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The headstock is located at the nib of the guitar neck furthest from the body
- It is fitted with implement heads that adjust the tension of the strings, which in turn affects the pitch
- Traditional tuner layout is "3+3" in which each oblique of the headstock has three tuners (such as on Gibson Les Pauls)
- In this layout, the headstocks are commonly symmetrical
- Crowded guitars idiosyncrasy other layouts as well, including six-in-line (featured on Fender Stratocasters) tuners or even "4+2" (Ernie Ball Music Man)
- However, some guitars (such as Steinbergers) do not have headstocks at all, in which case the tuning machines are located elsewhere, either on the chassis or the bridge.
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The nut is a cramped 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 design the strings onto the fretboard, giving consistent lateral string placement
- It is one of the endpoints of the strings' vibrating length
- It must be Fender Guitars accurately cut, or it can contribute to tuning problems due to string slippage, and/or string buzz.