Earlier in the series, I tackled 2 aspects to look at before buying a new guitar. Playability and Comfort and Durability and Quality. I was supposed to tackle Features and Aesthetics and finalize this series. However, after exhaustive research, I found out that we will be needing a Part 4 for aesthetics.
So now that we have reached the 3rd part of this series, let’s talk about
Features
This is mainly the seducing part of any instrument to their potential buyer. An instrument loaded with features is always nice to have.
Who wouldn’t like to have a Les Paul after gods like Jimmy Paige, Gary Moore, Slash, Joe Perry, and the exhausting list of those who rocked an LP?
How about a Strat after Richie Blackmore or Eric Clapton? Maybe a Keith Richards Tele?
Wait but why do we always praise the classics?
Well, there is no doubt that these classic models have set the standards for whatever came after them. However, the guitar as an instrument has evolved so much in recent years and I believe modern guitars have much to offer.
Let’s dive deeper into it and ask ourselves what features to consider…
The Headstock
The headstock is one of the most important parts of the guitar as it holds the tuning pegs. There is not much to talk about here concerning the headstock; however, you will find later on in this article that the angulation of the strings around the nut depends much on the headstock shape.
One thing to mention though and many of you must have asked the question about the need for a reverse headstock. Well, the answer to this question is debatable. Many say that the reverse headstock is only about the looks; but others say that when you have the high E string shorter between the tuning peg and the bridge, it relives a little bit of tension so it becomes more bendable. Of course, this rule does not apply to non-locking nuts.
String Trees
String trees are meant to provide the correct amount of downward pressure on a string so it doesn’t buzz within its nut slot.
There are several types of them of which the ones built with rollers are the best.
Another use of string trees is to adjust the angle of strings at the nut point to reduce tension and increase the life of the nut. An example in the image below.
Machine Heads/Tuners
Machine heads or in other words, tuners, are the geared interface that allows tuning the strings by adjusting their tension.
There are several types of tuners. Let’s talk about a few of them.
- Open-Back: These tuners look so nice as their gears are exposed to the eye. However, they are susceptible to dust and dirt; hence they tend not to last as long as desired.
- Sealed: These tuners are the most common among electric guitars. They are durable and their quality depends on their brand.
- Lock-In: The tuners are modern. They include an additional screw that locks them after you are done tuning. It adds tuning stability while playing and your strings will not get out of tune.
Another thing to mention when talking about tuners is the staggered tuners. Staggered tuners have their posts different in height. In an inline-tuning machine, the tuner of the low E string will have the highest post as it is the closest to the nut, and therefore it will not put a lot of tension on the nut. Whereas the high E string which tuner is the furthest from the nut will have its post small in height to relieve some tension and remove the need of string trees. More in the illustration below.
The Nut
There is nothing that sounds better than a bone nut
- Bone nuts are considered the best for their tonal properties. They tend to be a little brighter than other nuts plus they have their lubricant so the strings do not dig into them.
- Fossil Ivory nuts are more or less the same as bone, yet they are more expensive because of their rarity. They have similar tonal characteristics however it is a little bit harder to cut to dimensions.
- Graphite is pretty well balanced. Many players prefer graphite nuts if they are heavy tremolo users because graphite gets the strings to slip well at the point of contact with the nut.
- Brass nuts are made from a material similar to what the frets are made of. Their tonal characteristic is the same as if you have a zero fret. So if you would like to have the sound of your open strings vibrate similarly to the sound of your other chords, brass nuts are the way to go.
- Steel nuts are the most durable as they will never wear out. However, this type of nuts will never give you the vintage sound that you might be looking for.
- Tusq nuts are the closest to bone in both durability and tonal characteristic.
Another type is the locking nut. Such nuts are made of metal and they are paired with specific floating bridges such as the Floyd Rose.
Here’s an article that details the different types of nuts.
Frets
Frets are not a feature. They are basic components of a guitar. Not having frets is a feature for a specific type of playing. But let’s talk about frets now.
Frets come in different sizes and each size is influenced by a style of play.
- 6230: The smallest fret wire (.078″ x .043″).
- 6150: Vintage jumbo. Much wider but not as tall as 6230 (.102″ x .042″).
- 6105: Modern narrow and tall; currently very popular (.090″ x .055″).
- 6100: Jumbo. The largest fret wire available (.110″ x .055″).
- 6130: Medium jumbo (.106″ x .036″).
The taller the fret is, the easier you can bend the strings as there will be the least friction between your bending fingers and the wood of the fretboard.
However, with tall frets, playing chords could be a little challenging if you apply pressure on the strings. Fretting so hard can lead you to get out of tune as the pitch changes a little bit.
Tall frets are also a little challenging if you like to perform string slides.
Frets that are well crowned and polished also contribute to the aesthetics of the instrument as they give this nice shiny look especially if they were made of stainless steel.
Selectors and Splitters
A typical selector used on guitars is the 3-way switch (original Teles and Strats) or the toggle switch (Les Paul models)
However, Stratocaster started at a later stage to feature 5-way switches that change the wiring of the pickups at certain positions. For instance, at positions 2 and 4 you can activate a combination of pickups at the same time to have different tones.
Guitars such as the Jaguar, Mustang, and Jazzmaster feature different kinds of switches. Among them what is called the slide.
Moving to Splitters; in recent years, guitar manufacturers started experimenting with the possibility of creating a versatile tone. Many guitarists had different gigs where they started changing guitars from a humbucker featuring guitar to configurations of three single-coils. That is due to the different tones that humbuckers and single coils output.
