Guitar Parts Name – One by One

If we talk about guitars, then mainly which part comes to your mind? It must be strings isn’t it? The one part that everyone ones to touch at first.

But, hey, we want to say that, before getting started with any kind of instrument, it is important for you to know every part and working mechanism of it. If your aim is to master the guitar, then it is important for you to know how this instrument works.

Yeah, you might not be interested in knowing it, but you must have basic idea about the anatomy of guitar. Whether you’re a beginner just starting your musical journey or a player looking to deepen your knowledge, understanding the various parts of a guitar is essential. Each component plays a crucial role in producing the instrument’s unique sound and affects how it feels to play. So, now, let’s explore the anatomy of a guitar, breaking down each part one by one.

1. Headstock

The headstock is the top of the guitar and is considered as the face of the guitar. In Headstock, the Tuning pegs are fixed with bolt where the strings can be tightened. With the tightening of the strings the headstock also handles string tension and makes tuning stable. In guitar, you can find different types of headstock models. Some of them are – Straight, Slotted, and Tilted. All of these headstock models have their own uniqueness and their special qualities.

2. Tuning Pegs (Machine Heads)

As we mentioned above, tuning pegs are the materials which are attached to the headstock. It is the hardware that enables the players to adjust the tuning of the sound by making the tension of the string high or low. Hence, the tuning pegs play a great role in maintaining tuning and stability of a guitar.

3. Nut

The nut is basically small piece of either bone, plastic, or any kind of plastic material that is fixed in on the top of the fret or at the end of the headstock. The nut basically consists of small grooves in the middle, that guides the strings to pass through the fretboard and finally land at the saddle, and then to the bridge. Those grooves play a great role as it guides the strings to be parallel to the bridge holes. Hence, nuts have a great effect in the intonation, string height and ultimately, playability of the guitar.

4. Fretboard (Fingerboard)

The fretboard is the part of the guitar where guitar player mostly spends the time. This is the area where you can press down the string on to the wood. Fretboards are divided into many frets, so that you can produce many pitches in different strings. Mostly, the fretboard is made up of different types of woods like – Rosewood, Maple or ebony. Hence, the most important part of the fretboard is the tonal quality and smoothness/ playability of the wood.

5. Frets

Frets are basically the divider of the whole fretboard. The particular frets are determined by the metal strips that are hammered in the successive line of frets. As the successive frets comes, the area of the frets shortens. The number of the frets can vary according to the type of the guitar, but normally guitars have the frets ranging from 20 to 24 frets. If you jump one step further in the Fret to press the string then you will produce a one semitone higher note and vice versa.

In frets, the metal strips play huge role in the playability and the intonation of the guitar. So, players have to make sure that the metal strips are not damaged. Otherwise, the string will get damaged quickly and the strings will break in short period of time.

6. Neck

The neck is the part of the guitar where most of the players place or rest their hand. The neck basically holds the fretboard in front, where players presses the strings.

Furthermore, the back part is only called neck where the fretboard is attached. Till the nut, it can be called neck, but beyond that, it is called head stock. Similarly in the lower side the frets and neck finishes, and the main body part starts. You can see different types of neck profiles in guitars like – C-shape, V-shape, and U-shape.

7. Truss Rod

The truss rod is the invisible guitar part that lies under the neck. It is simply a metal rod that has approximately the length of the neck. The truss rod is mainly used in guitar because it solves the curve neck and helps to maintain the stability and straightness of the neck. Whenever the neck bends, adjusting the truss rod can be adjusted to bow forward or backwards. Ultimately by doing this, you will be adjusting the action and the string height of the guitar.

8. Body

The Body is the main part of the guitar which plays the most important role in the sound of the guitar. The structure and build of the guitar body determines the quality of the guitar tone. Mostly, guitar bodies comes in different shapes and sizes like – Dreadnought, Parlor, Concert, Jumbo etc. for Acoustic guitars.

Whereas for electric guitars, it comes in Solid-body, Hollow and semi hollow shapes. Hence, the body also holds other parts like Bridge, strings, Bridge pins, saddle in acoustic guitars. Whereas, in electric guitar it holds bridge, strings, pickups, selector switches, knob controls.

9. Pickups (Electric Guitars)

Like the bridge produces the sound by vibration in acoustic guitar, electric guitar also needs pickups to pass the electric signals to pickups to produce the sound. Simply, the pickups are the electromagnetic hardware that catches the vibration of strings, converts them into electric signals and produces the sound.

There are different types of guitar pickups available in the market that produces its own unique sound and tones. Some of the famous guitar pickups are – Single-coil, humbucker, Mini-humbucker, P90, Active Pickups etc.

