Parts Of A Guitar

Heres a simple guide, which should make

things a whole lot easier, with explanations of what
everything is, and does.

1. Body
The body, I suppose, could be described as
the big curvy bit of a guitar, which rests against
your body when you play, and sits underneath the
strings where you typically strum them.
2. Neck
The other major component of a guitar, the
neck, unsurprisingly, is the long thin bit that you
grip with your left hand, so that you can press
down the strings when playing.
3. Fingerboard/ Fretboard
This is the area of the neck that is directly
underneath the strings. It is shaped and marked so
that strings can be depressed at certain points to get certain notes.
4. Frets
Frets are the raised bits of wire the run across the fingerboards width. In essence they
enable strings to be shortened by pressing it down behind them, but to lengths that
correspond to exact half notes.
5. Inlays
These are decorative markers that are set into the fretboard. These could be simple,
dot markers to indicate the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th frets, or complex, decorative designs.

6. Headstock
At the end of a neck, youll find a headstock. The headstock is the bit at the end of the
guitar where all of the strings end. It is home to the bits you use to tune your guitar, which are
called
7. Tuners/ Tuning Pegs/ Machine heads
These are the bits that you twist to tune your guitar. The flat, key part is attached to
a peg, on which the string is wound. Tightening it or loosening it changes the tension in the
strings, and changes the pitch as a result.
8. The Nut
At the point that the neck joins the headstock, the strings run through a slotted piece
of wood, plastic or sometimes other materials. This is called the nut.
9. Strap Buttons
Theres no mystery here- these are the metal studs you attach a strap to. Simple.
10. Bridge
The bridge on a guitar is the bit that supports the strings as they travel over the guitar
body. It functions as the component that transfers the vibrations of the strings into the body,
which, in the case of an acoustic guitar, amplifies them.
11. Saddles
Saddles are the opposite of the nut. They define where the playable bit of a string
ends. On an electric guitar, its common for these to be individual to each string, so that they
can be adjusted individually if needed.
12. Tailpiece
The strings need to be anchored at both ends, otherwise theyd just sort of flop
around. At the headstock, the strings are secured on the tuners. On an electric guitar, the
strings can be secured by running them through the body (like many Fender guitars), on the
bridge, or on Gibson guitars with Tune-o-matic style bridges, via a tailpiece, which sits
behind the bridge.
13. Pickups
Pickups are the bit on an electric or electro-acoustic guitar that hears the strings
vibrating, so that they can be amplified.

14. Pickup selector switch

Electric guitars often have more than one pickup. This is because the strings have a
different tone at different positions, so multiple pickups can allow for different tones.
15. Volume and Tone Controls
These are the knobs on a guitar body, usually close to the pickups. Wiring
configurations can vary (sometimes individual pickups will have separate controls,
sometimes not, for example), but put simply, volume knobs control the level of signal coming
from the pickups, and tone controls adjust how bright that signal is.
16. Jack Socket
This is the socket that you plug a guitar lead into (also known as a jack cable)