Guitar Parts Glossary - What is a fret, saddle, nut, truss rod? etc.

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Glossary of Instrument Related Terms

Don't know the difference between binding and purfling or the names of parts on the guitar? Hopefully this glossary will give you a little help with some of the common terms often used in instrument repair and guitar talk.

A-Style - Normally attached to the description of a mandolin. The A-style mandolin has a pear shaped body which is symmetrical.

Abalone - Colorful shell material commonly inlaid on instruments for decoration. Abalone comes in a vast array of colors and is quite beautiful. Example

Action - A term generally used to describe the strings height above the fingerboard on an instrument. More

Active - When pickup's are said to be active they normally have a power source such as a 9 volt battery to power active circuitry.

Archtop - An instrument with an arched or carved top as opposed to a flat top.

Binding - A protective strip, usually of wood or plastic, that is placed along the outer most edges of the top, back, fingerboard and/or peghead of some instruments which seals (caps) the open end grain and provides decoration. More

Bolt On - Normally refers to an instrument who's neck is attached by bolts rather than being glued in place.

Bookmatched - Most tops and backs of instruments are 2 pieces of wood glued together to form one panel. When that panel is bookmatched the wood which it came from has been cut into slices and 2 consecutive slices (pages) are laid open like the pages of a book to form one panel.

Brace - Braces are glued to the top and back of most instruments to strengthen and support these rather thin panels. Layout, thickness, height, width and material can vary greatly amongst instruments.

	X-Brace - By far one of the most popular bracing patterns on flattop guitar tops. The braces of the top intersect to form the shape of an X just below the soundhole.
	Ladder Bracing - Top braces which run parallel to themselves like the rungs of a ladder. They run from treble to bass side.
	Fan Bracing - A bracing pattern which fans out like a hand spread open. Commonly found on classical style guitars.
	Scalloped Braces - A technique used to decrease the mass of a brace and change the stiffness of the top. A scalloped brace often appears to dip down towards it's center and peak on either end.
	Popsicle Brace - A flat top brace located just in front of the neck block on some acoustic flat top guitar tops.

Bridge - Bridges vary in shape and style but their main purpose is to transfer the strings vibration to the top of the instrument.
On flat top instruments the bridge is generally glued to the top and a saddle acts as a coupler between string and bridge.
On arch top instruments the bridge is normally held in place only by the strings tension and is freely moveable. It may consist of a top and base portion, adjustable by thumbwheels or be one solid piece.

	Adjustable Bridge -This normally refers to the kind of bridge you will find on an archtop/carved top instrument. Some are equipped with thumbwheels for height adjustment, others are not.
	Moustache Bridge - Wow, this one is hard to miss. This bridge is found on Gibson flat tops and somewhat resembles the old curly, handlebar moustache of yester year. (Well maybe not so "yester" for some folk. ) Look
	Pin Bridge - A pin bridge is simply a bridge which uses bridge pins to anchor the strings to it.
	Pyramid Bridge - So named because either end of this bridge has the shape of a pyramid.
	Tie Back Bridge - This is the bridge you will find on most Classical guitars. Instead of pins to hold the strings in place, strings without ballends are tied around a portion of the bridge.

Bridge Pin - Bridge pins press into the bridge and help to anchor the strings in place.

Celluloid - A common plastic used on instrument pickguards, tuning buttons and binding. Celluloid is known to shrink and deteriorate with time and may require replacement on some vintage instruments.
It has a minty, spearmint smell when scraped or sanded, just so you know.
That fact helps me pick it out amongst a hundred other strips of binding when sorting thru my lot of celluloid, ABS and other plastics.

Checking - A common cracking found in lacquer finishes, particularly on older instruments or those that have been subject to extreme temperature changes. As the instruments wood expands and contracts the finish is put thru a great deal of stress and frequently develops fine cracks within the finish. More

Compensated - Scale lengths or saddles are often compensated (lengthened or shortened) to produce accurate intonation. Compensating a saddle is a technique which alters the strings contact point on the crown of the saddle either fore or aft of it's center thereby changing the scale length of the string. More

Crazing - See Checking

Cutaway - An instrument which has been cut away on it's treble bout to allow easy access to the frets over the body. Players who want unhindered access to the entire fingerboard may prefer it.
A double cut away would describe an instrument in which both sides are cut away. A Gibson SG would be an example.

