CN109300450B

CN109300450B - Stringed musical instrument and method of construction for producing sound from two soundboards on opposite sides of the instrument

Info

Publication number: CN109300450B
Application number: CN201810491432.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 罗伯特·L·奥伯格
Original assignee: Luo BoteLAoboge
Current assignee: Luo BoteLAoboge
Priority date: 2017-07-25
Filing date: 2018-05-21
Publication date: 2023-09-19
Anticipated expiration: 2038-05-21
Also published as: EP3435367A2; JP2019028443A; JP2020118995A; EP3618054B1; EP3618054A1; EP3435367B1; EP3435367A3; CN109300450A; KR102063190B1; JP7096856B2; KR20190011665A

Abstract

A stringed musical instrument and a method of constructing a stringed musical instrument including a body having a hollow or semi-hollow interior, front and rear tone plates disposed on opposite sides of the hollow interior, a single string set, and a dual bridge and bridge nut assembly extending between the front and rear tone plates, wherein the dual bridge and bridge nut assembly includes a first bridge and a first nut mounted on the front tone plate and a second bridge and a second nut mounted on the rear tone plate, and wherein the single string set is nailed such that the single string set interconnects the first bridge and the front tone plate with the second bridge and the rear tone plate through the interior of the instrument for producing sound from each of the tone plates, respectively.

Description

Stringed musical instrument and method of construction for producing sound from two soundboards on opposite sides of the instrument

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a stringed musical instrument (e.g., guitar, violin or banjo) having a hollow or semi-hollow body for generating and controlling sound from two independent soundboards disposed on opposite sides of the instrument using only a single string set connecting the bridge on each soundboard through the hollow interior of the instrument, and a method of constructing a stringed musical instrument having a hollow or semi-hollow body for generating and controlling sound from each of two soundboards disposed on opposite sides of the body of the instrument using a single string set connecting the bridge on each soundboard through the hollow interior of the instrument.

Background

A conventional stringed musical instrument having a hollow or semi-hollow body produces musical tones by playing or plucking strings that are straightened on bridge and bridge pillows mounted on a tone plate corresponding to the structural front of the musical instrument. The sound is produced by the vibrations of the strings and propagates throughout the instrument body starting from the bridge assembly mounted on the soundboard and exits from the soundholes on the instrument, which are usually located in the structural front soundboard and usually below the strings.

In an acoustic guitar, the hollow interior of the body forms an acoustic cavity that enhances and amplifies the sound produced from the soundboard. The soundboard of a musical instrument is conventionally understood to represent the top or front of the instrument. The back or back of the guitar is considered to have little, if any, significance to the overall sound produced by the instrument and so little attention is paid to the wood used to construct the guitar back plate. The front and rear plates are attached to the body of the instrument along the sides of the instrument to completely surround the body surrounding the hollow interior. As described above, the front panel is considered to be an acoustic guitar soundboard and is composed of expensive timbre wood (e.g., spruce and/or sequoia), while the rear panel is generally composed of inexpensive wood or other materials. Conventional acoustic guitar front and back plates typically include ribs on the inside of each plate facing the interior of the guitar to increase the structural strength of each plate separately. However, in most cases, there is no structural support between the front and rear plates of a conventional acoustic guitar, other than the support provided by the sides connecting the front plate to the rear plate.

Disclosure of Invention

According to the present invention, it has been found that sound generated from a stringed instrument can be enhanced by simultaneously utilizing two soundboards of a guitar, including both a front soundboard and a rear soundboard, which are independently generated from each other by utilizing a single string set of the guitar connecting the front soundboard to the rear soundboard through the interior of the guitar. According to the invention, this is achieved with a dual bridge and capo assembly comprising a first bridge and a first capo mounted on the front panel of the instrument and a second bridge and a second capo mounted on the rear panel, the single string set of the guitar connecting the first bridge and the second bridge through the hollow interior of the guitar. The dual bridge and pillow assembly should preferably also include support posts connected between the first bridge and the second bridge by the guitar's internal connections, respectively, to provide additional structural support for the guitar between the front and rear tone plates, and to provide support due to any compromise in support caused by the presence of the dual bridge.

