Parts of the Guitar

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

Machine heads: The devices that the strings are wound upon that are turned to get the strings to the correct tuning.

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

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.

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

Position markers: Dots that assist in finding notes on the fretboard. Always at 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, 19, 21, sometimes 24.

Soundhole: Only on acoustic guitars. The port hole where the sound comes out of the acoustic guitar.

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

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

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

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

Pickup switch: Switches between the different pickups to change what timbre of sound either warm or harsh.

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

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

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