Hi, hope everything is going well.
Let’s do a quick recap on the last email and get into today’s topic.
*Please note that I've made a correction in the picture below, changing the term “End Pin” to “Bridge Pin”, which we will talk about it at the bottom.
Figure 1
So in short, the body parts of the guitar are composed of:
Headstock- The head of the guitar. It holds the machine heads, the tuning post, the string tree and also the nut.
Fingerboard and the Neck - The fingerboard is the long piece of wood where you press to decide the pitch. Neck is the entire piece of wood where your palm rests at the back of the fingerboard.
The body - Where the guitar projects the sound. Different sizes and different tone woods used for the soundboard produce different characteristics of guitar tone.
Upper and lower bout - The waist of the guitar separated into body 2 sections, the upper bout and the lower bout.
Link to last article: Anatomy of the Guitar #1 (Acoustic Guitar)
Now let's talk about the spare parts.
Machine Heads
Also known as the “tuners”, “tuning machines”, “tuning pegs” and etc…. Not to confuse with the digital tuner that detects the pitch of a musical note, let us call it Machine Heads here. It is the device where we use to tune our strings (adjust the tension of the strings to desired pitch).
Machine Heads comes in 6 types:
- Sealed
- Open Back
- Closed Back
- Side Mount
-
Locking Tuners
- Staggered Posts
Figure 2
Nut - A piece of material that strings sit at the end of the fingerboard. They are made of different materials, usually plastics, bone, graphite, brass, etc. and come in many different “sizes (width)” that follow the specific guitar.
Frets - The little pieces of thin metal that separate the fingerboard into little boxes.
Inlay - Inlays are the decoration material that can be found on the headstock, fingerboard, soundhole at the side and back of the guitar. Here we are talking about the inlay on the fingerboard also called “fret markers”, serving as a visual aid for guitar players.
Soundhole - The opening on the soundboard (“the top”), usually looks like a hole, sometimes oher models have other shapes. Its function is to project and amplify the sound of the guitar.
Bridge - A piece of material(usually wood for acoustic guitar and metal for electric guitar) that supports and holds the strings. It will transmit the vibration from the string to the soundboard.
Saddle - Sit in the groove of the bridge, the saddle helps transfer the vibration of the guitar, also used to adjust the string height and to intonate the guitar. Same as the nut, it is usually made of plastic, bone or metal.
Bridge Pin - A pin-like material that holds the string from coming out from the bridge hole.
Strap Button - The little button that the strap is attached to.
Note: Some people call the bridge pin as “endpin”, and the endpin as “strap button”.
Figure 3
From the picture above we can have a clearer look at the bridge pins, saddle, and strap button.
The Truss Rod, is a metal rod underneath the fingerboard to stabilize the neck and counteract against the pull of the strings. You might need to observe your “neck relief” time over time and adjust the truss rod accordingly.
Acoustic/Electrics or Semi Acoustic Guitars are those who come with electronics and pickups. The one in Figure 3 comes with a Pre-Amp, an undersaddle piezo-pickup(it hides under the saddle) and different types of outputs. With the battery compartment, it tells us that the Preamp needs a battery to be in use.
Hope this little article can help you while looking for the correct parts in the future. Let us know if you have anything that interests you so that you and I can learn together.
Thanks
Daniel
PBH Music
