Class 16: Parts To The Guitar!

Posted on March 10, 2009 by WaltRibeiro

This is from my week 16 of my Revision 3 show!

What are the Parts to the Guitar?

The guitar is broken into 3 sections -The head, the neck, and the body.

Head = AKA as the headstock. This is where the tuning pegs are
Neck = Where the fretboard is. The notes you play on guitar are along the fretboard
Body = The fat part on the guitar. This is where the bridge/pickups/soundhole are
Tuning Pegs = On a 6 string guitar there will be 6 tuning pegs. These can be twisted in order to make strings higher/lower
Nut = The thick ‘Fret’ at the beginning of the guitar neck – its’ technically not a fret, rather it holds the string in place and is the beginning of the strings length
Frets = metal bars along the Fretboard/Neck
Strings = Usually wound of copper. In standard tunings of EADGBE.
Soundhole = AKA as an ‘F’ hole. Found on acoustic guitars, this takes the place of pick ups, so the sound can be amplified without electricity
Pickups = Found on electric guitars (and some acoustic guitars). This literally ‘picks up’ the sound, then runs it through an amplifier
Bridge = The end of the string. The bridge rests on the body of the guitar

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  • DEFkon

    Are the saddles and the bridge considered the same thing, or are they two separate parts?
    I don’t think you own any guitars with tremolo’s (aka “whammy bars”) but they are also fairly common on electrics.

  • DEFkon

    Are the saddles and the bridge considered the same thing, or are they two separate parts?
    I don’t think you own any guitars with tremolo’s (aka “whammy bars”) but they are also fairly common on electrics.

  • http://www.waltribeiro.net Walt

    Its a part to the bridge:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle_(guitar)

    “The saddle of a guitar refers to the structure on or parallel to the bridge. The saddle is most commonly found on acoustic guitars, but some models of hollow-bodied electric guitars have it. Its basic purpose is to hold the strings above the bridge and guitar, and to mute the vibration of the string so the strings do not buzz and/or damage themselves or the bridge. It is comparable in size and function to the nut, and variations in its design are not uncommon.”

  • http://www.waltribeiro.net Walt

    Its a part to the bridge:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle_(guitar)

    “The saddle of a guitar refers to the structure on or parallel to the bridge. The saddle is most commonly found on acoustic guitars, but some models of hollow-bodied electric guitars have it. Its basic purpose is to hold the strings above the bridge and guitar, and to mute the vibration of the string so the strings do not buzz and/or damage themselves or the bridge. It is comparable in size and function to the nut, and variations in its design are not uncommon.”

  • nooblordIBNZ

    hey man….
    are there different types of pickups?
    what different does it make?
    and…
    whats a tremolo and whammy bar?
    can you e-mail me or post a vid about it..
    thanks…

  • http://www.waltribeiro.net Walt

    Whammy Bar is the metal bar at the bridge:

    http://cdn.overstock.com/images/products/0/47/47591.jpg

    It bends the strings creating an extreme pitch change.

    As for pickups:

    http://waltribeiro.net/2009/03/10/class-16-parts-to-the-guitar/

    -Walt

  • http://www.waltribeiro.net Walt

    Whammy Bar is the metal bar at the bridge:

    http://cdn.overstock.com/images/products/0/47/47591.jpg

    It bends the strings creating an extreme pitch change.

    As for pickups:

    http://waltribeiro.net/2009/03/10/class-16-parts-to-the-guitar/

    -Walt

  • http://www.myspace.com/omaharock Joe Primo

    Does that electric not have a neck torsion bar? Or adjustable bridge thing for each string? not sure the name of it. Torsion screw maybe? I duno….

    A suggested episode would be, long term maintenance and setup of electric guitars. As well as proper tuning an electric guitar. When looking down the neck, what to look for.(i.e. looking for fret alignment and the over all bow shape of the neck, fret alignment being more important) What the neck’s torsion bar does, how it works in conjunction with the adjustable bridge thing for each string. Very first to show/compare to would be each stings open then 12th fret. Even though they are octaves apart they still need to be the same note. Any detection of sharpness in the 12th fret on any string means you need to adjust the string at the bridge accordingly, re-tuning each time with each torsion or bridge adjustment.

    When this is done, it makes for a very better and correct sound.

    This question was asked by a friend when I told him his guitar rig had really “high action”. He didn’t know what I meant. So I told him, your strings are very high up, did you put them like that on purpose? He said no. Then I looked at his neck. It was bowed pretty good but the frets where still just fine and that’s all that really matters. Open the torsion bar cover and the thing had cob webs in there. It had never been open/adjusted. His high E string was sounding very sharp on the 12th fret. After tuning the bridge screw on the high e string, and re tuning a bunch of times with each turn. Eventually go all the strings tuned correctly at both open and 12th fret. Also lowered the strings till just barely touching other frets when played. Depends on what you like for this part, some people run very low E sting to get that rattle sound.

    Anyway, good videos, good passion for music, I’ll be a watching.

    Cheers

    J Primo