	Florentine Cutaway - The tip of the cutaway comes to a sharp point.
	Venetian Cutaway - The tip of the cutaway is rounded.

Ears - Something you'll want to close if I'm playing.
The additional wood added to the sides of a neck blank in order to enlarge the width of the peghead.

Ebonized - Contains no Ebony.
Many manufacturers have stained or painted bridges and fingerboards black to give them the appearance of Ebony. This dye often wears away with age to reveal another, sometimes inferior wood beneath. If it's white wood (usually box or basswood) staining it will help restore the "ebonized" look.
But if it's rosewood that's been covered, I usually recommend removing what's left of the stain and leaving the rosewood unaltered. This can often be accomplished with steel wool or light sanding.

End block - Acoustic instruments normally have an end block and a neck block at opposing ends of the body. The end block is glued to the top, back, and sides at the bottom end of the instrument. It is common to mount strap buttons and endpins to this block and it provides the stability necessary when mounting input jacks in acoustic guitars. Input jacks should never be mounted directly thru the side since the sides are thin and can not provide the support necessary from the pressure of pulling and pushing cords into the jack.

F-hole - Rather than having a round soundhole some instruments have holes similar to the shape of the cursive letter F. This is quite common on Archtop guitars, some Mandolins and of course Violins.

Fingerboard (Fretboard) The fretting surface of the neck which contains the frets. (Unless of course it's a fretless guitar, but then it's still the fingerboard.) More Fingerboard fret spacing is determined by the scale of the instrument, the length between nut and saddle.

Floating Pickup - A pickup that is suspended over the body rather than being built into it. Commonly found on Arched top guitars, these pickups are frequently attached to the end of the fingerboard or pickguard so as not to interfere with the acoustical properties of the instrument or alter it structurally. It is often convenient to mount the pickups jack and any volume or tone pot right on the pickguard making it entirely removable.

Fret - Metal wire inlayed at precise intervals along the fingerboard according to the instruments scale length. Each interval renders a new note, hopefully a half step above the previous one or you've got a real problem. (Hmm, maybe that's why I don't play in tune.) Fret wire comes in a variety of heights and widths providing the player with many different options. More

Grain run out - A problem created when cutting wood at an angle to it's grain. More

Intonation - The instruments ability to play in tune at various positions through out the neck.
Instruments are build to a particular scale length. That scale dictates at what intervals the frets must be placed and where the saddle is to sit. The strings total scale length (measured from nut to saddle) must be precise to render accurate notes (neither flat nor sharp) as one moves up the scale. An instrument that has poor intonation will not play in tune as you move up the neck. More

Kerf Lining - This lining is glued around the parameter of the top to side joint and the back to side joint inside the instrument. It provides a solid gluing/mating surface between the two. Once the top has been glued to the sides a channel is normally routed to accept purfling and binding which makes this lining necessary if the two are to remain joined.

Laminated - The backs, sides and even tops of some instruments can be made from several pieces of wood which have been laminated to form one piece, usually at the determent of it's sound. (Especially if it's the top that's laminated.)
A neck can also be made from more than one piece of wood to produce a decorative center stripe.

Machine Heads - a.k.a Tuners or tuning machines.

Neck Block - The neck block is found inside of the body, at the base of the neck. (Many are stamped with the instruments serial number or ID and on acoustic guitars with bolt on necks, the mounting bolts will pass thru this block).
Neck blocks provide the necessary stability and base in which to mount the neck to the body.

Nut - Found at the end of the fingerboard near the tuners. Usually formed from bone, ivory, plastic, ebony, or graphite, the nut determines string spacing and string height by small grooves cut into it's surface. More

Passive - Usually pertains to an instrument whose electronics have no power source (like a 9 volt battery) or active circuitry.

