Before the advancement of the electric guitar and the custom of synthetic materials, a guitar was defined as Fender Guitars being an machine having "a long, fretted neck, collapsed wooden soundboard, ribs, and a flat back, most often with incurved sides". Instruments coincident to the guitar have been attractive for at least 5,000 years.

The nut is a inadequate strip of bone, plastic, brass, corian, graphite, stainless steel, or other medium-hard material, at the joint where the headstock meets the fretboard. Its grooves escort the strings onto the fretboard, giving consistent lateral string placement. It is peculiar of the endpoints of the strings' vibrating length. It must be accurately cut, or it can contribute to tuning problems due to string slippage, and/or string buzz.