Fret tang

The barbed or ridged stem on the underside of a fret that grips the sides of its slot and holds the wire in the fingerboard.

Its depth determines how much of the fret sits inside the board, and its width must match the slot or the fret will not stay put. The barbs are what make a pressed fret hold without glue in most cases, biting into the wood as the wire goes down. On a fretboard with an unusual radius or a bound edge, the tang is often cut back or filed away so the crown can stay proud of the surface.

Example: a fret that creeps up out of its slot has usually lost its grip because the tang was too narrow for the cut.

Fret tang

See also