By vibrating a common set of strings extending between the two soundboards, sound is transmitted throughout the instrument from the front and rear soundboards of the instrument to produce a composite acoustic sound having a greater intensity and frequency range than that produced from an acoustic guitar having guitar strings connected only to the front soundboard. In addition, sound is further enhanced by coupling each soundboard to its own independent sound (pre) amplifier and/or amplifiers, which enables independent and separate control of the sound generated from each soundboard.

According to the invention, it is also preferred, but not necessary, that in addition to the conventional sound holes, at least one sound board (preferably the front sound board) comprises at least one sound port through which sound can leave the guitar independently of the sound holes. The sound port may be located generally adjacent to the sound hole and should comprise a hollow member of any desired geometry, preferably a tube adapted to be inserted through an opening formed in one of the sound boards, preferably the front sound board, said hollow member having a length extending from the front sound board to a position within the hollow body of the instrument equal to 5% to 95% of the distance between the front sound board and the rear sound board and forming an opening of any desired size, preferably circular in geometry, through the front sound board. By varying the extension of the sound port inside the guitar according to the desired sound, i.e. selecting the desired length from a variety of different lengths (each length being within the desired range), the sound port can be tuned to a different desired frequency range proportional to the resonance frequency of the guitar, e.g. forming a higher and/or lower frequency spectrum corresponding to the treble or bass range different from the frequency spectrum of the sound leaving the sound port, thus forming a larger dynamic frequency range produced by the instrument.

In addition, particularly when adding a sound port to the instrument, it is also preferable to include one or more panels in the body of the instrument, the one or more panels being connected between the front and rear sound boards to concentrate sound toward the sound port. The panels should be positioned between the individual sound ports and sound holes, typically but not limited to the upper waist body of the guitar, and preferably extend to the neck of the guitar or may be connected to another panel near the neck of the guitar. In this arrangement, the panel causes, in addition to sound leaving the sound holes, sound to be directed towards the individual sound openings and thereby leave the sound openings. Since the panel is connected between the front and rear tone plates, in addition to the support provided by the use of support posts in the dual bridge and pillow assembly, the panel will inherently provide structural support between the front and rear plates of the guitar for use as a current standard and alternative to the use of ribs on the front and/or rear plates.

The inventive stringed musical instrument includes a body having a first soundboard representing a front surface thereof, a second soundboard representing a rear surface thereof, a common hollow or semi-hollow interior extending between the first soundboard and the second soundboard, and a dual bridge and bridge assembly extending between the first soundboard and the second soundboard, the dual bridge and bridge assembly including a first bridge and a first bridge mounted on the first soundboard, a second bridge and a second bridge mounted on the second soundboard, and a single string set connecting the first bridge and the second bridge of the dual bridge and bridge assembly through the common interior of the instrument.

The present invention also broadly consists in a method of constructing a stringed musical instrument having a body with a hollow or semi-hollow interior, front and rear tone plates disposed on opposite sides of the interior, a single string set, and a dual bridge and capo assembly including a first bridge and a first capo for the front tone plate and a second bridge and a second capo for the rear tone plate, the method comprising the steps of: a first bridge of the dual bridge nut assembly is mounted on the front soundboard, a second bridge of the dual bridge nut assembly is mounted on the rear soundboard, and the single set of strings are mounted to the instrument such that the strings extend between the first bridge and the second bridge through the inner body of the instrument to produce sound from the respective soundboards. Preferably, the method further comprises: the first bridge in the dual bridge capo assembly is structurally connected to the second bridge using support posts for providing structural support between the front and rear tone plates, respectively.

