fret

thumb|The neck of a guitar showing the Nut (instrumental)|nut (in the background, coloured white) and first four frets

A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instruments and non-European instruments, frets are made of pieces of string tied around the neck.