Fret Or A Promise

This month Alex Bishop unravels the intricate fretwork of a century-old concert mandolin

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If there's one thing I've been reminded of this week, it's that the frets on your instrument are not to be underestimated. Most players understand that those little strips of metal spanning the fingerboard are important when it comes to pinpointing tuning and shaping the playability of an instrument, but what is less obvious are the different skills the experienced luthier must develop in order to repair and replace the frets on the multitude of instruments out there.

With the history of fretted instruments stretching back at least as far as 1500BC, there have been as many ways to fret an instrument as you can imagine. Wood, metal and animal intestines have all been used to create stopping points along the strings, initially tied onto the neck (as with lutes, allowing adjustability for different tunings) but also inlaid into the fingerboard at fixed positions. Technological innovations in the 20th century paved the way for the widespread use of hardened metal frets - which we are more familiar with today - extruded from nickel silver with a barbed tang to grip the fingerboard and a wide rounded top for accurate intonation.