Drawings

Other advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of an acoustic guitar constructed with a dual bridge and sleeper assembly in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the guitar of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a structural left side view of the guitar of the present invention shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a right side view of the construction of the guitar of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a structural end view of the guitar of FIG. 1 from the top end of the guitar headstock;

FIG. 6 is a structural end view of the guitar shown in FIG. 1 from a lower back body corresponding to the bottom end of the guitar;

fig. 7 is a structural perspective view of the guitar of the present invention shown in fig. 1, with dashed lines for diagrammatically showing the placement of panels between the various sound openings and sound holes of the guitar, and also showing, by use of dashed lines, the connection between two preamplifiers mounted on one side of the guitar and the pickup device and each preamplifier mounted in each bridge of the dual bridge and pillow assembly, and the external connection between each of the two preamplifiers and the amplifier;

FIG. 8A is a structural cross-sectional view of the guitar of the present invention taken along line 8A-8A of FIG. 7;

FIG. 8B is an exploded perspective view of the guitar of FIG. 7 from the rear side thereof, showing the guitar in two halves, the dual bridge and sleeper assembly shown spaced from each half of the guitar, and further showing the sound ports in each half of the guitar on opposite sides of the guitar and a straight panel disposed between the respective sound ports and sound holes of the guitar for gathering or exhausting sound through the respective sound ports;

FIG. 9A is another exploded view of the guitar of the present invention shown in FIG. 8B, illustrating a further embodiment of the panel of the present invention shown in FIG. 8B having an "S" shaped geometry as opposed to straight;

FIG. 9B is an exploded perspective view of the dual bridge and capo assembly of FIGS. 8B and 9A showing the installation of a set of guitar strings through the interior of the guitar between the individual bridges in the dual bridge and capo assembly, and also showing the placement and geometry of the capo upon which the guitar strings are installed for each bridge in the dual bridge and capo assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a capo assembly adapted to be installed in the dual bridge capo assembly of FIG. 9B and forming a single integral unit including a capo and pickup embedded in the capo;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the integrated capo and embedded pickup device shown in FIG. 10, taken along line 11-11 of FIG. 10; and

fig. 12 is another exploded perspective view of the dual bridge and pillow assembly of the guitar of the present invention shown in fig. 8B, showing how each string of the set of guitar strings is tied to a second bridge mounted to the back plate of the guitar, and also showing how the set of guitar strings is mounted to connect the second bridge in the back plate to the first bridge in the front plate.

Detailed Description

All of the drawings are for the preferred embodiments of the present invention and highlight selected versions of the present invention, without limiting the scope of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 1-9, the instrument of the present invention is represented as an acoustic guitar 10, which represents a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The acoustic guitar 10 comprises a main body 11, the main body 11 comprising a front soundboard 12 shown in fig. 1, a rear soundboard 14 shown in fig. 2, and a dual bridge and pillow assembly 16 shown in more detail in fig. 8A, 8B, 9A, 9B, 12, respectively, the dual bridge and pillow assembly 16 extending from the front soundboard 12 to the rear soundboard 14 of the guitar 10 through a hollow or semi-hollow interior 18 of the main body 11. As shown in fig. 3, 4, 6, guitar 10 has a side 13, which side 13 connects front soundboard 12 to rear soundboard 14 to completely enclose the body of guitar 10.

As shown in fig. 8A, the dual bridge and capo assembly 16 extends between the front and rear tone plates 12 and 14 and includes a first bridge 20 mounted on the front tone plate 12, a second bridge 22 mounted on the rear tone plate 14, struts 23 and 24 interconnecting the first and second bridges 20 and 22, a capo assembly 30 adapted to be inserted into a slot 34 of the first bridge 20 shown in fig. 9B, and a capo assembly 31 adapted to be inserted into a slot 40 of the second bridge 22.

A single string set 33 of conventional or extended length extends along the neck 17 of guitar 10 from a head 19 representing the top end of guitar 10 to a first bridge 20 mounted on front tone plate 12 and from the first bridge 20 through a hollow interior 18 within body 11 of guitar 10 to a second bridge 22 mounted on rear tone plate 14. One end of each string in the guitar string set 33 is connected to the tuning knob 15 in the head 19, and the opposite end of each string in the string set 33 is pinned to the second bridge 22 such that the string set 33 interconnects the first bridge 20 and the second bridge 22 through the interior 18 of the guitar 10. The string set 33 preferably spans from a pinned position in the second bridge 22 on the back plate 14, over the nut 48 inserted in the second bridge 22, over the nut 44 in the first bridge 20 to the first bridge 20, where the string set 33 continues along the neck 17 of the guitar 10 to the tuning knob 15, as will be further described below in connection with fig. 9B and 12.

