First off, let’s see the main functions of the bridge itself. A bridge is placed between the guitar strings and the guitar body to set the strings length in order to get a proper intonation. The distance from the guitar nut to the bridge should be calculated precisely. The bridge sets sufficient distance a.k.a. string action from the fretboard to the guitar strings. Together with the nut, the bridge also provides strings spacing at the fretboard and guitar body.

Electric Guitar Bridge Common Problems:

The guitar stays out of tune no matter how good you tune the strings.

Poor strings intonation, i.e. open string pitch is OK but when pressed at a certain fret the pitch is off.

Strings keep on buzzing on one or more frets.

Strings breaks frequently at bridge.

Daily Suggested Maintenance:

Wipe dry the strings and the bridge after playing. Electric guitar bridge is very prone to get corroded because every time your palm rests on the bridge it will deposit some sweat there. If corrosion happened on the saddles you can expect to spend more bucks because the saddles may have worn edges sharp enough to break your strings.

Check whether the bridge is still in good position. If you feel that it is out of place better seek help from an experienced guitar technician.

Setting the Saddles:

The guitar saddles can be adjusted up or down to alter the strings action. You may want to do this if you feel that the guitar playability is not right. On some electric guitars you can alter the strings action by raising or lowering the whole bridge. The other types have six individual saddles (or seven for the seven strings guitar) that allow you to set the string action individually. On some other types you may find both of the adjustable bridge and set of saddles.

Whilst you can also shift the saddle back and forth I don’t really recommend beginners to do this because it will change the guitar intonation.  Again you’d better seek for a help from a guitar technician should you think your guitar has a poor intonation.

To Your Guitar Success,

-TJ-

Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin

Related posts:

1. Guitar Bridge – How It Works
2. Electric Guitar Parts
3. Guitar Bridge Repair

Acoustic guitar bridge is equipped with saddle which is normally harder than the bridge. The main function of saddle is to hold the strings above the bridge. It must be calibrated by the guitar manufacturer because wrong setting will cause poor intonation or difficult to tune the guitar properly. Setting the saddle too low may create buzzes while setting it too high will affect the guitar playability because of the high string action.

Bridge Setting

Guitar bridge is designed to hold the strings at a certain height above the fretboard. There are two types of guitar bridge: fixed and alterable. Ideally bridge height should create enough angularity in the strings giving sufficient down force to the guitar top and at the same time placing the strings close enough to the fretboard to make fretting notes easy.

Together with guitar nut, bridge also determine the strings spacing.

Electric Guitar Bridges

Electric guitar bridges can be grouped into 2 main groups: tremolo and hardtail, a.k.a. non tremolo. Tremolo bridges are equipped with an arm called whammy bar which allow the guitarists to push or pull the bridge to alter the strings pitch.
Non-tremolo or hardtail bridges give no active control over the strings pitch.
Choosing which type is better is difficult because it is totally up to the users to find which one suits their style, however in general there is a thought that a fixed / non-tremolo bridge provides better tuning stability and better contact between the strings and the guitar body.

To Your Guitar Success,

-TJ-

Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin

Related posts:

1. Electric Guitar Bridge
2. Guitar Bridge Repair
3. Guitar Parts

OK, let’s grab your electric guitar to see what the parts do. Some of the electric guitar parts are derived from acoustic guitar parts so basically they do the same functions except for the additional parts found in electric guitars only.

One of the electric guitar parts that differs from the acoustic version is the guitar bridge. Some models of the electric guitars allow dynamic bridge movement by means of the whammy bar. Other types of the electric guitar bridge are designed to work with fix bridge which is similar to what acoustic guitars have.

Whammy Bar or tremolo bar is used to generate a vibrato sound on electric guitars. There are two types of whammy bar: single action / direction which allow you to dive the bar only and double action which allow you to dive and pull off the bar.

Locking Nuts: This part is a must have for electric guitars with a double action whammy bar because pulling off and pushing in the whammy bar excessively can alter the guitar tuning badly. Electric guitars with fix bridge or single action whammy bar normally are not equipped with this feature.

Pick-ups are the transducers receiving analog signals from the strings vibration to be transmitted to the guitar amplifiers or guitar effects for further signal processing. Neck pick-up gives softer tone characteristic which is ideal for rhythm while bridge pick-up gives sharper or twangy tone and often used to play lead.

Pick-up Selector is used to choose which coil to be used. For electric guitars with two pick-ups normally you can set it to the bridge pick-up, the neck pick-up or a combination of both the neck and the bridge pick-ups.

The volume and tone knobs are used to control the sound output, i.e. the treble or bass setting or the sound volume.

I skip the other electric guitar parts such as head stock, guitar neck and fretboard, etc. because they can be found in the acoustic guitars and perform the same functions.

To Your Guitar Success,

-TJ-

Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin

Related posts:

1. Electric Guitar Bridge
2. Guitar Parts
3. Guitar Bridge – How It Works

Guitar fret is made of an alloy of copper and nickel, a much softer material compared to the stainless steel guitar strings. On acoustic guitars the first and second strings will cut into the frets faster than the other strings, because they are thin and sharp, and made of stainless steel. The rest strings are wound by other alloy materials such as nickel, bronze or brass which are softer than stainless steel so they won’t cut as severe as the first two strings.

If you are an addicted capo user you can expect guitar fret worn under all the six strings because the capo is clamped tightly against the strings very close to the fret. Some capo users even clamp it onto the fret directly.

