The C Staff utilizes some very important concepts in music that revolves around the number 7.
The first seven letters of the alphabet are used to identify 12 notes that are used in music.
These notes are A B C D E F G and cover seven of the twelve notes used in music.
The other 5 notes are referenced by raising or lowering the relationships of the 7 notes.
[A#/Bb] - [C#/Db] - [D#/Eb] - [F#/Gb] - [G#/Ab].
In short all notes are going to be identified by one of the 7 alphabet letters.
Music is melodically and harmonically structured on the 7 note construct or a scale.
The C Staff has 7-1/2 spaces per octave. One half space for each of the 7 notes used in music. This matches the alphabetic construct defined in music theory.
This 7 note construct makes the C Staff stack-able and a scale-able.
The C Clef & Dotted Line.
An octave has all 12 tones in it. Octaves are measured from one C note to the next C note, spanning all 12 notes.
Octaves are numbered from zero through nine. Zero being the lowest pitched 12 note octave and nine being the highest pitched 12 note octave.
Because the (C to C) octave system is standardized, the C Clef reinforces this concept by defining the range of a single C Staff starting from the dotted line which is C (The first note of every octave).
Understanding Instrument Ranges.
A six string guitar uses some of octave 2 and all of octaves 3 and 4 and most of octave 5.
A four string bass uses some of octave 1 and all of octaves 2 and 3 and some of octave 4.
An 88 key piano uses some of octave 0, all of octave 2,3,4,5,6,7 and C of the 8th octave.