The struts 23 and 24 in the dual bridge and pillow assembly 16 serve to support and secure the front soundboard 12 to the rear soundboard 14 in the guitar 10 so that the front soundboard 12 and/or rear soundboard 14 do not collapse due to excessive tension when erecting the string set 33 of the guitar. However, it should be understood that the use of struts 23 and 24 is preferred but not critical to the present invention, as other support members between the front and rear tone plates 12 and 14 may be used independently of the struts 23 and 24 in the dual bridge and sleeper assembly 16, supported by structures that prevent collapse of the front or rear tone plates 12 and 14 relative to one another, as will become apparent, for example, from the ensuing description of the incorporation of panels 80 and 82 in conjunction with the use of the acoustic ports 70 and 72, respectively. As shown in fig. 8A, the struts 23 and 24 in the dual bridge and pillow assembly 16 are preferably arranged at an oblique angle between the front and rear tone plates 12 and 14, with the front tone plate 12 positioned slightly more forward toward the neck 17 of the guitar 10 than the rear tone plate 14. This arrangement relieves some of the tension in the guitar's string set 33 during adjustment of the guitar 10. The struts 23 and 24 may be composed of any suitable material composition, preferably wood or wood substitute composition, and may have any suitable geometry, including, for example, square, rectangular or cylindrical shapes.

As shown in fig. 1 and 9B, in the dual bridge and bridge assembly 16, the first bridge 20 includes a slot 34 for inserting the bridge assembly 30, and includes a plurality of openings 35 for stringing the string set 33 of the guitar, wherein the number of openings 35 corresponds to the number of strings 33 of the guitar, such that, for example, when the guitar 10 has six strings 33, the first bridge 20 will have six openings 35. The openings 35 in the first bridge 20 are aligned in a generally horizontal plane transverse to the direction of the string set 33 of the guitar. As shown in fig. 1, the slot 34 in the first bridge 20 may preferably be at an acute angle relative to horizontal to aid and/or allow adjustment of the particular tone of the guitar. The first bridge 20 may conform in geometry and size to the geometry and size of the second bridge 22 in the dual bridge and pillow assembly 16, except for the width dimension. As shown in fig. 2, the second bridge 22 preferably has a width "d" which is wider than the width of the first bridge 20 to accommodate the two sets of openings 38 and 39 for strings 33, as opposed to only one set of openings 35 in the first bridge 20. A set of openings 39 in the second bridge 22 is used to secure and pin one end of each string 33 in the opening 39. The two sets of openings 38 and 39 should be arranged parallel to each other on opposite sides of the slot 40 in the second bridge 22 and should include openings corresponding in total to twice the number of string openings 35 in the first bridge 20.

As shown in fig. 9B and 12, the strings 33 are nailed into the openings 39 of the second bridge 22 using the nail members 42, the nail members 42 are inserted into the openings 39, engaged with one end of each string 33, so that each nail member 42 engages each string 33 in each opening 39 to firmly fix the engaged end of each string into one of the openings 39. As shown in fig. 9B and 12, the guitar's strings 33 are then strung from the pinned ends of the openings 39 through a corresponding set of openings 38 in the second bridge 22 to the capo 48 of the capo assembly 31 and then through the openings 35 in the first bridge 20, where they are strung to the capo 44 of the capo assembly 30 and along the neck 17 of the guitar 10 to the tuning knob 15 at the front end 19 of the guitar 10.

