The parts of a guitar can depend on the type of guitar it is, however there are some parts that every guitar will have by definition.
Let’s start at the top.
Headstock: The headstock at the end of the guitar’s neck, plays an integral role in keeping the strings under tension. The headstock also what holds other parts that keep the strings under tension, the tuning pegs. Headstocks will be made out of the same material as the neck, usually wood. Artistically, Guitar makers tend to use a headstock as a place to make a guitar unique using different shapes and configurations almost as a type of signature to be able to identify the guitar from afar.
Tuning pegs: Tuning pegs can also be called: tuners, tuning keys, even machine heads. Tuning pegs are screwed into the headstock. There are six of these on most guitars, each tuning peg coincides with a specific string. By cranking a tuning peg counter clockwise the corresponding string which is wrapped around it, will be stretched tighter, and the sound or pitch of that string will increase or go up. By turning a tuning peg clockwise, the opposite happens, meaning the string will get looser and the sound or pitch will decrease or get lower.
Nut: The nut is a small slotted plastic ridge between the headstock and the neck of the guitar and uses its slots to keep the strings organized and evenly spaced as the travel down to the bottom of the guitar to the bridge. A nut can be made out of many different materials, including plastic, bone, graphite, ebony, and fossil ivory. Non-fossil ivory is banned in most countries. A lot of guitarist’s to prefer a bone nut.
Neck: The neck is a long plank of wood that the strings are stretched across. It is between the nut and the body of the guitar.
Fretboard: This is the top of the neck where you place your left hand fingers to play the instrument. Strings needs to resonate to make sound, and it makes a certain pitch because it is at a specific tension and is a specific length across the neck, but by pressing a string down onto the fretboard with your finger, for the purposes of resonating, you make length of that string shorter and that means that the pitch will change. The neck also contains the frets which aid in shortening the string in exact intervals, and are spaced just so that you will know what exact notes will sound when you put your finger in a specific place.
Truss Rod: This part of the guitar is invisible because it is located inside the guitar neck. The truss rod is a long metal pole that runs the length of a channel that is carved out in the middle of the guitar neck. The purpose of the truss rod is to straighten the neck. This is achieved by tightening of loosening the rod. The rod is accessible either in the headstock just above the nut, or at the base of the neck. Sometimes a guitars neck becomes warped due to temperature or humidity changes. This can negatively affect the guitar’s playability. To remedy this the rod is either tightened or loosened which has the affect of bending the neck back into shape. A word of caution, a novice should never attempt truss rod adjustments; if you suspect your neck is out of shape, you should take your guitar to a professional guitar tech, or luthier.
Frets: Frets are the raises strips of metal that run perpendicular to the strings. They are stuck into slots that are carved into the wood. There are usually between 22 and 24 frets on most guitars. For instructional purposes, when referring to a fret we are talking about the rectangular sections of wood that are in between the frets. For example if you were told to put your finger on the first fret of a string, you would press down a string onto the wood between the nut and the first metal fret. Pressing down on the actual fret would not produce the desired result. Pressing down a string near or just beneath the fret however can produce a sound that is more in tune than pressing down back towards the lower end of the “wooden fret”.
Inlays: Inlays are markers to help you quickly identify which frets are which. Without them it can be difficult to to quickly identify the higher frets on the guitar. Inlays are usually a simple black dot or in the case of the 12th fret - 2 dots. Inlays are usually found on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 17th, 19th and 21st frets. Inlays aren’t a necessary part of any guitar, In fact many guitars (mostly classical) do jot have them. However, most guitars you see will have them.
Body: The body is the most identifiable part of any guitar. This is where the neck is attached. The body of the guitar is where the guitar produces most of its sound and takes on its characteristic sound that make it what it is. Whether it is an electric or acoustic, most of the details like wood choice, shape, hollow or solid, the things that make up that guitars particular sound will be found in the body. The body is also the main part of the guitar’s shape. There are many different types of features that can be implemented in a guitar’s body that really make a guitar.
Pick ups: A pick up is what is known technically as a transducer. A transducer takes one kind of energy and converts it into another kind of energy. Like a microphone, a pick up converts sound energy into electrical energy. A pickup has a direct connection to a guitar’s output jack which is where you plug the guitar into an amplifier. The pick up sends that electrical signal out through the chord into the amp where it is processed by the amp and sent to a speaker, which is another type of transducer which is where the electrical energy is converted back into sound energy. There are many different types, models and brands of pickups.
Knobs / Potentiometers: The knobs on a guitar can serve a variety of different purposes depending on the design of a guitar. Generally, if a guitar has one knob on it, it will be a volume knob, which will make the guitar louder if you turn it clockwise, and softer if you turn it counter-clockwise. If a guitar has two knobs on it, one will be volume and the other will be tone. Turning the tone knob clockwise will make it sound brighter, while turning it counter-clockwise will make it sound darker and more mellow. Many guitars that have more than one pick up have 3 to 4 knobs which are usually some configuration of volume and tone.
An acoustic guitar can have knobs, but usually they have what’s called active pickups, so instead of knobs there will be faders which are just sliding potentiometers located on the side of the guitar. Active acoustic guitars will tend to have more options as far as equalization which means you can adjust bass, mid-range and treble frequencies more specifically.
A lot of bass guitars are also active. These Basses may have knobs that raise or lower the bass, treble and mid-range frequencies. Basses also can have a knob that acts to blend the sounds coming from 2 pickups. If a bass has two pickups and this “blend” knob was in the center position, then both of the pickups would be on in equal measure. If the knob was all the way to its limit, then one pickup would be on and the other would be off.
Pick-up selector: Mainly a pick-up selector is found on electric guitars with more than one pickup. They can sometimes be found on bass guitars. The 2 most common are the 3-way selector switch and the 5-way selector switch.
When there are 2 pickups on a guitar, you will find a 3-way selector switch. When this switch is in the up position, then just the pickup located towards the neck will be activated. When in the middle, then both pickups will be activated. And when this switch is in the down position, then the bridge pickup will be activated.
The 5-way selector switch is for when there are 3 pickups. When this switch is all the way toward the neck, the neck pickup is active. When this switch is one click down from the neck, then both the neck and center pickups are active. When this switch is in the center position, then just the center pickup is active. When this switch is one click back from the neck pickup, then the center and neck pickups are active. And finally when this switch is all the way down toward the bridge pickup, then only the bridge pickup is engaged.
Pickguard: Some guitars have pickguards, and some do not. A pickguard, sometimes called a scratchplate, is meant to protect the guitars body from scratches and scrapes from the guitar pick as you swing it through the strings. It is often made of plastic. If on an electric guitar, for example a stratocaster, it is most often screwed directly into the body, and depending on the placement will sometimes have holes cut out for the Pick ups. On an acoustic guitar it will most often be glued onto the body just beneath the sound hole. Some pickguards on acoustic guitars will be above, below and also to the side of the sound hole, this is most common on flamenco guitars. A pickguard can also be very decorative.
Bridge: The bridge is an apparatus connecting the strings to the body of the guitar.They are usually made of metal or wood. Most often on an electric guitar they are metal, and on an acoustic they are made of wood. The three basic kinds of bridges are the
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