Evertune
Encyclopedia
EverTune is a Los Angeles
-based startup
notable for inventing an award–winning mechanical device called the EverTune bridge which keeps strings in tune. It was initially developed for use on electric guitar
s but there are reports that is being developed for use on other stringed-instruments such as the piano
.
which it called the Robot Guitar System which used an onboard computer using motors and a battery which kept the instrument in tune. But the system was complex and did not gain much marketplace acceptance, according to one report.
An avid guitarist and engineering
student at Duke University
named Cosmos Lyles came up with the idea for the invention when he had been sitting on a couch. Lyle's first attempt at building a tuner was made out of plywood, two screws, a bearing from a skateboard
, and spare guitar parts. Lyle spent a year trying to refine the idea, but became eager to find a partner and googled prototype engineer and this search led him to engineer and product developer Paul Dowd, who was also an amateur guitarist. Dowd helped Lyle expand and hone the idea into a working contraption. It took five years to turn the idea into a physical functioning device, according to two accounts, and cost $500,000. Invented by engineers Cosmos Lyles and Paul Dowd, the EverTune bridge is a spring and lever system that maintains string tension thus keeping the guitar in tune. Albeit a new technology as far as string instrument
s are concerned it is not a new concept in the world of mechanics
. Spring and lever systems are a standard solution in order to flatten a tension curve.
In 2010, the engineers were on their sixteenth prototype but are continuing to work out the kinks.
in tune despite changes in tension. It was described as a simple mechanical device
which maintains a constant state of tension despite changes in temperature
or humidity
or physical actions on a guitar such as strumming or bending the strings or even if a guitarist "just plays too hard", or if a tuning peg is knocked accidentally. The result is strings that stay in tune
even while the guitar is being played which allows a guitarist to focus on playing and not tuning.
On a guitar, the bridge has six springs and levers, one for each of a guitar's six strings, such that "when a string stretches or slips, the springs apply the opposing force necessary to compensate for the shift, thus maintaining the correct tension and tuning." In theory, the device can work with any stringed instrument, according to the inventors. The mechanism has been patented. A guitar with one installed is no longer tuned by turning the pegs at the end of the guitar's neck:
. A Tommy Denander
signature guitar was created by the German luthiers of VGS. The EverTune bridge has hit the market in North America
in October 2010 but the first series is by installation only. The unit was displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show
in 2010. The product was highlighted in a feature in The New York Times
entitled The Year in Ideas. In August 2011, the product was not yet ready for sale. One report suggested that EverTune will be available on a "wide range of electric guitars" in the near future and will be available as an installation kit. One report suggested there were 35 guitars with Evertune installed or about to be retrofitted with them. There are talks with guitar makers of electric guitars and basses to have the device embedded into new models.
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
-based startup
Startup company
A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...
notable for inventing an award–winning mechanical device called the EverTune bridge which keeps strings in tune. It was initially developed for use on electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s but there are reports that is being developed for use on other stringed-instruments such as the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
.
Background
The problem of keeping stringed instruments, particularly guitars, in tune has been a continuing issue since these instruments had been invented. A common technique for electric guitar players during a guitar solo is to not only press on the fret, but bend the string to raise the pitch, but this would often have the effect of causing the string to become out of tune. But guitar makers had not found a way to solve the problem for many decades. Guitarists often would have to spend time between songs re-tuning their instruments which sometimes interfered with the flow of a performance. Pianos, as well, can go out of tune, and retuning these large instruments often required a specialist skilled at this activity. In the late 1980s, there was a system developed by GibsonGibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
which it called the Robot Guitar System which used an onboard computer using motors and a battery which kept the instrument in tune. But the system was complex and did not gain much marketplace acceptance, according to one report.
An avid guitarist and engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
student at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
named Cosmos Lyles came up with the idea for the invention when he had been sitting on a couch. Lyle's first attempt at building a tuner was made out of plywood, two screws, a bearing from a skateboard
Skateboard
A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...
, and spare guitar parts. Lyle spent a year trying to refine the idea, but became eager to find a partner and googled prototype engineer and this search led him to engineer and product developer Paul Dowd, who was also an amateur guitarist. Dowd helped Lyle expand and hone the idea into a working contraption. It took five years to turn the idea into a physical functioning device, according to two accounts, and cost $500,000. Invented by engineers Cosmos Lyles and Paul Dowd, the EverTune bridge is a spring and lever system that maintains string tension thus keeping the guitar in tune. Albeit a new technology as far as string instrument
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
s are concerned it is not a new concept in the world of mechanics
Mechanics
Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behavior of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effects of the bodies on their environment....
. Spring and lever systems are a standard solution in order to flatten a tension curve.
In 2010, the engineers were on their sixteenth prototype but are continuing to work out the kinks.
The invention
The EverTune bridge keeps a guitarGuitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
in tune despite changes in tension. It was described as a simple mechanical device
Mechanics
Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behavior of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effects of the bodies on their environment....
which maintains a constant state of tension despite changes in temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
or humidity
Humidity
Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...
or physical actions on a guitar such as strumming or bending the strings or even if a guitarist "just plays too hard", or if a tuning peg is knocked accidentally. The result is strings that stay in tune
Standard tuning
In music, standard tuning refers to the typical tuning of a string instrument. This notion is contrary to that of scordatura, i.e. an alternate tuning designated to modify either the timbre or technical capabilities of the desired instrument.-Bowed strings:...
even while the guitar is being played which allows a guitarist to focus on playing and not tuning.
On a guitar, the bridge has six springs and levers, one for each of a guitar's six strings, such that "when a string stretches or slips, the springs apply the opposing force necessary to compensate for the shift, thus maintaining the correct tension and tuning." In theory, the device can work with any stringed instrument, according to the inventors. The mechanism has been patented. A guitar with one installed is no longer tuned by turning the pegs at the end of the guitar's neck:
Marketing
The chief executive officer is Mark Chayet who had previously founded a manufacturing firm named Evermark which made CDs and DVDs. Chayet provided some of the initial financing for the firm, and other executives and entrepreneurs include David Weiderman, William Quigley, and Brock Pierce. The firm raised $800,000 in cash in May 2010, according to one report. One of the first guitars to have an EverTune bridge fitted in the factory is the VGS Radioactive TD-SpecialVGS TD-Special
The VGS Radioactive TD-Special is a guitar built by the German luthiers of VGS.The VGS Radioactive TD-Special is a signature guitar of the swedish guitar player Tommy Denander. It combines the benefits of a True Temperament neck and an EverTune bridge....
. A Tommy Denander
Tommy Denander
Tommy Denander is a guitarist and producer.He has appeared on more than 2000 albums with artists such as: Michael jackson, Paul Stanley, Alice Cooper, Ricky Martin, BB King, Don Henley, Sheryl Crow, David Coverdale, Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Toto, Fee Waybill, Richard Marx, Robin...
signature guitar was created by the German luthiers of VGS. The EverTune bridge has hit the market in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in October 2010 but the first series is by installation only. The unit was displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
in 2010. The product was highlighted in a feature in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
entitled The Year in Ideas. In August 2011, the product was not yet ready for sale. One report suggested that EverTune will be available on a "wide range of electric guitars" in the near future and will be available as an installation kit. One report suggested there were 35 guitars with Evertune installed or about to be retrofitted with them. There are talks with guitar makers of electric guitars and basses to have the device embedded into new models.
External links
- Evertune website
- German music site with video demonstrations (Note: interview is in English)