As shown in fig. 9B, the capo assembly 30 inserted into the groove 34 of the first bridge 20 of the dual bridge and capo assembly 16 includes a capo 44, a pickup 45, a cable 46, and an output socket 47. The pick-up device 45 is a conventional component comprising a pick-up type, e.g. a piezo-electric shielding magnetic device in a coil. A socket 47 extending from the cable 46 is adapted to attach the pickup 45 to a preamplifier 60 mounted on the side 13 of the guitar 10 as shown in fig. 7. Likewise, the capo assembly 31 inserted into the slot 40 of the second bridge 22 of the dual bridge and capo assembly 16 includes a capo 48, a pickup 50, a cable 51, and an output socket 52, the output socket 52 extending from the cable 51 for attaching the pickup 50 to a separate pre-amplifier 62 that may also be mounted on the same side 13 of the guitar 10. As shown in fig. 7, for example, using a conventional "Y" shaped connector 66, two preamplifiers 60 and 62 may be connected to an amplifier 65 through outlet sockets 63 and 64 preferably mounted on side 13 of guitar 10, or alternatively preamplifiers 60 and 62 may each be connected to a separate amplifier (not shown) for separately controlling sound from each preamplifiers.

The capo assemblies 30 and 31 each include capos 44 and 48 and pickup devices 45 and 50. The capos 44 and 48 are used to support guitar strings 33 on the first bridge 20 and the second bridge 22, which are located on the front and rear tone plates 12 and 14, respectively. The capos 44 and 48 may each be separate and independent components of the capo assemblies 30 and 31 from the pickup devices 45 and 50, respectively, or alternatively, one or both of the capo assemblies 30 and 31 may have the pickup devices 45 and 50 integrated into the capo assemblies 30 and 31 to form a single, unitary unit comprising a combined capo and pickup. In the guitar of the present invention, pickup 50 in the nut assembly 31 is adapted to be inserted into an opening 57 formed in the nut 48, thereby forming an integral unit, while pickup 45 in the nut assembly 30 may or may not be integrated into the nut 44 to form a single unit. Thus, as shown in fig. 9B, the pickup 45 in the nut assembly 30 represents a separate component, and thus must be individually inserted into the groove 34 of the first bridge 20, after which the nut 44 is inserted into the groove 34 over the pickup 45, and the nut 48 combined with the pickup 50 is inserted into the groove 40 of the second bridge 22 as an integral unit.

Whether or not one or both of the capo assemblies 30 and 31 are configured to form a single, unitary unit that includes a capo and pickup device, the respective capo components 44 and 48 of the capo assemblies 30 and 31 should have a configuration that includes body portions 53, 55 and a thin portion 54 that extends outwardly from the body portions 53, 55. The thin portion 54 should be of a generally rectangular geometry such that the capos 44 and 48 each form a "T" shaped configuration in cross section, with the extended thin portion 54 representing the vertical side of each "T" shaped configuration and the body portions 53, 55 representing the horizontal sides. In addition, the thin portion 54 extending from each of the bridge 44 and 48 should have a width that coincides with the width of the respective grooves 34 and 40 of the first bridge 20 and the second bridge 22, and should have a width that is substantially thinner than the width of the extending main body portions 53, 55. The body portion 53 of the capo 44 may have a tapered geometry extending to a relatively sharp top 56, the top 56 being adapted to engage the guitar strings 33 in the front soundboard 12, while the body portion 55 of the capo 48 may simply have a rounded semi-cylindrical configuration for engaging the guitar strings 33 in the rear soundboard 14.

