Musical instrument string ground circuit breaker
View Patent ↗The present invention is directed to a stringed, musical instrument where the instrument strings are grounded by a string ground circuit, and wherein the string ground circuit includes a circuit breaker having a current path that defines a portion of the string ground circuit between the strings and a ground.
1. A musical instrument, comprising:
an instrument body;
at least one electrically conductive string coupled to the body;
a ground connector mounted to the instrument body;
a string ground circuit electrically coupling the strings to the ground connector; and wherein the string ground circuit includes a circuit breaker having a current path that defines a portion of the string ground circuit between the strings and the ground connector.
2. The musical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the circuit breaker has an open circuit configuration and a closed circuit configuration.
3. The musical instrument of claim 2 , wherein the circuit breaker is configured such that it is in the open configuration after current having a predetermined magnitude is applied to the current path.
4. The musical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the circuit breaker is a fuse.
5. The musical instrument of claim 4 , wherein the fuse includes a fuse socket and a removable fuse.
6. The musical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the string ground circuit further comprises a ground wire connected in series with the circuit breaker that extends through a portion of the instrument body.
7. The musical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the at least one string is electrically coupled to a conductive ground plate.
8. The musical instrument of claim 7 , wherein the conductive ground plate is a tremolo.
9. The musical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the ground connector is a jack plate mounted directly to the instrument body.
10. The musical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the ground connector is mounted indirectly to the instrument body through a wire pigtail.
11. The musical instrument of claim 8 , wherein the predetermined current magnitude is between 1 and 30 mA.
12. The musical instrument of claim 8 , wherein the predetermined current magnitude is between 4 and 6 mA.
13. A string ground circuit for a musical instrument including a body and at least one electrically conductive string, the string ground circuit comprising:
a conductive ground plate configured to be electrically coupled to the at least one string;
a ground connector configured to be mounted to the instrument body; and
a circuit breaker electrically coupled in series between the ground plate and the ground connector.
14. The string ground circuit of claim 13 , wherein the circuit breaker is configured such that current flow through the circuit breaker above a predetermined current limit is prohibited.
15. The musical instrument of claim 13 , wherein the circuit breaker is a fuse.
16. The musical instrument of claim 15 , wherein the fuse includes a fuse socket and a removable fuse.
17. The musical instrument of claim 13 , wherein the current limit is between 1 and 30 mA.
18. The musical instrument of claim 13 , wherein the current limit is between 4 and 6 mA.
19. A musical instrument, comprising:
a instrument body;
a plurality of electrically conductive strings coupled to the body;
a ground connector mounted directly to the instrument body; and
a circuit breaker electrically coupled in series between at least one string and the ground connector.
20. The musical instrument of claim 19 , wherein the circuit breaker is configured such that current flow through the circuit breaker above a predetermined current limit is prohibited.
21. The musical instrument of claim 19 , wherein the circuit breaker is a fuse.
22. The musical instrument of claim 19 , wherein the current limit is between 1 and 30 mA.
23. The musical instrument of claim 19 , wherein the current limit is between 4 and 6 mA.
24. The musical instrument of claim 19 , wherein the ground connector is a jack plate.