The fingerboard is a part of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of wood that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument and above which the strings run. In the playing of such an instrument, a musician presses the strings down to it in order to change their vibrating lengths, causing changes in pitch. A fingerboard may be fretted, having raised strips of hard material against which the strings are pressed when pressed down; frets generally allow for more precise changes in pitch and for less dampening of the vibrations. Frets may be fixed, as on a guitar or mandolin, or movable, as on a sitar or lute. Fingerboards may also be unfretted, as they usually are on bow-played instruments, where dampening is generally not a problem due to the prolonged stimulation of the strings.