To extend tone versatility, guitar manufacturers started producing guitars that feature a circuit inside their hardware with the possibility to split the coils of a humbucker and activating only one coil of them on demand.
This, however, did not get the exact sound that single-coil fans would like to have. But it’s a good compromise still.
Some guitars have the splitting feature hidden inside push-pull volume or tone knobs. Other guitars have a switch dedicated for it.
Knobs
Volume and Tone knobs are different on each guitar. There are different shapes and sizes for knobs.
An important thing to know is that which pickups are controlled by which knobs. Many new guitarists think all knobs control all pickups but that’s a misconception among new players.
On Les Paul style guitars, there are 4 knobs featured. As there are two humbuckers, each pair of knobs (1 volume and 1 tone) target one of the pickups. Logically, the top ones target the neck pickup and the bottom target the bridge pickups.
On the other hand, Strat-like guitars feature a different configuration. Fender Stratocasters have 2 tone knobs and 1 volume knob. The 2 tone knobs target the neck and the middle pickups while the bridge pickup is left without tone control. And the other knob is the volume knob.
Most modern guitars and the classic fender Telecaster feature only 2 knobs. One for the volume and another for the tone that targets all pickups together.
The Bridge
Aside from the fact that we cannot discuss bridges in one article only, let us honor this specific component briefly
Guitar bridges are only two types: either Fixed or Floating. Everything other than this is blasphemy.
Now, of course, each of these types can have several anatomies. Let’s start with fixed bridges.
Fixed bridge
Also known as a hardtail, is a type of bridge that is screwed into the wood of the body and doesn’t move. Most of the time a fixed bridge features adjustable saddles where the strings rest. By adjusting the saddles you can raise the height of the string so it matches well against the fretboard.
Some fixed bridges have their adjustment interface not in the saddles but in the block itself.
Fixed bridges can also provide a fine-tuning interface. Little screws that position the saddles closer to or further from the nut.
A famous subtype of fixed bridges is the Tune-O-Matic bridge used on Gibsons.
The images above show the different subtypes of hardtails. Yes, you guessed it. the right image is a Bigsby bridge installed on a beautiful semi-hollow arched top Tele style guitar.
Whether a Bigsby is a fixed bridge or not, it is still debatable. Like the bridge itself is fixed into the wood but there is still a way to have some vibrato with a bar, guitarists do not know still how to categorize these sorts of bridges.
Floating bridge
Floating bridges have so many subtypes of which the most famous are the strat whammy bar bridge that comes with either a 2 point system or a 6 point system, and the Floyd Rose which has a double locking feature at both ends of the scale.
The 2 point trem is attached to the body of the guitar with 2 screws while the 6 point uses 6 screws. Some players claim that there is more tuning stability with a 2 point system.
A Floyd Rose allows the strings to stay in tune through large pitch changes while using the whammy bar due to its double locking.
It also allows the player to crank the bar in both directions, unlike the traditional trem systems. Illustration below.
However, a Floyd Rose system makes re-stringing very difficult.
More about bridges will follow in another article.
Pickups
As well, there is a lot to talk about pickups for one article. Their construction, the winding, the type of magnets in them, single-coils and humbuckers. But I will talk briefly about the most common concepts relative to pickups.
Why are they called pickups?
As the name indicates, pickups pick up a signal from the mechanic movement of the steel strings when they vibrate, send the signal to be amplified later and translated into sound.
Some poles have a copper wire wound around them and a magnet attached to the other side of them. This construction generates a magnetic field which in turn magnetizes the steel strings above.
So the steel strings are part of the magnetic field and once they vibrate, the magnetic field changes. This change is translated into sound.
Alnico vs Ceramic
The different types of magnets that are used are Alnico (an alloy of aluminum and nickel) and Ceramic (Ferrite — iron oxides).
Magnetically speaking, ceramic magnets produce a stronger field than Alnico. The result is a slightly hotter sounding pickup with more treble response. A lot of people automatically say that Alnico is superior to ceramic in pickups. However, there are fantastic sounding ceramic pickups out there (such as the G&L “MFD” pickups), as well as P90′s.
Single-Coil vs Humbucker vs P-90
- Single coils are bright sounding. They have a nice output that gives you that quacky sound like on strats. However, they tend to pick up interference which we call hum.
- Humbuckers, on the other hand, are made of two coils wound in reverse to each other which gives them the ability to buck the interference that is picked; hence the name Hum Bucker. Humbuckers sound warmer than single coils.
- P-90s are the middle ground between humbuckers and sing-coils. They have a higher output than single coils but less than humbuckers. They also sound deeper than single-coils but not as deep as humbuckers.
Active vs Passive
- Passive pickups do not require any external power source. They simply pick up the sound using the mechanical vibration of the strings and send the signal as it is picked to the amplifier.
- Active pickups, on the other hand, are those that require an external power source (generally a 9-volt battery). Why that? well, that is because they have fewer coils used in them and instead, they use a different circuit that incorporates a preamp, filters, and an Equalizer that modifies the signal before sending it to the amp. This kind of pickup is not as susceptible to background noise and hum as much as the passive ones. Read more here.
And with pickups, we reach the end of this part. I will be writing detailed accounts about each component in the future of which pickups will be tackled in a long article.
I hope you enjoyed this one…
Stay tuned for Part 4 about Aesthetics.