Leaving your guitar exposed to excessive high temperature, i.e. in a hot parked vehicle may shrink its fretboard, resulting in protruding frets. If the manufacturer did not dress the frets properly then your guitar now is armed with at least 19 small sharp blades, ready to shed your blood off your fingers ….

Low humidity is another culprit of sticking out guitar frets. Sometimes rehumidifying the guitar will rectify the fret problem but some woods will not return to the original dimensions once the moisture is gone.

Guitar frets height plays an important role: It affects the guitar intonation and tone. Very low or worn frets can create buzzes while too high frets will feel bumpy and prevent you from sliding your fingers fast along the fretboard.

Since guitar playability is also depending on the guitar fret condition it is always a good idea to periodically check the frets condition, especially if you have aged guitar. Get advices from an experienced technician if you think your guitar needs refretting. Unlike changing guitar strings or tuning pegs, changing frets is more difficult to do; it is not a beginner’s cup of tea at all.

To Your Guitar Success,

-TJ-

Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin

Related posts:

1. Used Guitars
2. Electric Guitar Strings Tips
3. Guitar Necks

Look at the center of the tuning mechanical gears. If you are lucky you will see the adjustment screws. They are bigger than the other 4 screws attaching the tuning pegs to the headstock. The adjustment screws function is to hold the knobs onto the pinion shafts (where you insert and coil the strings) and at the same time they adjust the mechanical gears to allow no play in the tuning pegs when you are doing the string tuning.

Giving no tension applied on the string tighten up the adjustment screw. The tighter you go the more difficult you turn the peg so set it just enough until you feel a light drag or resistance when you turn the peg.

If this adjustment does not help then maybe you need to replace the tuning pegs. Find some tips below before you end up messing your headstock:

-    Look for similar tuning pegs. Prevent modifying the headstock if possible. Some tuning pegs assemblies have bigger pinion shaft or different screw spacing. Failed to find similar replacement means you have to drill the headstock.

-    Understand the gear ratios. You can find 14:1 or 18:1 gear ratios available for example. Higher gear ratio means you will have more precise tuning control but changing strings will take more time compare to lower gear ratio, this is due to more peg turns needed to complete one pinion shaft rotation.

-    If you think you can’t do the replacement find an expert. Drilling the headstock should be done carefully to prevent cracks.

To Your Guitar Success,

-TJ-

Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin

Related posts:

1. Guitar Parts
2. Guitar Tuning
3. Guitar Tuning – The Physics Way

Do your fat fingers prevent you from fretting?

Try guitar with wider neck such as classical guitar. If the width of classical guitar neck is sufficient for your fingers then you can always order or custom made a steel string acoustic guitar with the same specification.

Choosing the right neck size:

There is no right or wrong neck size. Try as many as you can to figure out which one fits your hand. It should be comfortable to you from the first time you pick it up. People make mistakes by taking one that does not fit their hands and at the same time think that they will feel better someday.

What are the standard sizes of acoustic and classical guitar necks?

The standard size of acoustic neck is 1.72 inches. Classical guitar has bigger neck size which is 2.00 inches. It will be easier to play fast on a smaller neck but sometimes you will unnecessarily mute the strings. On the other hand wider necks give you better finger picking.

Neck radius and thickness:

Neck radius is the roundness of the neck and it is related closely to the guitar neck thickness. You will have to find which one suits your need. Some people prefer thin neck, some may vote for fat neck. If you find that fretting chords is hard or even painful you have this is possibly related to your neck thickness and / or your string action. Check whether your guitar neck is too thick and the string action is too high.

Fret size:

If you bend your strings a lot you may find that thin frets are not so good because when you slide the strings they may slide on the fretboard instead of the frets.

I personally don’t like large frets because sometimes they prevent me from making a smooth fingers movement across the fretboard. But again there is nothing wrong with thin or thick frets. Fret size preference is very personal and just because one size works for me it does not mean it will work for everybody.

OK folks, hope this guitar necks topic helps you. See you soon!

To Your Guitar Success,

-TJ-

Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin

Related posts:

1. Guitar Parts
2. Cheap Guitars
3. Acoustic Guitar Strings – What You Need to Know

The electronics you find on the guitar below is used to amplify the guitar output, so basically this guitar is an acoustic-electric guitar.

Other Guitar Parts and Their Assignment:

Headstock a.k.a. peghead is mainly functioned to hold the guitar tuning pegs and the strings.

Machine Heads / Tuning Pegs are mechanical tuners to hold and adjust the strings tension.

Frets are metal wires precisely inserted along the fretboard at certain intervals, each interval represents half step note higher than the previous one.

Neck is the guitar part supporting the fretboard.

Fretboard is the neck surface containing the frets.

Nut is located at the end of the fretboard near the headstock. Its small grooves determine the string height and also the string spacing.

Sound hole is a hole made on the guitar top to resonate the strings’ sound.

Bridge is a part of the guitar where all strings are inserted. Together with the tuning pegs they give tension to the strings.

Pins are used to secure the strings inserted into the bridge. Note that not all of the bridges have these pins.

Saddle is the guitar part located at the bridge that determines the guitar action. The higher the saddle the more gap is created between the strings and the fretboard.

Pickguard prevents the guitar top from being scratched by the pick or fingernails.

Some guitar parts can be replaced easily, i.e. saddle, nut and tuning pegs but parts such as frets and bridge will require a guitar technician to fix.

To Your Guitar Success

-TJ-

Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin

Related posts:

1. Guitar Bridge – How It Works
2. Used Guitars
3. Electric Guitar Parts