Russian guitar usually differs from the wood in the rest of the neck. The neck joint or heel is the point at which the neck is attached to the body of the guitar. The fingerboard is made of hardwood (ebony or rosewood are common), fitted with metal frets of brass or steel. Fret spacing almost always follows the western twelve tone equal temperament (12-tet) system. The surface of the fingerboard may be flat or curved slightly ("radiused"), although the curve on the Russian guitar is usually somewhat less than that of an equivalent western 6-string guitar. Inlayed position markers are common, and
Guitar tunings tuning and typically lowers the pitch ("drops") of only a single string, more common is the whole instrument and least common is two dropped strings (ie. DADGAD). This is almost always the lowest pitched (E) string on the guitar, although occasionally the A string may be lowered. The Drop D tuning, for example, is common in classical guitar and heavy metal music. For it, the low E string is tuned down one whole step, to a low D, and the rest of the guitar remains in standard tuning. This creates an 'open power chord' (three-note fifth) with the low three