As shown in fig. 1, 7, 8A, although it is preferable to have two sound ports 70 and 72, wherein sound ports 70 and 72 are preferably formed in front soundboard 12 on opposite sides of sound hole 13 of guitar 10, guitar 10 of the present invention comprises at least one sound port 70. The sound holes 13 are located in the body 11 of the guitar 10, preferably in the front soundboard 12 at a position below the guitar strings 33 and preferably symmetrically between each of the sound ports 70 and 72. The sound openings 70 and 72 should each comprise a member 77, 78, which member 77, 78 has any suitable geometry, preferably in the form of a hollow tube, adapted to be inserted through an opening formed in one of the sound boards, preferably in the front sound board, wherein the opening is formed in the shape of the receiving member 77, 78. The members 77, 78 should each have a length such that the members 77, 78 extend from the front soundboard 12 of the guitar 10 to a position within the hollow interior 18 of the guitar 10 between 5% and 95% of the distance between the front soundboard 12 and the rear soundboard 14, and should each have an opening 73, 74 extending through each member 77, 78, the openings 73, 74 being of any suitable geometry and size, preferably circular, such that each member 77, 78 preferably forms a parabolic or cylindrical geometry. By varying one or both of the size of openings 73, 74 and the length of each of sound ports 70 and 72 extending within interior 18 of guitar 10, sound ports 70, 72 may be individually tuned to a desired frequency range proportional to the resonance frequency of the guitar. It is most preferable that the sound openings 70 and 72 have circular openings 73, 74 of the same size in each member 77, 78, wherein the lengths of the members 77, 78 each correspond to between 20% and 80% of the distance from the front soundboard 12 to the rear soundboard 14 to enhance the adjustment of most acoustic guitars. However, the length and size of each member 77 and 78 of each sound port 70 and 72 need not be the same.

The sound ports 70 and 72 should each preferably be accompanied by panels 80 and 82, which are geometrically flat panels that connect between the front and rear sound plates 12 and 14, are disposed between each sound port 70 and 72 and sound hole 13, and extend from a position relatively close to the lower waist body of guitar 10 to a position adjacent to the neck 17 of guitar 10, or alternatively, such that each flat panel 80 and 82 intersects each other near the neck 17 of guitar 10. This will allow sound to be focused or expelled toward the sound ports 70 and 72. Although only two panels 80 and 82 are shown, additional flat panels may be used to form the sound maze within the interior 18 of the guitar body 11.

An alternative to the use of flat panels 80 and 82 is shown in fig. 9A, where each panel has an "S" shaped serpentine bend connected between front and rear sound boards 12 and 14.

As described above, since the panels 80 and 82 are connected between the front and rear sound plates 12 and 14, the panels 80 and 82 in combination with the struts 23 and 24 or without the struts 23 and 24 will serve as structural supports for preventing the front and/or rear sound plates from collapsing when string tension is too high.

Claims

1. A stringed musical instrument comprising a body having: a front tone plate representing a front surface of the main body; a rear sound board representing a rear surface of the main body; a common hollow or semi-hollow interior extending between the front and rear soundboards; and a dual bridge and peg assembly extending between the front and rear tone plates, wherein the dual bridge and peg assembly comprises: a first bridge and a first nut mounted on the front tone plate; a second bridge and a second nut mounted on the rear soundboard; and a single string set interconnecting the first bridge and the second bridge of the dual bridge and the bridge pillow assembly through the hollow interior of the instrument.

2. The stringed musical instrument of claim 1, wherein the dual bridge and pillow assembly further comprises a brace connecting the front soundboard to the rear soundboard through the hollow interior of the musical instrument.

3. The stringed musical instrument as in claim 2, wherein the brace adopts any geometry selected from the group consisting of a solid cylindrical geometry, a solid rectangular geometry, or a solid square geometry.

4. The stringed musical instrument of claim 2, wherein the first bridge comprises a plurality of holes aligned transverse to the direction of the string set, the string set being strung through the plurality of holes on the second bridge, the second bridge comprising two sets of holes twice the total number of holes in the first bridge, wherein a single string set is pinned within one of the two sets of holes in the second bridge.

5. The stringed musical instrument of claim 4, further comprising a plurality of pin members adapted to be inserted into one of two sets of holes in the second bridge for pinning each string of the string set to the second bridge.

6. The stringed musical instrument of claim 1, further comprising a first capo assembly adapted to be connected to a first bridge and a second capo assembly adapted to be connected to a second bridge, wherein each capo assembly comprises: a capo; traditional pickup devices and cables; and an output socket for connecting pickup devices in the first and second nut assemblies to a separate preamplifier mounted in the instrument.

7. The stringed musical instrument of claim 6, wherein the first bridge and the second bridge comprise slots for receiving a capo of each capo assembly.

