DropStop Gizmo

[vetovideo]

(First of all, I didn't find this, "Oigun" did. I'm 'stealing' it from his facebook page.) For any of you with acoustics or hollow bodies, this looks like an interesting little "gizmo" to hold your strap on!! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jim ... t?ref=live It's pretty clever.

[JimPage]

Vetovideo wrote:
>>an interesting little "gizmo" to hold your strap on!!

Hey, thanks, Jim!

I didn't post that updated info on this forum because I wasn't certain it would be of interest, but that is my little project, with great production assistance from Bob Shade!

The Internet works!!!

--Jim

[vetovideo]

Not of interest? Hmmmm, how many of us do you think DON'T own acoustic or hollow bodies?? Good luck with this!!!

[panther]

Jim;
great idea, and good luck with it.
I have a few gadgets that I considered marketing, but I ran up against the infamous U.S. Patent system. $2500.00 for the initial search etc, I would have to sell hundreds to break even, it appears the Patent office is the only winner. How did you fair, is Patent Pending different then a patent., and how do you go about it.

Dan

[JimPage]

Hey, Dan--

Your number is correct about the early-stage costs of a patent; it goes up from there as you get deeper into the process. There's the artwork and text prep for the application and the USPTO fees on top of the search costs. This is my third patent, and the companies I worked for at the times paid for the first two. Of course, they got the benefit of the patents, too; far more than I did personally.

Patent pending simply means that the US Patent and Trademark Office has reviewed your application, asked for any initial revisions, accepted such revisions if they were asked for, and that your patent is pending full approval. Some folks call this stage a provisional patent, but that is not exactly correct per USPTO usage of the language. But, once you have the patent pending, your idea is protected from someone else in the world capitalizing on the idea.

The process usually takes about four years to complete in full. There are design patents and there are utility patents. The design ones are easier to get, I've heard, but I have always gone for the utility patent.

Sarah does or at one time worked at a patent attorneys office, if I remember correctly, and she could probably explain this process better than I can!

--Jim

[dubtrub]

I'm embarrassed to admit it but for the life of me I can't figure out what this thing does. I'm guessing it plugs into the input jack located at the tail end of an electrified acoustic guitar, but if this is inserted into the jack, where does one plug in the cable?

[JimPage]

Hey, Danny--

It's to keep the strap from slipping off the endpin jack when you are not using a cable. If you have ever had that happen, it's a drag.

You use this when you are not using a cable.

--Jim

[dubtrub]

I guess my confusion is because I'm not up on electric acoustic guitars. Here's my early 70's electric acoustic Yamaha. I assumed they were all made like this.

[JimPage]

Hey, Danny--

Nope; most of the acoustic electrics have an endpin jack that does double duty as a strap holder, and the straps can slip off. And they do!

When I showed my initial brass prototype to the folks at Martin, they told me of a very famous player whose prized Martin had crashed to the stage when he was playing micced only, and that Chris Martin had gotten a very blunt communication about it from that famous player or his reps.

I won't say who that player was, but he is one of the very biggies in this world.

So they were excited to see my simple little gizmo and encouraged me to patent it.

--Jim