Patent ID: 8153874

Claim:
A stringed musical instrument convertible between fretted and fretless playing configurations, said instrument comprising: a body; a neck, said neck being connected to said body at one of its ends; a fingerboard disposed on said neck; a plurality of movable frets spaced apart at positions along said fingerboard, at least one of said plurality of frets being a metal fret; a plurality of strings disposed above said frets; and a fret adjustment device for adjusting the positions of said plurality of frets within respective fret slots in said fingerboard, said fret adjustment device including a rotatable metallic component and at least one strip of material located adjacent to said rotatable metallic component; wherein said at least one strip of material separates said rotatable metallic component of said fret adjustment device from said metal fret, and wherein said at least one strip of material is configured to reduce friction when said rotatable metallic component of said fret adjustment device is rotated; and wherein said rotatable metallic component is bent at a substantially 90 degree angle, thereby creating a short portion of said rotatable metallic component and a long portion of said rotatable metallic component.