8. The stringed musical instrument of claim 7, wherein the capos in the first and second capo assemblies each comprise: a main body portion; and a thin portion extending outwardly from the body portion, having a substantially rectangular configuration with a width substantially corresponding to the width of the groove in each bridge such that the capo fits snugly within the grooves of the first bridge and the second bridge in the dual bridge and capo assembly.

9. The stringed musical instrument of claim 8, wherein at least one of the first capo assembly and the second capo assembly is an integral unit, wherein the pickup device is contained within the body portion of the capo assembly.

10. The stringed musical instrument of claim 9, wherein the body portions of the first and second capo assemblies each have a geometric configuration selected from the group consisting of a tapered geometry having a top for engaging the string set and a semi-cylindrical geometry having a rounded surface for engaging the string set.

11. The stringed musical instrument as in claim 1, further comprising: a sound hole through which sound can be emitted; and at least one sound port separate from the sound hole, wherein the sound port comprises a member adapted to be inserted through a hole formed in the front or rear sound plate, wherein the member has a central opening of predetermined size and length such that the member protrudes into the instrument interior a fixed distance between 5% and 95% of the distance between the front and rear sound plates.

12. The stringed musical instrument as in claim 11, wherein the member in the sound port comprises a tube having a circular central opening and having a length that extends into the instrument interior a fixed distance between 5% and 95% of the distance between the front and rear soundboards.

13. The stringed musical instrument of claim 11, further comprising at least one sound port formed in the front or rear soundboard at a location adjacent the sound hole.

14. The stringed musical instrument of claim 13, further comprising at least one panel connected between the front and rear soundboards, arranged to extend between the sound port and the sound hole to directionally focus sound toward the sound port.

15. The stringed musical instrument of claim 14, further comprising a plurality of panels, wherein each panel is a flat panel connecting the front soundboard to the rear soundboard and extending from a position relatively close to the bridge on the front or rear soundboard to a position near the neck of the instrument and between each sound port and sound hole.

16. The stringed musical instrument as in claim 15, wherein each panel is a curved panel connecting the front soundboard to the rear soundboard and having a serpentine geometry of S-shaped configuration.

17. A stringed musical instrument as in claim 10, wherein each pre-amplifier is commonly connected to a single amplifier or to separate multiple amplifiers.

18. A method of constructing a stringed musical instrument, the instrument comprising: a body having a hollow or semi-hollow interior; front and rear sound boards disposed on opposite sides of the hollow interior; a single string set; and a dual bridge and pillow assembly including a first bridge mounted on the front tone plate and a second bridge mounted on the rear tone plate, wherein the method comprises the steps of: mounting the first nut assembly in a first bridge of the dual bridge and nut assembly; mounting the second nut assembly in the second bridge of the dual bridge and nut assembly; and pinning a single string set to the instrument between the first and second nut assemblies such that strings pass through the hollow interior of the instrument interconnecting the first and second bridge for producing sound from each soundboard separately.

19. The method of constructing a stringed musical instrument of claim 18, further comprising a brace interconnecting the first bridge and the second bridge of the dual bridge and pillow assembly through the hollow interior for structurally supporting the front soundboard to the rear soundboard.

20. A method of constructing a stringed musical instrument as in claim 18, wherein the instrument has a sound hole and at least one sound port located adjacent the sound hole, the sound port having a hollow member extending through the front or rear soundboard, wherein the length of the hollow member is selected to extend into the instrument by a fixed distance between 5% and 95% of the distance between the front and rear soundboard for adjusting the sound port to a desired frequency range proportional to the resonance frequency of the guitar.

21. A method of constructing a stringed musical instrument as claimed in claim 20 wherein the length of the hollow member of the instrument is selected to extend into the interior of the instrument a fixed distance between 20% and 80% of the distance between the front and rear soundboards for adjusting the sound port to a desired frequency range proportional to the resonance frequency of the guitar.

22. The method of constructing a stringed musical instrument of claim 21, further comprising the step of placing a panel between the sound port and the sound hole for converging or exhausting sound through the sound port.

23. The method of constructing a stringed musical instrument of claim 22, wherein the panel is a flat panel or a curved panel having a serpentine curvature.