "tinny".