Neck (musical instrument)
In lute instruments , which include plucked and stringed instruments , the neck is an elongated, “stem-shaped” component on which the pitch of the played strings can be changed using fingering techniques that shorten the vibrating part of the strings. The strings are usually gripped on a fingerboard that runs the entire length of the neck, with or without frets and is firmly connected to it. In addition to the most widespread form of musical instruments with only one neck, there are also designs with two or more necks. In such instruments, the necks differ in terms of the string equipment, the tuning of the strings and / or fingerboards with and without frets.
Construction forms
There are various profile shapes for instrument necks, which differ in the radius and shape of their backs ("neck backs") as well as in the material thickness, in order to meet the individual needs of musicians. As an example: The thicknesses of the necks on electric guitars range from “very flat” with a large radius (16 inches / approx. 400 mm) to “strongly rounded” with a smaller radius (7 inches / approx. 180 mm).
An exception are steel guitars , where the pitch is not changed when playing the instrument by grasping the neck, but by sliding a finger attachment made of metal or glass (bottleneck) over the strings . In steel guitars are either necks with a rectangular profile used (Lap Steel) , or the instrument consists in principle of a plate-shaped base carrying a fingerboard, the strings and tuners as well as most of the other components ( pedal steel guitar ) . The latter type of instrument no longer has an identifiable neck due to its compact design.
At the upper end of the instrument neck there is usually a head plate or a pegbox . These carry the tuning mechanisms or pegs to which one end of the strings is attached and with which the pitch of the strings can be adjusted according to the principle of spindles through tension compensation. For instruments in "headless" (headless) design of the neck bears the "lower" end of the string, and the tuners are located at the foot of the body. In the Indian sitar, on the other hand, the machine heads are distributed over the entire length of one side of the neck.
In addition, instrument necks made of wood are differentiated between single-lined and multi-lined models. Single-lined necks consist of a single workpiece (not including a separately manufactured fingerboard), which includes the head plate of the instrument or to which a separate head plate is glued via an inclined connection surface ("attached" head plate). Multi-striped necks are usually composed of two or three different types of wood, which should give the neck greater stability and prevent the neck from warping. In this type of construction, the top plate is usually included.
In order to balance the tension of the strings and to be able to adjust the string position , instrument necks made of wood, on which steel strings are used, are often equipped with an internal adjustable metal rod ( neck tension rod ).
Connection to the instrument body
In the vast majority of string instruments with a neck, this is connected to a body . However, there are also string instruments that are built without a separate body - such as the Chapman Stick and some electrically amplifiable string instruments (electric violins and electric double basses). In traditionally made string and plucked instruments, a distinction is mainly made between three different forms of connection between neck and body; however, there are also newer special forms:
Glued / glued neck
The attachment of wooden instrument necks to the body by means of a combination of groove and glue connection (English: set neck ) is the design with the longest tradition. It is used on all acoustic string instruments of European origin, including lutes , mandolins and ukuleles , on by far most acoustic guitars and on many electric guitars and basses . With these types of instruments, the base of the neck sits in a precisely made recess (“pocket”) in the body and is permanently attached there with glue .
One of the best-known musical instrument manufacturers who almost exclusively use this traditional construction for its mandolins, acoustic guitars and electric guitars is the American company Gibson Guitar Corporation . A very well-known model of this construction is the Gibson Les Paul electric guitar .
Screw neck
The technique of attaching instrument necks to the body using screw connections instead of glue ( bolt-on ) became more widespread from the middle of the 20th century. As with glued necks, the neck base sits in a recess in the body, but is held there by at least three screws without additional glue. Some manufacturers of electric basses use up to seven screws to make the neck-body connection as stable as possible. Screw necks have the advantage that in the event of irreparable damage to the neck or head plate, unlike other designs, they can be replaced with little effort.
One of the pioneers in the development of instruments with screw necks for industrial production was Leo Fender , co-founder of the company Fender Musical Instruments , in the late 1940s . The Fender Stratocaster model is one of the best known and most widely used screw neck electric guitars.
Continuous neck
A continuous neck (English Neck-thru ) extends over the entire length of the instrument. This type of construction is mainly found in electrically amplifiable instruments. If there is a body, it is often solid ( solid body ) and consists of two separate wings that are attached to the continuous neck on both sides. In such instruments, the neck also carries the bridge and the pickups .
A well-known manufacturer who has been using mainly full-length necks in its instrument models - electric guitars and electric basses with solid or semi-solid bodies - is the US instrument maker Rickenbacker .
Special designs
Since the late 20th century, string instruments have been developed in which traditional forms of production are partially or completely replaced by more modern materials and processes. During the production of instrument necks, alternatives to wood were experimented with - including graphite and aluminum . With the most modern plucked and stringed instruments, the headstock (if available), neck and body consist of a single, molded workpiece made of polycarbonate or other high-strength synthetic resins. This is intended to further develop the sound and stability of the instruments.
The US manufacturer Parker Guitars developed its own method of connecting the neck to the body in the early 1990s: the inside of the neck and body of this brand's electric guitars is made of wood; Both components are connected to each other by a cover (" exoskeleton ") made of a glass fiber reinforced plastic made of carbon fiber and glass fiber .
literature
- Tony Bacon, Dave Hunter: Totally Guitar - the definitive guide . Backbeat Books, London 2004. ISBN 1-871547-81-4
- Peter Cooke: Neck. In: Grove Music Online , 2001
- Franz Jahnel: The guitar and its construction - technology of guitar, lute, mandolin, sister, tanbur and strings. Erwin Bochinsky publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1963, 7th edition 1999. ISBN 3-923639-09-0
- Alexander Schmitz: The guitar . Ellert & Richter Verlag, 1988
Individual evidence
- ^ Bacon: Totally Guitar , p. 76
- ↑ Fly Evolution ( Memento of September 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) - Article on the Parker company website about the composition of the materials (English; accessed September 30, 2012)
- ↑ Tony Bacon, Dave Hunter: Totally Guitar - the definitive Guide, p. 528 f.