Peghead - A peghead is where the tuners are mounted. It's also the thing most likely to break when an instrument falls over.
Before the age of geared tuners, friction pegs (like those found on Violins) were used to tune the instrument. They were mounted on the head, the peghead. Ah ha!

Pickguard - A thin covering glued or mounted to the top of an instrument to prevent scratching the top with a pick (or your fingers) when playing. Most are available in a variety of materials and colors.

Pot (Potentiometer) - Switch most commonly used for volume and tone controls. The difference between a volume pot and a tone pot is the way you wire them. The tone pot will normally have a capacitor attached to one of the lugs.

Purfling - A decorative piece of wood, shell or other material located around the edge of the body, soundhole, peghead etc., just inside of the outer binding. The Herringbone design used by Martin® would be considered purfling, as would the colorful abalone shell used on some fancier models. Purfling can be one solid piece or many thin pieces laminated to provide more complex and creative designs.

Relief - The upward bow found in an instruments neck that allows the strings to vibrate without hitting the frets. More

Rosette - A decorative strip or inlay found around the soundhole. Materials used in the Rosette may match those chosen for the purfling or be completely different.

Saddle - On flattop instruments with pin or tie back bridges, the saddle transfers the strings vibration to the bridge. Saddles are normally made from bone/ivory, Micarta, Tusq, Corian and even porclein.Pics & more

Scale Length - The distance between the nut and saddle before compensation is added. To determine your scale length you can measure from the center of the 12th fret to the nut edge of the fingerboard and double it.

Set Neck - A set neck is a neck that is glued in and uses no bolts for attachment. This is normally affixed to the description of an electric guitar.
A Thru neck is one which actually runs right thru the center of the body.

Tailpiece - On instruments without bridge pins the strings are commonly anchored to a tailpiece. This normally mounts to the end block and pulls the strings down towards the top after passing across the bridge.

	Trapeze Tailpiece - This tailpiece has somewhat of a hinge on it, and has a shape similar to a swinging trapeze.
	Stop Tailpiece - On a Les Paul this would be the bar which anchors the strings to the top. Strings pass thru the stop tailpiece and flow over the bridge.

Three on a plate - A way to describe 3 tuners that are mounted on a single plate, as opposed to 3 individual tuners.

Truss Rod - A rod which runs thru the center of an instruments neck, just below the fingerboard, which helps to stiffen the neck and prevent bowing caused by the strings tension. More

	T-Bar - A truss rod made from a bar in the shape of a T.
	Square Bar - A truss rod which was made from square bar, hollow center.
	Adjustable - A truss rod which is adjustable can be tightened to counteract the bow created in the neck by the strings tension, or loosened to allow the strings to pull more bow into the neck.
	Double Action - A double action truss rod can not only create back pressure in the neck to resist the strings pull and decrease relief, but it can also add forward bow to create relief when the strings can not.

Thumbwheel - A small wheel used on adjustable bridges (those usually found on archtop guitars or mandolins) to adjust the bridges height. The top portion of an adjustable bridge rest upon these flat wheels and as they are screwed upward on their post the top portion of the bridge is raised. See bridges illustration.

T.O.M. Tune-o-matic - This bridge is commonly found on Les Paul® style electric guitars, sits on two thumbwheels and has six individual saddles which permit intonation adjustment of each string. More

Veneer - Sometimes refers to the thin wood or plastic laminate placed on the peghead to provide decoration or strength. (Peghead Veneer)

Volute - That nice little (diamond/triangular) shape of wood carved with the shape of the neck just behind the peghead of a D-28 or similar neck. It serves to strengthen the neck where the peghead begins by adding a bit of mass at that point.

Yowee / Ras-a-fras - Common sound heard when pricking my finger on the sharp string ends whilst removing them from the tuners.

Zero Fret - A Zero fret is an additional fret which sits exactly where the nut should sit. The strings lie directly on this fret and it (not the nut) determines the height of the strings from the fingerboard in the first position. Models equipped with a zero fret still use a conventional nut but it's sole purpose is to control string spacing, not height. Look