Music has nearly always provided a popular source of entertainment and pleasure to persons from all walks of life. However, many of these people, particularly musical entertainers, need easily transportable, compact musical instruments and sound systems. Thus, there exists a continual need for innovative, collapsible, and portable musical instruments and sound studios.
Many different attempts have been described in the prior art to achieve some of these goals. Very early efforts include Mustill (U.S. Pat. No. 350,693) which teaches a banjo with a neck portion that folds toward and fits against the back of the body portion for storage. Another is Middlebrooke (U.S. Pat. No. 519,409) which teaches a banjo having a neck portion that folds over the top body portion for storage. Further, Gassin (U.S. Pat. No. 2,803,982) teaches a bass violin with a detachable neck/string portion and a separate case for storage.
Later efforts include Copeland (U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,151) which teaches an electronic guitar having collapsible body sections and neck and string attach/adjust portions which pivot to shorten the length dimension for easy storage.
Jorgensen (U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,211) teaches a collapsible stringed instrument wherein the neck portion of an electric guitar pivots to fit into a shaped recess in the back of the body portion.
Field (U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,093) teaches a stringed instrument having a foldable neck portion which pivots to rest against the back of the body portion and further has a geared string mounting block to allow partial loosening of the strings thereby preventing the strings from becoming tangled or kinked while stored.
Litwin (U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,085) teaches an acoustic guitar (or other such instrument) where the neck portion disassembles to fit into the acoustic body portion of the instrument for storage.
Bunker (U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,108) teaches a solid body electric guitar having a steel rod in the neck to avoid warping and removable "snap-on" wings forming an extended guitar body.
Clevinger (U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,002) teaches a collapsible electric double bass having a hinged foot portion which pivots up under the top body portion and also discloses an innovative incorporation of a piezoelectric bridge pickup element.
Kamal (U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,708) teaches an acoustic guitar having a detachable neck portion or alternatively a pivotable neck portion which can be pivoted over the front of the body portion to facilitate storage.
Shaw (U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,882) teaches an acoustic guitar having a folding, collapsible body comprised of two hinged wings and a neck portion that hinges to pivot over the top body portion.
Mastroianni (U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,079) teaches a collapsible stringed musical instrument such as an electric guitar having bars or supports which pivot out from underneath an elongated body to simulate portions of the outline of a full-sized instrument.
Moore (U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,908) teaches a collapsible solid body electric guitar in which the string attachment, neck and pickup/control portions detach from the body portions. The body portions swivel to form a longer, narrower piece and the pickup/control section is hinged to swing away from the string attachment body portion to form a more compact storage module.
Buscarino (U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,640) teaches a collapsible electric guitar with a releasable neck portion threadedly attached to the body with at least one mortise/tenon coupling.
In addition to the need for improved collapsible stringed instruments, modern musicians also want electronic control of the sounds generated thereby. Electromagnetic pickup elements that detect the mechanical vibrations of the strings and convert these to electrical signals that can be amplified and projected by conventional amplifiers and speakers are well known to those with ordinary skill in the art. Also well known, is the use of multiple pickup elements placed in various configurations on a guitar to generate different tonal sounds because when placed in disparate locations relative to the strings the pickup elements obtain distinct frequency components of the mechanical string vibrations. Moreover, musicians are able to switch from one to another of these pickup elements during play or to switch to combinations of two or more pickups to provide a plurality of electrically amplified guitar sounds. Two electromagnetic coils may also be combined in a single double-coil pickup element to provide what is called a "humbucking" sound or a heavier sound than that produced by conventional single-coil pickup elements.
One recurring problem noted in the prior art is the inability to quickly and accurately switch from one to another of the multiple pickup elements while also continuing to play the guitar. Improvements in pickup switching technology include Starr (U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,149) which teaches an electronic push button switching system that allows rapid, unobtrusive switching between multiple pickup elements or combinations thereof in an electric guitar and thereby provides the musician simple and accurate switching control during play, such as was not heretofore available using conventional mechanical switches.
Regarding innovative sound studio designs, Aker (U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,278) is significant in that it teaches electronic circuitry for a sound amplifier that includes circuitry for creating special tonal effects in electrical musical instruments. As such, Aker is exemplary of conventional amplifier/mixer/special effects circuitry boards like that employed in the present invention. The other components generally included in sound studios, such as compact disc (CD) players and AM/FM cassette tape players and recorders, are also well known in the art, and no electrical improvements thereof are intended herein.
Accordingly, in spite of the various efforts of the prior art, a need still exists for a truly useful and improved integrated guitar case assemblage comprising a novel collapsible guitar wherein the neck and fretboard slidably move within corresponding channels in the guitar body such that they do not merely detach or pivotally fold under or over the guitar body. A need also persists for removable and interchangeable pickup configurations (or combinations of pickup elements) that facilitate greater switching control from one to another or more pickup elements during play. An additional want left unfulfilled by prior art designs is that for an integrated guitar case assemblage that also has a built-in sound studio comprising a tape recorder/player, an audio compact disc (CD) player and electrical means for providing special audio effects. Further, such guitar case assemblage should be closable to envelop the collapsed guitar and sound studio within a single, protective, compact carrying case.