Parts of a Ukulele – 14 Parts Labeled, Head to Bridge

All 14 parts on the diagram

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Start here: 9 main parts 9

Head (headstock) The end of the neck that holds the tuning pegs.
Tuning pegs Turned to tighten or loosen each string and so tune it.
Neck The long piece you hold, joining the head to the body.
Fretboard (fingerboard) The strip on the neck where you press the strings.
Frets Metal bars across the fretboard. Pressing a string behind one shortens it and raises the note.
Strings Four strings, usually nylon, that vibrate to make the sound.
Body The hollow box that makes the strings' sound louder.
Sound hole Lets the sound out of the body. The opening in the top.
Bridge A block glued to the top that anchors the strings. It passes their vibration to the top.

From the front 2

Nut A grooved bar that spaces the strings. It marks one end of their vibrating length.
Saddle The strip on the bridge the strings rest on. With the nut it sets their length.

The body cut across 3

Top (soundboard) The front plate of the body; it vibrates to make the sound.
Sides The curved strips that form the body's edge between top and back.
Back The rear plate of the body.

How this list was compiled: Read 2026-09-26. (1) Yamaha, Musical instrument guide, classical guitar components, https://www.yamaha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/classical_guitar/mechanism/ : head with tuning keys or pegs; neck with nut, fingerboard, strings and frets; body with soundhole, bridge, saddle, top, back and sides. (2) LeftyFretz, Parts of the ukulele, https://leftyfretz.com/parts-of-the-ukulele/ : headstock, tuners, nut, neck, fretboard or fingerboard, frets, body, top or soundboard, sound hole, bridge glued to the soundboard, saddle, strings, back and sides. (3) Wikipedia, Ukulele, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukulele : nut, neck, frets, body, soundboard, sound hole, bridge, nylon strings; scale length from the nut to the bridge. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site by script, 2026-09-26. Own work, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

These are the parts of a ukulele from the head to the bridge, then the body cut across to show its top, sides and back. A guitar has the same parts. Start with the 9 main parts.

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Head and neck

The tuning pegs on the head tighten each of the four strings. The strings pass over the nut and along the neck, whose fretboard is crossed by frets. Pressing a string behind a fret shortens it and raises the note.

Body

The strings end at the bridge, resting on its saddle. The bridge passes their vibration to the top, or soundboard, and the hollow body, closed by the sides and back, makes it louder. The sound comes out through the sound hole.

The nut and the saddle mark the two ends of each string's vibrating length, the scale length.

Questions and answers

What is the difference between the fretboard and the neck?

The neck is the long piece joining the head to the body. The fretboard, or fingerboard, is the strip glued along its front, with the frets set into it.

What is the saddle on a ukulele?

The thin strip set into the bridge that the strings rest on. With the nut at the other end, it fixes how long the vibrating part of each string is.

What are the tuning pegs for?

Each one winds a string tighter or looser. Tighter raises the string's note and looser lowers it, which is how the ukulele is tuned.