Know Your Bass

The Headstock is located at the top of the neck. Normally where the tuning Machines are located(sometimes called tuning pegs, or machine heads), and often displays the guitar company logo.

The Tuning Machines holds the end of the strings. By turning the tuning machines you increase or decrease the tension on the string, this changes the pitch.

The Nut is a strip, located between the fret board and headstock, on which the strings sit. The nut normally is a piece of wood, or plastic. It causes the string to stop vibrating past it.

The Frets rounded metal strips hammered into slots on the fingerboard and spaced at precise intervals, so as to produce specific pitches when the strings are depressed against them.

The Fingerboard the thin piece of hard woods such as maple, ebony, or rosewood, that forms the smooth playing surface of the neck. The strings lay on top, of the fingerboard and the frets are set into it.

The Strings are stretched across the bass, connected at the bridge and the tuning machines. When the stings vibrate they produce sound.

The Strap pins are knobs on the bass that allow you to hold the bass up with a strap.

The Pickups are electromagnets beneath the strings that pickup on the string vibrations and produces the signal that is sent to the amplifier.

The Controls are the knobs that control the loudness, tone, and of the pickups.

The Bridge connects the strings to the body at the end opposite of the tuning machines.

*Note: some basses have pickups located in the bridge.

The Jack is used to connect the intrument cable to the bass.

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