10. Bridge

The bridge holds the strings through the help of bridge. The bridge helps the strings to be stable and work efficiently. Especially, in the acoustic guitar, bridge plays a great role in producing the sound than the electric guitar. The vibration that takes place in the bridge through strings actually produces the sound.

The Bridges are particularly similar in all kinds of acoustic guitar, whereas in the electric guitars, the bridge are different in shapes and sizes. Also, they have different working mechanisms that effects the guitar’s tone, tuning and sustain. The mostly used bridges in electric guitars are- fixed bridges, tremolo bridges (whammy bars), and floating bridges.

11. Saddle

The saddle is mainly important for the acoustic guitars. Made up with the materials like plastic, metal or bone this part works as a anchor of the strings and placed above the bridge. This part is important to make the string stable and place them in the fixed groove so that the strings won’t change their position.

Hence, the saddle is one of the most important part of the guitar that stabilizes the intonation and the string height, ultimately enhancing the playability and the sound of the guitar.

12. Bridge Pins (Acoustic Guitars)

The bridge pins are the small rounded long pins that is used to fix the strings to the bridge. They lock the balls that are on the end of the strings. Upon pressing those balls deep down to the bridge the strings gets fixed and the tuning pegs are then ready to get turned to get tightened. These parts can be made from different materials like plastic, bone or even metal.

13. Pickguard

The pick guard is placed at the body of the guitar. According to the left or right hand guitar, this part is placed beneath the string to prevent the body from scratch. When players strums of picks the strings from beneath, there is chance of scratching. So, for aggressive players, pickguard is very important to be fitted. You can find different types of pickguards in markets based on the shapes, sizes that matches the aesthetics of the guitar.

Where as for Electric guitar, the whole white part that covers the pickups and other components is the Pickguard.

14. Soundhole (Acoustic Guitars)

The sound hole is particularly found in the acoustic guitars rather than other kinds of guitars. the sound hole is also the important part, that changes the dynamic of the sound and tone of the guitar. The sound holes are usually located directly under the strings right in the middle of the body. Mostly, you will find the round sound hole in most of guitars. However, you may also find dotted or smaller holes in some guitars that offer unique sound quality.

15. Volume and Tone Controls (Electric Guitars)

Mostly, in electric guitars, you will find couple of tone and volume controls that allows to change the tonal quality and the volume of the guitar. With just volume and tone control knob, you can produce wide range of tones. Basically after controlling high and low frequencies of the guitar, you can have the desired output you want. Usually, you will find these controls beneath the strings i.e downward part of strings.

16. Pickup Selector Switch (Electric Guitars)

Another manual control system in the guitar is the pickup selector switch. Basically, these are the controls that allows the players to activate and deactivate the selected pickup in the electric guitar. Since, you must know that different pickup position like bridge, neck and middle pickups have the different tonal qualities.

Hence, to activate the wanted pickup position and activate different tonal quality, this pickup selectors comes in use to the players. The most commonly seen pickup selectors in guitar are three-way and five way pickup selectors.

17. Output Jack

Even though Output jack is the external part, we decided to include it in this list because of its importance. It is the main connecter between the guitar and the output device(Amp or speaker). Without it, the electric guitar and the output device both are meaningless. Hence, with the use of the output jack, the guitar will be able to transmit the electric signals of sound without any noise and interference.

18. Strap Buttons

Strap buttons are the minor guitar parts which may or may not be present in guitars. It is usually placed at the top of the body and at the bottom of the guitar body. Basically, when a player have to play in standing position they have to wear a strap.

Therefore, it’s a function of strap buttons to lock the strap of the guitar, so the player doesn’t have to fix the strap in the neck of the guitar. If there are no strap buttons in the guitar then you may have to install it for the additional price, so check out for these before buying a guitar.

19. Strings

Many people are familiar with the guitar strings, whether they be player or a non-player. Strings are the main part of guitar, which produces the sound of guitar with direct contact. Especially, guitar strings produces sound when it is plucked or strummed.

The main features of the strings, such as gauge and materials determines the tone, feel and playability of the strings. Hence, Guitar strings require regular cleaning and occasional replacements to bring the best sound quality of the guitar.

20. Binding

Binding is the component of the guitar which determines the durability and built quality of the guitar. Usually, it is the strip, which is made up of plastic or wood the binds the other different parts of the guitar. You can see neck, fretboard, body back and sides being bind in the appealing way that enhances the look of the guitar. Hence, know that high quality binding ultimately makes the guitar look great and durable.

Conclusion: Parts of Guitar

Now that we have discussed all of the parts of guitar, we want to say that, before starting to learn any kind of instrument, it is must to know about the components of it, along with the knowledge of its working mechanisms.

So, whether you are starting out your musical journey with acoustic or electric guitar, you can come here to check out the brief information about the guitar parts. Hence, we hope that this information will be helpful to you. Keep listening to music and keep practicing! See you in the next blog!