Mechanical, Ergonomic & Visual Design of New Products
Product Designs:
Fishman Preamps
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Mechanical, Ergonomic & Visual Design of New Products |
Product Designs:
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Fishman Preamps
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The Fishman products shown here had their look & feel designed by
and mechanical design directed by Scott Lefton while he was the Director
of Mechanical Engineering at Fishman
Transducers. The success of these products is part of the reason that
Fishman continues to dominate the acoustic guitar electronics market.
A number of these projects were redesigns of existing products or components,
where there was a need to improve performance and reliability, modernize,
and/or reduce manufacturing cost. Some of the projects shown here involved
working with moldmakers and injection molders in Europe and Asia. |
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Concertmaster Violin Shoulder Rest | |
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The Concertmaster is a breakthrough product, a highly adjustable
violin shoulder rest with microphone and piezo inputs, volume/tone controls,
mono/stereo output and a two channel preamplifier. The human factors and
structural issues with this project were a major challenge. There was also
the need to avoid infringing on existing violin shoulder rest patents, and
in the design process, new features and mechanisms were developed, with
patents pending. |
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Pro-EQ Platinum & Bass Platinum | |
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The Pro-EQ Platinum and Bass Platinum were designed to be
flagship products, introducing a fundamentally new look, expanding on an
existing feature set, and maintaining very high reliability while meeting
a price target set by their competitor's less capable products. Read More |
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Preamps Model B, Model G, and Pro-EQ II |
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Along with the Platinum, Scott Lefton created the look & feel for a group of more price-sensitive redesigned preamps that would see much higher volume sales, but still reflect the same general design sense as the flagship products. The designs that they were replacing had metal cases, and it was critical to maintain the same level of user confidence in their durability. Like the Platinum units, the dark grey housing is Polycarbonate, the light grey knobs are ABS, and with the products on the market for over two years, not a single unit has been returned for mechanical failure. | |
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Prefix & Prefix Pro | |
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The Prefix and Prefix Pro are preamps designed to mount in the sides of high quality acoustic guitars. Their unique mechanical features include a patented flexible mounting system that conforms to variably curved guitar sides and incorporates a pivoting hinge and a flexible latch for battery access. | |
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Classic 4 | ||
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Scott Lefton's single-piece mounting frame design for this low cost guitar-mounted preamp earned U.S. patent number 6,278,059 for Fishman and himself. The unit was designed entirely in the USA for manufacturing in Korea, and is sold in large quantities worldwide to provide reliable, quality amplification for inexpensive acoustic guitars. | |
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Battery Box | |||
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This 9 volt battery box was designed in partnership with a Korean vendor, for manufacturing in Korea and worldwide sales. It incorporates a mounting area for power conditioning and/or monitoring circuitry, as shown in the unit on the right. | |
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Website Designer: Scott Lefton Copyright z 2002 by Scott Lefton |
