STRINGED INSTRUMENT PLAYED WITH KEYS THAT TOUCH HARMONIC POINTS

This invention relates to keyed stringed instruments like clavichords and clavets, and strummed instruments like a guitars or mandolins. Guitar players use a technique to raise the pitch and change the tone of a note by touching a nodal point on a vibrating string; this technique is known as playing a harmonic. This patent is for a component of a musical instrument that allows a performer to play a harmonic with the use of a lever called a tangent which is engaged when a note is played with a key. An instrument made with this component can be played like a guitar with the exception that the fretting finger depresses keys onto a string, rather than touching the string directly. It is not essential that a strumming hand be used to sound a note, but this technique will add to the volume and complexity of music being played.