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
Scale length (string instruments) electric basses built in the 1930s by fitting an otherwise normal double bass with electric pickups, and so had a scale length of about 43" (109 cm). In 1951 the Fender Precision Bass shortened this to 34" (86 cm). This is still often regarded as the standard length for a bass guitar. On a modern bass guitar, 30" (76 cm) or less is considered "short" scale, "standard" (also called "long") scale is 34" (86 cm) for a 4-string and 35" (89 cm) for a B-E-A-D-G 5-string, and "extra-long" scale basses of 36" (91 cm) also exist. Quite an uncommon scale