Parts of the Bass

Bridge: The piece of metal where the strings are anchored into the body.

Bridge Saddles: Piece of the bridge that holds the strings into place, also where the strings are usually locked into place.

Pickups: Device that takes the strings vibrations and transforms them into electric signals.

Body: The main part of the bass that holds all of the different parts.

Strap Post: Where the strap hooks into the instrument.

Fingerboard: The name for all of the frets combined, and the boxes they make to indicate where the fingers go.

Nut: Piece of plastic or metal that the strings go over to guide them to their proper machine head.

String Posts: The piece of metal that's attached to the tuning keys where the strings are wound upon,

Tuning Keys: The devices that the strings are wound upon that are turned to get the strings to the correct tuning.

Headstock: Top of the instrument, where the tuners are located.

String Guide: Piece of metal that helps guide the strings to the nut.

Truss Rod: Piece of metal that runs the length of the neck that can be adjusted to fix the curve of the neck.

Neck: The part of the instrument that the strings lay across that is divided into frets.

Frets: Metal strips across the neck that divide it into different notes. The proper finger placement is halfway between two frets.

Pickguard: A piece of plastic that protects the body from scratches from a pick.

Volume Knob: Controls the volume from nothing, to the full volume of the instrument.

Tone Knob: A type of equalization that makes certain frequencies louder or softer.

Output Jack: Where an instrument cable is hooked up to send the signal from the instrument to the amplifier.