How to Understand the Anatomy of an Electric Guitar

The basic structure of an electric guitar is similar to that of an acoustic guitar with the addition of a few important parts because of the electronic aspect the guitar. The following steps will show how to understand the anatomy of an electric guitar.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Look at the body. It is usually solid to make it sturdier because it does not need a hollow body to act as an acoustic chamber. It also must be "cut away" to allow the guitarist to reach the high notes required in rock music.
2. Examine the neck. It is essentially unchanged but is slightly thinner and more narrow to accommodate the much faster playing speed needed in hard rock.
3. Observe the frets. These parts are functionally the same but must be made to more accurate specifications as the height of the strings above the frets is usually much less on an electric guitar.
4. Study the controls. These parts are unique to the electric guitar and usually consist of a pickup selector switch, a tone control for each pickup and a volume control. The pickup selector switch determines which pickup or combination of pickups will be active.
5. Inspect the tremolo or "whammy" bar. This is also found only on electric guitars and is pushed to lower the pitch of the strings and some models may be pulled to raise the pitch of the strings. The better tremolo systems also may include a locking nut installed at the top of the neck. In these cases, the strings are tuned with screws on the tremolo platform rather than the tuning pegs.