The Components That Make Up an Electric Guitar

Neck of the Guitar

First we have the guitar neck. In some guitars this can be one complete piece of timber (e.g. Fender Telecaster) where in others the neck comes with an inlay for the frets. This will often come in a different timber to the neck of the guitar itself. The most common varieties used include Maple, Ebony and Rosewood. Inside of the neck is the Truss Rod, these come in single or double variants and are used to adjust the straightness of your guitar neck to assist against bowing and on some occasions warping. The Truss Rod is generally adjusted using a key or screwdriver at the headstock of your instrument. After that we have the head stock itself which happens to be where you will add the tuning gear (machine heads as well as tuning pegs). Some guitars will also have string guides to keep the guitar strings constantly in place. Finally we have the nut which is found at the top of the neck and contains openings for the guitar strings to sit in. These are typically made from bone and sometimes ivory.

The Body

The guitar body itself is uncomplicated and it is characteristically a robust piece of wood (or pieces glued together) routed to fit the different guitar components. The guitar neck either screws directly on the body or is fixed depending upon the guitar you have selected. Neck through models are usually fixed however run the size of your guitar.

Bridge

The guitar bridge sits right behind the rear pickup which the strings are connected to. The bridge is often hung behind the guitar body. Usually the steadiness is achieved by springs running counter towards the guitar string ends. Bridges can be categorised within either Tremelo or non Tremelo variations.

The Hardware

This is where the bulk of your sound is developed of course. If you decide to personalize this is probably where you would begin as most inexpensive guitars only provide basic pickups. Pickups are available in many kinds yet to give just a basic introduction can be purchased as both one coil or Humbucker. Individual coil is better recognized for clean bluesy sounds whereas Humbuckers are generally used for rock as well as more heavy music. There are also loaded Active Pickups as well as Humbucker pickups and the list goes on. Next we have selector switches to choose the pickup currently in use. After that we have Sound level as well as Tone Potentiometers (also known as pots) another part you could consider customizing to gain better control. Lastly you have the input port to plug the lead into the guitar. Place it all together and you will have your normal guitar.

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