Glossary

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Action

This refers to the height at which the guitar strings are set above the fretboard. A lower playing action offers the advantage of making the guitar easier to play because less pressure is required to fret the strings. However, lower action also creates less pressure on the bridge saddles which causes less acoustical energy to be transferred to the body/soundboard. This may result in a slightly thinner tone with inhibited sustain, an effect which is most noticeable on acoustic guitars. Another potential side effect of low action is fret buzz.

Dreadnought Guitar

Very popular acoustic guitar bodyform characterized by wide 'hips' and a thick 'waist'. Dreadnought guitars have a balanced tone with a slight emphasis on the highs and lows. They are often chosen by chordal strummers for rhythm work (whereas melodic fingerpickers frequently prefer guitars with more midrange emphasis).

Fret Buzz

A buzzing heard beneath a fretted note caused by the vibrating string rattling against the fret above. May be indicative of a poorly set up instrument or the side effect of a particularly low action. Easily dealt with on most electric guitars but if discovered on an acoustic may require professional attention.

Fixed Bridge (Hardtail/Stoptail)

Refers to an electric guitar bridge which does NOT offer pitch movement through the use of a mechanically floating design (see floating tremolo). At its simplest, a hardtail (or stoptail) bridge combines bridge saddle and tailpiece in one -- This is referred to as a combination stoptail bridge. More commonly, however a fixed-bridge design takes the form of Gibson's tune-o-matic bridge plus separate tailpiece design, or Fender's Telecaster bridge, both of which offer individually adjustable saddles for intonation adjustment.

Humbucker Pickup

A humbucker (or humbucking pickup) is a dual-coil pickup originally designed to eliminate sonic interference from 60-cycle mains hum. The tone of a humbucker differs from that of a single-coil pickup because it senses a wider sample of string vibration, resulting in a thicker sound with more midrange emphasis and greater output. This innovation was deemed extremely popular amongst the emerging blues/rock groups of the late '60s as the hotter output from these pickups allowed amplifier distortion to be achieved more easily (at a time when the only way of getting a distorted sound was to turn up LOUD.)

Intonation

Intonation refers to the 'in-tuneness' of a guitar along the length of each string. In order that a guitar string plays in tune all the way from the open position to the guitar's highest fret, its length needs to be calibrated accurately. Most electric guitars allow the string length and thus intonation to be altered by means of moveable bridge saddles, whilst acoustic guitar design prohibits this.

Gibson Les Paul

Solid-body electric named after the famous jazz guitarist and recording entrepreneur Les Paul. A very popular guitar amongst rock and blues players, famed for its warm tone, throaty midrange bark and long sustain. This guitar is associated strongly with Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) and Slash (Guns 'N Roses, Velvet Revolver).

Gibson SG

Another famous solidbody from the Gibson stable, having a number of high profile users such as Angus Young (AC/DC) and Pete Townshend (The Who). It's shallower body offers a somewhat less fullsome low end than the Les Paul but presents a snarling and aggressive midrange.

Single-Coil Pickup

The original electric guitar pickup design has a single magnetic coil, sensing just a small area of each string. The single-coil sound is bright, twangy and pronounced in the upper frequencies. This is the sound of the Fender Strat and Tele. True single-coil designs are prone to picking up noise via mains hum (especially from fluorescent lights and dimmer switches) and many guitarists prefer to substitute their single-coils for noiseless designs (really humbuckers in smaller packaging) which aim to reproduce the single-coil sound but without the hum.

Spanish (Classical) Acoustic

A guitar whose treble strings are made of nylon, with a wide and flat fretboard. Designed for classical repertoire or Spanish flamenco music.

Fender Stratocaster (Strat)

Leo Fender's most popular design electric solidbody, recognizable by its ergonomic, contoured body shape, light weight and single-coil pickups. The 'Strat' has a bright, snappy sound and has found popularity at one time or another with every type of guitarist from surf and rockabilly players to blues and country artists. Notable players include Eric Clapton (Cream), Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), Jeff Beck (Yardbirds), Jimi Hendrix, and Hank Marvin (The Shadows).

Fender Telecaster (Tele)

Fender's original electric guitar design. Not as futuristic looking or as ergonomic as the later released Strat, this guitar has nevertheless remained highly popular right up to the present day. Often seen as a no-frills, 'working man's' instrument, this is the #1 choice for country guitarists because of its characteristic twang.

Floating (Tremolo) Bridge

The bridge assembly designed by Fender and associated with Jimi Hendrix and Hank Marvin which allows the strings to be raised and/or lowered with a lever ('whammy bar') to create a vibrato effect. Such bridges can be set up to drop the pitch of the strings only (divebomb), or raise the pitch slightly as well (full floating). Requires proper setting up to deliver good results without going out of tune.

Trussrod

A central rod of steel or composite material inserted inside a guitar neck whose function is to put an adjustable forward bow in the neck which ensures that the arc of the vibrating strings does not collide with the fretboard.