Guitar Part Names - Exploring Each Part of a Guitar

Headstock.

You can find it at the edge of the guitar’s neck. It is tailored with the instrument’s head for adjusting the pitch.

Tuners.

They keep the strings of the guitar stretched beginning at the base down to the knobs. Tuners help to alter the pitch either flat or sharp, depending on the player’s choice of music.

Nut.

A tiny strip of hard medium or material which supports the strings in the intersection whereby the “headstock” meet up with the “fret board”.  The strips can be  plastic, bone, graphite, brass or any hard medium and indented so as to secure the stings in position. The nut acts as one of several endpoints assisting the tension of the string.

Fret board.

Or fingerboard - a lengthy wood plank inserted with frets of metal that composes the top of the guitar’s neck. Classical guitar fret board is flat and is a little curved diagonally on an electric and acoustic guitar.  The curve is calculated by the radius of the fret board that is the range of a “hypothetical circle” of which the surface of the fret board makes up a segment. The smaller is the radius of the fret board, the more that the curve is evident.  When a string is pinched against the board, the string’s “vibrating length” is shortened thus creating a higher pitch sound or tone.

Frets.

Strips made of metal, particularly nickel alloy set in alongside the fret board that are positioned in points in conjunction with the string’s length that mathematically divides it. When the strings are pushed down from the rear of the frets, this cuts the string's length of vibration to give off different tones or pitches.  

Neck.

The neck is composed of the guitar's fret board, frets, tuners, truss rod and headstock; all are fastened to long extension made of wood. The firmness or stiffness of the guitar’s neck in accordance to its body is one determining factor of whether it is of good quality or not.

Body.

The acoustic guitar’s body is an echoing cavity projecting the vibrations through the guitar’s sound hole which enables the audio of such instrument to be clearly heard even with no amplification. In acoustic guitars, its body is a big determining factor in the overall sound it produces.

Body is made of a very thin slice of wood (2 - 3 mm thick), supported by different kinds of internal brackets, is the most pronounced and important element in influencing sound quality.

Pickups.

This is what really amplifies the cords sound. The kind of pickup is reasonably important, depending on a particular sound that you are aspiring for.

Pickguard.

Or the scratch plate - a plastic guard or any laminated medium which protects guitar’s top finish.The pickups 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.

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 increase and strengthen the sound created by the cords or strings.