textiplication.com

Patent number: 4656917
Filing date: Jul 30, 1985
Issue date: Apr 14, 1987
Inventor: Edward L. Van Halen
Primary Examiner: David Warren

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT4656917

Yes, it’s real.

The supporting device is constructed and arranged for supporting the musical instrument on the player to permit total freedom of the player’s hands to play the instrument in a completely new way, thus allowing the player to create new techniques and sounds previously unknown to any player.

[Italics added.  USPTO doesn't do italics, even on that which is entirely rad.]

The hair is purely illustrative, and a practitioner sufficiently practiced in the art will be able to determine many other hairstyles for which the invention works equally well.