Page "Guitar" Paragraph 78

A guitar's frets, fretboard, tuners, headstock, and truss rod, all attached to a long wooden extension, collectively constitute its neck.

The wood used to make the fretboard usually differs 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 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 rigidity of the neck with respect to the body of the guitar is one determinant of a good instrument versus a poor one.

The shape of the neck can also vary, from a gentle " C " curve to a more pronounced " V " curve.

There are many different types of neck profiles available, giving the guitarist many options.

Some aspects to consider in a guitar neck may be the overall width of the fretboard, scale ( distance between the frets ), the neck wood, the type of neck construction ( for example, the neck may be glued in or bolted on ), and the shape ( profile ) of the back of the neck.

Other types of material used to make guitar necks are graphite ( Steinberger guitars ), aluminum ( Kramer Guitars, Travis Bean and Veleno guitars ), or carbon fiber ( Modulus Guitars and ThreeGuitars ).