Before you get too far ahead of yourself, it is a good idea to understand the names and functions of the major components of a guitar. I use these terms in just about all of my articles, gear guides and blog posts. So the sooner you understand basic guitar anatomy, the better off you’ll be in learning and loving to play guitar.
Acoustic and electric guitars share many of the same components. They also both have parts that are unique to their type. This article will introduce you to each of them…..here we go!
Acoustic vs. Electric Guitars
Guitar Antomy: Headstock Area
Headstock – The upper-most guitar component, usually made from the same material as the guitar neck. The headstock’s main purpose is to secure the tuning machines. Guitar makers typically place their logo on the headstock.
Tuning Machines – Inventive gear mechanisms that control the tension in the guitar strings. As the strings increase in tension, they wrap around the posts on the face of the headstock. These devices are commonly known as tuners, tuning pegs and tuning keys.
Truss Rod Cover – The cover is not nearly as important as the item beneath, which is the truss rod. A guitar truss rod is a long steel bar that runs down the length of the neck. Its purpose is to control and stabilize the lengthwise curvature of the neck. Adjustments to the truss rod are often required when a player changes the gauge of strings used. Ask an experienced guitar technician at your local mustic store for help with these adjustments.
Nut – One of the two key points of a guitar securing the strings. The nut stops them from vibrating any further up the length of the guitar into the tuning machines. Usually made of stiff nylon with small grooves, one for each guitar string. Interestingly, you will guitar nuts made from metal, graphite and even bone!
Guitar Anatomy: Neck Area
Neck – The long piece of wood that connects the headstock to the body. The guitar neck aborbs much of the stress produced by the high-tensioned strings.
Fretboard – Sometimes referred to as a fingerboard. This plank of wood is glued to the neck. It’s what your fingers press the strings against when playing the guitar.
Frets – Thin metal wires pressed into the fretboard to shorten the vibrating length of a guitar string. When you push the string down onto the fretboard, it is the fret that acts like a nut to stop the string from vibrating any further. Pressing your finger adjacent to different frets is what produces different pitches, or notes, on a guitar.
Position Inlays – These visual indicators do not have any impact on the sound a guitar makes. However, they are extremely useful in helping a guitar player to fret the string at the correct place along the fretboard to play the desired note or chord. Most guitar makers inlay round dots, but some use more dramatic geometric or artistic shapes.
Guitar Anatomy: Body Area
Strap Pin – Metal posts that allow a guitar player to connect a strap. The strap is a required accessory when playing guitar while standing upright. On acoustic-electric guitars, the strap pin at the bridge end of the guitar often doubles as the input jack for an instrument cable.
Rosette – A purely decorative inlay around the sound hole of an acoustic guitar.
Sound Hole – When playing a guitar string, the string vibrations transfer to the body of a guitar. The resulting beautiful sounds escape through the sound hole.
Binding – Usually made from plastic or sometimes wood. Bindings serve to protect the exposed edges of the guitar’s body from incidental damage and exposure to moisture.
Pick Guard – Pretty self-explanatory one here. Plastic pick guards protect the more critical wooden top soundboard from damage. This damage can result from aggressive picking and strumming.
Bridge – The other key anchor point of a guitar that secures the saddles. This stops the strings from vibrating any further down the guitars body. They are wooden on acoustic guitars and metallic on electric guitars.
Saddle – Small devices within the bridge that actually come into direct contact with the strings. Acoustic guitar saddles are usually made from a single piece while electric guitars often use individual saddles for each string to allow for more precise intonation control.
String Pegs – Small tapered plugs that secure each string into the bridge. To change strings, simply remove these plugs from the bridge after reducing the string tension.
Tailpiece – A solid piece of metal on some electric guitars that holds the ball ends of the strings.
Guitar Anatomy: Electronics
Pickup Selector Switch – A mechanical switch that allows the guitar player to choose which pickup is active. Many guitars feature switches for selecing a single pickup or multiple pickups in parallel at the same time. Neck pickups generally deliver a warmer and rounder tone and are often used for rhythm playing while the bridge pickups are known for their crisp and bright tones and are often used for lead playing or solos. But don’t let these “rules” hold back your creativity…..most guitarists find interesting uses for different pickups know matter which part they play in a band or when playing by themselves.
Pickups – The magical magnets wound with fine copper wire that convert string vibrations into the electrical signal that you hear when plugged into an amplifier. And to be technically correct, electric-acoustic guitars also contain a type of pickup inside the guitar body, but they are a bit different than those used for electric guitars.
Volume / Tone Control Knobs – Often considered the most under-utilized tool in a guitar player’s sonic arsenal, volume and tone knobs, formally known as potentiometers (“pots” for short), allow you to control the resistance that is applied to the electrical circuit in your guitar. The volume control is pretty self-explanatory, but is critical in knowing about its ability to also affect the amount of distortion that is produced by the guitar. In other words, you don’t always have to make changes to the controls on your amp or pedals, sometimes the volume knob will do the trick. To reduce high frequency treble sounds, simply turn the tone control knob down from its maximum setting. Simply adjusting these knobs can produce lots of interesting tones, so go wild and see what kind of sounds you can make.
Our Recommendations
It is worth your time to get to know basic guitar anatomy. That way, when you’re shopping or talking with friends about guitar gear, you’ll be able to understand and have more fun!