Label Electric Guitar – Parts Worksheet With a Key

All 14 parts on the diagram

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Headstock and neck 5

Tuners Also called machine heads or tuning machines. Turning a key turns a worm gear, which winds the string on its post.
String trees Each holds strings down between the nut and the tuners. The strings then press on the nut and do not buzz or pop out.
Nut A thin strip holding the strings up at the headstock. Made of bone, graphite, plastic or metal.
Frets Thin metal strips that stop a string pressed down against the fingerboard. It stops at a fret, at the right pitch for that note.
Position markers They show the player where the hand is on the fingerboard. They are usually simple dots set into the wood.

Body and bridge 2

Bridge Each string rests on its own small saddle here. This one is a tremolo bridge: it is hinged, with springs, so it can rock.
Tremolo arm Pushing or pulling it rocks the bridge. That bends notes or chords sharp or flat. Also called a whammy bar or vibrato arm.

Pickups and controls 7

Neck pickup Turns the vibration of the strings above it into an electric signal. Named for its place by the neck.
Middle pickup A guitar may have one, two or three pickups. The selector chooses which of them is heard.
Bridge pickup Named for its place by the bridge, where the strings end.
Pickup selector A switch that chooses which pickup, or pair of pickups, is heard. With three pickups it usually has five positions.
Volume knob Turns the pickups' signal up or down before it leaves the guitar.
Tone knobs Turning a tone knob down makes the sound darker and less bright.
Output jack The signal from the pickups leaves the guitar here. A cable plugged into it carries the signal to the amplifier.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two independent sources use it for this part. (1) Wikipedia, text only: Electric guitar (headstock, machine heads with a worm gear, string guide, nut and what it is made of, neck, fretboard or fingerboard, frets, position markers, truss rod, body, neck and bridge pickups and how a pickup works, saddles, bridge, the spring-loaded hinged bridge and its whammy bar or vibrato arm, pickup selector switch, volume and tone control knobs, output jack, strap buttons, strings, pickguard). (2) Yamaha Musical Instrument Guide, the structure of the electric guitar: https://www.yamaha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/electric_guitar/mechanism/ (head, tuning keys or pegs, neck, truss rod, nut, fingerboard, strings, position markers, frets, body, pick guard, bridge, end pin, pickup selector, pickup, pickup ring, volume knob, tone knob, jack, tremolo unit, tremolo bar; steel strings, and the signal going to an amplifier by cable). (3) Passages found by archive.org full-text search in Hugo Pinksterboer, Tipbook Electric Guitar and Bass Guitar: https://archive.org/details/tipbookelectricg0000pink (headstock, tuning machines also known as tuners or machine heads, nut, string trees or string guides and what they are for, fingerboard, position markers, strap button, cutaway and horns, pickguard, saddle, neck, middle and bridge pickup, five-way pickup selector, volume and tone controls and what a tone control does, tremolo arm, output jack). (4) Passages found the same way in Dave Burrluck, The Player's Guide to Guitar Maintenance: https://archive.org/details/playersguidetogu0000dave (tuners or machine heads, string trees, position markers, strap buttons as the fixing point for a strap, cutaways, neck, middle and bridge pickup, pickup selector switch with five combinations, six string saddles and a vibrato arm, output jack). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain curves; no maker's guitar, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

To label electric guitar parts, write a name on the line for each number. Numbers 1 to 5 are at the headstock end of the neck. Numbers 6 to 14 are on the body, where the pickups and controls sit.

Read the full guide

Electric guitar word bank

From A to Z, for the board: bridge, bridge pickup, frets, middle pickup, neck pickup, nut, output jack, pickup selector, position markers, string trees, tone knobs, tremolo arm, tuners, volume knob.

Numbers that sit close together

On the neck, 3 is the strip where the fingerboard ends (nut), 4 a thin line across it (frets) and 5 a round dot (position markers). 6, 7 and 8 are the three bars under the strings, counted from the neck: neck pickup, middle pickup, bridge pickup. 10 is the knob nearest the strings (volume knob); 11 is the farthest, and the knob between them shares its name (tone knobs). 12 is the plate where the strings end (bridge), 13 the thin bar that leaves it (tremolo arm).

When marking, machine heads and tuning pegs are both right on line 1, whammy bar on line 13 and jack socket on line 14.
Headstock, fingerboard, strings, body, cutaways, pickguard and strap buttons are drawn without a number. The labeled electric guitar has all seven.

Questions and answers

What is the difference between an electric and an acoustic guitar?

An acoustic guitar has a hollow body, and its vibrating soundboard amplifies the strings. A solid-body electric guitar has no such soundboard. It depends on its pickups, 6 to 8 on this sheet, an amplifier and a speaker.

What is the difference between single-coil and humbucker pickups?

A single-coil pickup has one coil and picks up hum strongly. A humbucker has two coils, made to buck, or oppose, that hum; the two coils also give it a fatter tone. The three pickups drawn on this sheet are single-coil.

What is an electric guitar body made of?

Generally hardwood under a hard finish. Alder, swamp ash, mahogany, poplar and basswood are typical. Maple is very heavy, so it is often only a cap on a body of another wood.

Do all electric guitars have a whammy bar?

No. A guitar may have a fixed bridge. This sheet draws the other kind: a spring-loaded hinged bridge, whose arm lets the player bend notes or chords up or down.