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Understanding the Parts of a Guitar

Guitars are very versitile instruments that can play many diverse styles of music -- everything from being a classical solo instrument to the main instrument for just about any rock music.

So let's get acquainted with this amazing instrument by understaning all its parts:

1. Headstock: This is at the edge of the guitar's neck and is tailored with the instrument's head in order to adjust the pitch.

2. Tuners: Tuners on a guitar keep the strings of the guitar stretched, starting at the base down to the knobs. In addition, tuners allow a guitar player to alter or modify the pitch, either flat or sharp, depending on the player's requirements when playing their choice of music.

3. Nut: This is a tiny strip of hard medium or material that supports the strings at the intersection where the "headstock" meets with the "fret board". These strips are made of plastic, bone, graphite, brass or any hard medium and indented to secure the stings in position. The nut acts as one of several endpoints assisting the tension of the string.

4. Fret board: Or fingerboard, the fretboard is a lengthy wood plank inserted with frets of metal that composes the top of the guitar's neck.

The fret board on a classical guitar is flat and a bit curved diagonally on an electric or acoustic guitar. The curve is calculated by the radius of the fret board that is the range of a "hypothetical circle" and which the surface of the fret board makes up a segment.

The smaller the radius of a fret board, the more the curve is evident. When a string is pinched against the board, the string's "vibrating length" is shortened, which creates a higher pitch sound or tone.

5. Frets: These are strips made of metal, particularly nickel alloy set in alongside the fret board that are positioned in conjunction with the string's length, which mathematically divides it.

When the strings are pushed down from the rear of the frets, this cuts the string's length of vibration to emit different tones or pitches.

6. Neck: The neck is composed of the guitar's fret board, frets, tuners, truss rod and headstock; all are fastened to a long extension made of wood. The wood used for the fret board is usually of a different kind from that used on the remaining neck parts.

The firmness or stiffness of the guitar's neck in accordance to its body is a determining factor as to whether it's good quality or not.

7. Body: An acoustic guitar's body is an echoing cavity projecting the vibrations through the guitar's sound hole, thus enabling the audio of the instrument to be clearly heard even with no amplification.

In acoustic guitars, the body is a big determining factor to the overall sound it produces. The soundboard or guitar top is a delicately engineered and crafted component, usually made out of red cedar, spruce or mahogany.

This very thin slice of wood, generally measuring only 2 - 3 mm thick, supported by different kinds of internal brackets, is the most pronounced and important element in influencing sound quality.

Most of the sound is brought about by the guitar's top vibration as the momentum of the vibrating cords are transmitted to it.

8. Pickups: This is what really amplifies the cords sound. Most guitars have one to a maximum of three pickups. The kind of pickup is reasonably important, depending on a particular sound that you're trying to accomplish.

9. Pickguard: This is usually referred to as the scratch plate, which is a plastic guard or any laminated medium which protects the guitar's top finish.

The pickups, as well as almost all electronics in other electric guitars, are framed and inserted atop the "pickguard". On "acoustic guitars" and several "electric guitars", the pickguard is directly inserted to the top of the guitar, and on guitars having carved tops; the "pickguard" is raised.

10. Bridge: On acoustic guitars, the key objective of the guitar's bridge is to hand over or shift the string's vibration to the "soundboard", which then shudders the air within the guitar; thus increasing and strengthening the sound created by the cords or strings.