Comparison Harley Benton Victory vs Harley Benton RX-10

The number of volume controls provided in an electric guitar.

If there is only one knob, this means that the musician can only adjust the overall volume of the instrument. However, there are models that have several volume control knobs — usually there are no less of them than pickups (2 or 3), which allows you to separately adjust the volume of each pickup. And since the characteristics of the sound depend on the type of the used pickup (see "Pickup Diagram") and even its location, then by changing the mutual volume of the individual pickups, you can achieve different coloring of the sound. At the same time, the design may also include a general volume control, which allows you to adjust it in the classical way and not mess with the settings of each pickup.

The presence of a protective lining (pickguard) on the body of the guitar.

Such an overlay is located on the upper deck, most often made of durable plastic and differs markedly in colour, due to which it is clearly visible. Its main purpose is to protect the soundboard surface from pick strikes (for example, when playing with dynamic fighting), which could damage the varnished wooden surface. The specific shape and size of the fingerboard may vary, but anyway, it covers at least the surface below the strings (when looking at the guitar in the working position), and sometimes under the strings and even above them.

The presence in the electric guitar of a system of through fastening of strings.

In the classic through fastening, the body of the instrument itself plays the role of a stop bar — holes are made in it, in which the strings are fixed (from the side of the bridge). The advantage of this design is the improved contact of the strings with the body, which allows you to achieve good sustain. However, in tremolo machines (see "Bridge") there is another kind of through fasteners — when the holes are located not on the body, but on the bridge; in particular, this option is typical for Vintage Tremolo machines. In such cases, the through fastening itself is only a design feature of the bridge, and the contact of the strings with the body depends on the features of the fastening of the "machine" on the body and can be different.

A method of attaching the neck to the body used in an electric guitar.

— Boltov. The most inexpensive and practical (in terms of production and repair technology) method of attachment: the neck is bolted to the body. Thanks to this, the assembly of the guitar is extremely simple, and the neck can be easily removed from the finished instrument for repair or even replacement with a new one. Note that although the bolt method is considered “low-cost” (and is found mainly in instruments of the corresponding level), it cannot be said that it is definitely worse than other options: guitars of this design have relatively weak sustain, but they give a bright, sharp tone with good attack. They can be used in almost any genre, but they are still considered the most suitable for heavy music.

— Pasted. A neck mounted in a recess in the body and secured to the recess with epoxy or other adhesive. This design does not allow for such a powerful attack as on bolt necks, but it provides excellent sustain and a pleasant coloration of the sound. And in general, the adhesive connection is considered more advanced, because. better reveals the acoustic properties of wood. On the other hand, such tools are more complicated and more expensive, both in production and in repair, than “bolted” ones.

— Through. The name of this method is due to the fact that the neck passes...through the body through and through, to the “lower” (from the side of the bridge) butt. Many instruments of this type, from the back, look as if two additional pieces were attached to the solid piece of wood from which the neck and middle part of the body were carved to give the body the desired shape and width (although the manufacturing technique is, of course, somewhat more complicated). It is believed that the neck-through mount maximizes the capabilities of the wood and allows you to achieve the highest quality sound, with a flat frequency response and excellent sustain. However, such designs are very expensive, and besides, they require extremely careful handling — especially since the repair of a through neck is at best difficult and expensive, and often impossible at all. Note that this option is used mainly in basses, electric guitars with a through mounting method are produced much less frequently.

The width of the fretboard of an electric guitar at the nut. Closer to the body, the neck may expand somewhat, but this is not necessary, and the expansion angle may be different. Therefore, the main size is considered to be the width in the region of the nut.

This parameter has two meanings. On the one hand, a wide neck is inconvenient for musicians with small hands and short fingers — it can be difficult to reach the far strings in such cases. On the other hand, a larger width means a greater distance between the individual strings, which reduces the likelihood of hitting an adjacent string when pressed incorrectly and can make playing easier (especially if the guitarist has large fat fingers). However, these moments are not absolute, and the convenience of playing is a very subjective matter, depending on many features of the musician and the technique he uses. Also, don't forget that necks can have different profiles (see above), and instruments with different neck profiles will feel differently in the hands even with the same width at the nut. Therefore, the most reliable method of selection is to try out the necks of different sizes and profiles “live”, decide on the best option and choose based on this.

The smallest neck width at the nut in modern electric guitars is about 39 mm. This size is found mainly in bass guitars (see “Type”), which have 4 strings and a neck that widens noticeably towards the body (due to which it can be made rather narr...ow from above, especially since when playing bass, notes are rarely clamped near the neck itself) . Electric guitars (including semi-acoustic) are somewhat wider — from 41 mm, an indicator of 43 – 48 mm is considered average, and in the largest instruments, the neck can be up to 55 mm wide (however, such dimensions are typical mainly for instruments with more than 6 strings) .

The radius of curvature of a fretboard mounted on the fretboard of an electric guitar.

The fingerboard is located directly under the strings, it is to it that the musician presses the strings when playing. If you look at the neck in cross section, its upper part with the overlay will have the shape of an arc; the radius of this arc is implied in this case. The smaller the radius, the more convex this arc will be, and vice versa, a large radius will correspond to an almost flat surface.

In general, it is believed that a smaller fingerboard radius is better for playing chords, and a more even, flat surface makes it easier to play technical passages with an abundance of special techniques such as bands. The average and, one might say, classic diameter value is 12", this is the most popular option among modern electric guitars. The smallest figure is just over 7", it is found in some guitars with Stratocaster bodies (both original Fender instruments and copies ). And the most flat pads have a diameter of 20" or more.

Note that there are often instruments with a variable fretboard radius — smaller at the headstock (where chords are played more often) and larger near the body (where solos are played by notes). In such cases, the radius at the nut is indicated.