A specialized at least bilayered device similiformic with the fretboard/fingerboard/keyboard of an instrument is designed to be removingly disposed between the strings and fretboard or frets of the instrument and prevents or mitigates fret damages (from, for example, dimpling or string grooving) owing to string pressures--such as during transport and storage of the instrument in a case or other. Fret integrity and active or functional life is extended in an industrially efficient, economical and elegant way heretofore uncontemplated and/or commercially realized.