The neck is the part of certain string instruments that projects from the main body and is the base of the fingerboard, where the fingers are placed to stop the strings at different pitches. A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a Musical instrument that produces Sound by means of Vibrating strings In the Hornbostel-Sachs The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments is a part of most Stringed instruments It is a thin long strip of Wood that is Guitars, lutes, the violin family, and the mandolin family are examples of instruments which have necks. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either Fretted or unfretted and a deep round back or more specifically to an instrument from The Violin family of Musical instruments was developed in Italy in the Sixteenth century. A mandolin is a musical instrument in the Lute family (plucked or strummed
The word for neck sometimes appears in other languages in musical instructions. The French term is manche.
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Guitar
The neck of a guitar includes the guitar's frets, fretboard, tuners, headstock, and truss rod. A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a Stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments is a part of most Stringed instruments It is a thin long strip of Wood that is This article is about part of a stringed instrument A headstock is also the motorized chuck on a Lathe. A truss rod is a Guitar part used to stabilize and adjust the lengthwise forward curvature (also called relief) of the neck The wood used to make the fretboard will usually differ from the wood in the rest of the neck. The bending stress on the neck is considerable, particularly when heavier gauge strings are used (see Strings and tuning), and the ability of the neck to resist bending (see Truss rod) is important to the guitar's ability to hold a constant pitch during tuning or when strings are fretted. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles A truss rod is a Guitar part used to stabilize and adjust the lengthwise forward curvature (also called relief) of the neck The rigidity of the neck with respect to the body of the guitar is one determinant of an instrument's quality. Conversely, the ability to change the pitch of the note slightly by deliberately bending the neck forcibly with the fretting arm is a technique occasionally used, particularly in the blues genre and those derived from it, such as rock and roll. The Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of Music based on the use of the Blue notes It emerged as an accessible form of self-expression Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African The shape of the neck's cross-section can also vary from a gentle curve to a more pronounced "V" shape. (The fretboard is typically gently rounded across its width. )
Marker dots (see Inlay (guitar)) on the face of the fretboard are usually placed at frets 3, 5, 7, 9, 12 (double dot to indicate the octave), 15, 17, 19, 21, 24 (double dot to indicate the second octave). Inlays on Guitar or similar Fretted instrument are visual elements set into the exterior wood It's also common that there are marker dots on the side of the neck, near the edge of the fretboard, where the player can easily see which fret he or she is on. Sometimes the dots are replaced with bars, the octave positions having a wider bar.
Violin
The neck of a violin is usually maple with a flamed figure compatible with that of the ribs and back. The shape of the neck and fingerboard affect how easily the violin may be played. Fingerboards are dressed to a particular transverse curve, and have a small lengthwise "scoop," or concavity, slightly more pronounced on the lower strings, especially when meant for gut or synthetic strings. Many authentic old instruments have had their necks reset to a slightly increased angle, and lengthened by about a centimeter. The neck graft allows the original scroll to be kept with a Baroque violin when bringing its neck to conformance with modern standard.
Other instruments
The neck of a lute is made of light wood, with a veneer of hardwood (usually ebony) to provide durability for the fretboard beneath the strings.
Attachment
The method of connecting the neck to the body of the instrument varies according by instrument. This ranges from necks that are simply screwed onto the body of the instrument (such as in electric guitars like the Fender Stratocaster) to various types of glued joints. The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as the Strat, is a model of Electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton and Freddie Tavares
There are basically four ways of attaching the neck to the body using glued joints:
- With a dovetail joint, where the dovetail is cut into the end of the neck assembly and fits into a mating mortise in the instrument's endblock. A dovetail joint or simply dovetail is a joint technique most commonly used in woodworking joinery. This is typically used on acoustic and hollow-body electric guitars.
- With a simpler mortise and tenon joint, which is similar to a dovetail joint, except that the tenon is straight instead of tapered. Simple and strong the mortise and tenon joint has been used for millennia by Woodworkers around the world to join pieces of Wood, usually when the pieces Sometimes these joints are reinforced with screws, nails or pins. Since this joint is inherently weaker than a dovetail joint, it is usually only found on violins and similar instruments with less string tension.
- With a neck that ends in a "foot" that is glued to the instrument body proper. This method is mostly used in building classical and flamenco guitars. The "foot" is on the bottom of the neck, and affords a large gluing surface to the back of the instrument.
- By making the neck part of the body. This method is used on some solid-body electric guitars, where the piece of wood that is the neck runs the entire length of the instrument and is laminated to the rest of the body. A laminate is a material constructed by uniting two or more layers of material together This makes an extremely strong joint.
The two factors in deciding what type of neck joint to use are:
- Strength: will the joint hold under the instrument's string tension without pulling out?
- Repairability: can the joint be easily repaired if needed? While the latter two methods (using a "foot" and laminating the neck into the instrument) create very strong joints, they are not very repairable, and require tearing the instrument apart if repairs are needed.
See also
External links
- Carving the Neck for the Flattop Guitar - Step by step instructions for the construction of the acoustic guitar neck, on the Liutaio Mottola Lutherie Information Website
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