Get ready to rock. Ciari Guitars has been granted a patent (number 20180053491) for a “travel guitar” that would work with an iPad or iPhone. Note: I initially, and incorrectly, reported that this was an Apple patent. It’s not — even though it shows up under searches for Apple patents. I apologize for the mistake.
According to the patent filing, it would have a reduced profile configured to house or otherwise receive or coupled to a tablet or smartphone and take advantage of one or more apps for driving the operation, functionality and/or effects associated with the travel guitar, and a string assembly capable of retracting or otherwise housing the strings to enable or facilitate configuring the travel guitar into a reduced profile.
In the patent filing, the folks at Ciari Guitars say guitars have enjoyed among the highest popularity among stringed instruments. Most guitars have a solid neck rigidly coupled to either a hollow or solid body. The folks at Ciari Guitars say this construction, while aiding in predictable tuning and quality guitar play, render the guitar cumbersome for travel, particularly given the additional bulk of the associated guitar case (hard or soft). While various travel guitars have been attempted, most are simply smaller or scaled down versions of their traditional counterparts, which still present challenges for travel and/or predictable tuning and quality guitar play. Ciari Guitarswants to overcome, or at least improve, these disadvantages.
