Stringed musical instruments such as a violin, viola, cello, guitar, and bass, currently utilize strings located in parallel succession extending from the scroll of the instrument, which is located at the end of the neck and attaching across the top of the instrument, to the tail piece located at the bottom of the instrument. The bridge consists of a wood device machined or fitted to predetermined dimensions. The bridge is located to fit on the top of the body portion of the instrument between the neck and the tail piece, its purpose being to lift the strings up off of the top of the body portion of the instrument, allowing their tension to be adjusted and transmitting the musical vibrations of the strings to the body of the instrument through the feet of the bridge.
The bridge is attached or fitted to the instrument where the feet of the bridge contact the top of the body portion of the instrument. The bridge is held firmly in place through the tension of the strings exerting downward pressure on the bridge. Because the top of the body portion of the instrument is a compound curved surface, the bridge feet must be fitted accurately to the top in order to efficiently transmit the string vibrations to the body portion of the instrument and thereby produce musical tones.
The conventional method for machining the bridge feet in order to mate them with the top of the instrument is a process of hand sanding the bridge feet. This is accomplished by attaching a small pad of sandpaper to the top of the body portion of the instrument where the bridge is to be located and moving the bridge feet over the sandpaper until the bridge feet are sanded into the same shape as the body. The drawback of this method is that hand sanding makes for an irregular and non-uniform fit due to the humans's inability to maintain a constant and even pressure while sanding. This problem is exaggerated by the inability to precisely measure and eliminate microscopic gaps between the bridge feet and the top of the instrument. The microscopic gaps in the seating of the bridge feet to the surface of the instrument impedes the transmission of the strings vibrations to the top of the body portion of the instrument thereby reducing the instrument's ability to create and produce precise or accurate musical tones. However, instruments in use today do produce aesthetically appealing musical tones, but could be more appealing to the trained ear.
Further, stringed instruments in use today do not provide a method of adjusting the location of the bridge feet laterally and longitudinally on the body of the instrument. Additionally, current state of the art instruments, after replacement or adjustment of the bridge, experience days to weeks of "play in" time during which the newly adjusted or fitted bridge naturally as a result of the tension of the strings, develops a more conductive fit with the body of the instrument. Also, under the current state of the art, changes in weather or temperature cause microscopic changes in the shape and contour of a stringed instrument, and the microscopic changes affect the mating relationship between the bridge feet and the body of the instrument.
Thus, there is a need for the sound enhancing device of the present invention which provides for an improved stringed instrument which is more appealing to the trained ear. In addition to improving the tone and timbre of the instrument, the present invention also provides other functional purposes, for example, a method of adjusting the location of the bridge laterally and longitudinally on the body of the instrument by which the play in time may be reduced significantly, possibly as much as 95%. Similarly, use of the present invention causes stringed instruments to adjust more quickly to climatic changes and changes in temperature. Thus, as a result of the conductive properties of the invention, these climatic and temperature changes do not affect the mating relationship between the bridge feet and the body of the instrument. In addition, the present invention provides automatic adjustment to the microscopic changes in the shape and contour of the stringed instrument caused by the changes in temperature and weather.