ENGLISH 42
English
Description
Body
Basic guitar component
Binding
Ornamental border around the body, neck or headstock made of plastic, wood (with lacquer treatment) or
mother-of-pearl
Bookmatched
Wood block is cut open in half and glued like a mirror image
Bottom, back
Bottom part of a multi-piece body
Top
Top part of a multi-piece body
Side
Curved sides between top and bottom in hollow-body guitars
Veneer
Thin layer of wood glued on top or in-between
TCS
Tone Chamber System, specific wood carving to influence ringing properties
Neck
Basic guitar component, strings run over it
Bolt-on neck
Neck joint that uses four screws from the back
Bolt-in neck
Neck joint that uses two screws from the front and two from the back
Fingerboard
Wood with frets that is glued onto the neck
Fingerboard inlay
Inlays made of mother-of-pearl or other material that mark fretting positions
Frets
Thin metal bars on the fingerboard. Pressing the string on the fret will shorten its length and produce a
pitched sound
Headstock
End part or the neck with tuning machines
Matched headstock
Headstock with the same surface as the body
Nut
String rest at the headstock
Hardware
All metal components of the guitar
Bridge
String rest at the body
Tailpiece
String fixation behind the bridge
Saddle
Individual adjustable string rest at the bridge
String spacing
Gap between each string usually measured at the bridge
Scale
Length of a free-oscillating string
Intonation
String length adjustment to ensure the correct pitch at every position on the fingerboard
Vibrato
Bridge system that allows pitch modulations through controlled alteration of the string tension
Tremolo
A wavering effect on a note, either by rapid repetition of one or two pitches, also used as a synonym for vi-
brato bridge
Attack
Beginning of string oscillation
Sustain
Duration of string oscillation
Machine head
Used for the tuning of the string
Tuning key
Turning part of the machine heads
Truss rod
Used for adjusting the neck’s relief (neck bow)
Truss rod cover
Cover for the truss rod’s access
Pickguard
Plate made of wood, plastic or celluloid mounted on the body to prevent the scratching of the surface that
comes from hitting the strings
Pickup
Mostly magnetic converters that transforms the string’s mechanical oscillations into electrical oscillations
Singlecoil
A pickup that consists of only one coil
Humbucker
Hum-canceling pickup with two coils
Hum-canceling
Also called humbucking. It happens when two pickup coils with opposite polarity are connected together
either in series or parallel thus canceling the typical 50- to 60- cycle hum that is characteristic of a singlecoil
Trembucker
Humbucker with wider string spacing
Potentiometer
Electrical component to regulate volume or tone of a sound source
Push / pull pot
Potentiometer with a switch that is activated by pulling up or pushing down
Pickup selector switch
Allows for switching between the different pickup configurations
Security lock
Locking strap fixation
Finish
Surface treatment
Natural Oil Finish
Oiled wood surface
Colored Oil Finish
Stained clear-lacquered matte surface
Stain High Polish
Stained high-polished clear-lacquered surface
High Polish
Colored high-polished surface
