pleking

[Seagull S6]

Originally Posted by JerryM

I had this very work done at SCGC in Santa Cruz last Sept. and the guitar came back as perfect as humanly possible. Their workmanship is second to none, the setup was done to my specs as requested along with a neck reset and the work was impeccable!!! Great place to deal with and wonderful folks!

There you go then. A glowing recommendation of SCGW. I would change my recommendation from maybe to yes for them.

Originally Posted by Purfle Haze

TJ Thompson. He's local to me.

That is indeed convenient.

The great benefit there this not the PLEK, but the repairman. He knows what he'd do by hand and just has to "teach" the machine to repeat it. The closest PLEK setup close to me is about 3.5 hours one way, and that would be worth it if I had no other options. Fortunately I have a couple of good repairman closer.

[Purfle Haze]

Originally Posted by Todd Yates

That is indeed convenient.

The great benefit there this not the PLEK, but the repairman. He knows what he'd do by hand and just has to "teach" the machine to repeat it.

This is not the way I understand it from TJ. The PLEK measures the height of each fret at each string. Then it recommends a relief setting for the neck, if the relief is not already optimal. If TJ decides to change the relief, the guitar comes off the PLEK and he adjusts it. Then it goes back on the machine. The PLEK measures the frets again, producing a graph of the fret heights, and then cuts them to height within thousandths of an inch. TJ and I have coffee and donuts while the machine cuts the frets.

After the frets are buzzed, TJ rechecks the setup, tweaks if needed, and we are done.

So he is not teaching the machine. It has settings that he can optimize, save, And use repeatedly. But the point of the machine is that it measures and cuts in a way that a human cannot, time after time. And it saves his hands and wrists from the stress of filing frets.

As I said in a previous post, fretwork has been done by hand for years and players have been satisfied with it. All of my guitars came from factories or shops with professionals who do fretwork; all of them were much improved by the PLEK process. I can't imagine that a human could do that job with the precision of the CNC machine, or that many guitar techs are so skilled. But maybe that level of precision is not necessary for an excellent playing experience.

The closest PLEK setup close to me is about 3.5 hours one way, and that would be worth it if I had no other options. Fortunately I have a couple of good repairman closer.

That's far, but not too far. I know that you have many fine instruments and are very knowledgeable about them. Aren't you curious to see for yourself?

I may have tried to state it too cleverly. My point was that TJ knows what a good setup is, and how to do it, therefore he can get the most out of the PLEK. Give the same machine to someone who doesn’t understand how a guitar should be setup and the results will be dismal.

I’ve seen PLEK machines in operation and I’m convinced of what they can do, but I’m no more satisfied with the PLEK setup guitars that I’ve played compared to those setup by very skilled humans. I don’t discount the PLEK as a valid path, but I don’t see it as the only or best path either.

[jwellsy]

Does Zager use a Plek machine?

Seriously though, would a brand new Martin D35 Seth Avett be helped at all (ie more bass)? Am I correct that this only affects playability but doesn't affect tone/balance? Are there any other treatments that would help coax out the bass more on a Avett D35?

[M Hayden]

SCGC refretted my 1991 OM and pleked it, and it’s never played better. It’s amazing how accurate fretwork coupled with the close tolerances of the plek machine work together to produce a comfortable fret job.

[HodgdonExtreme]

Do stainless frets disagree with a plek machine?

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Looburst

Yes it has, Collings has been using it a while too.

I bought a used Collings Dread. all OK but had been owned by a non player and the action was way too high , even for me.

I took it to my normal luthier, who couldn't get it quite right.

Heard that the brother of the Collings importer had a plek machine so took it to them. Still wasn't right.
Spent a day with the chap who adjusting things carefully by hand.
Mission accomplished.

Plek machines give a fine regular finish but can't always resolve little matters that a good eye by a skilled technician can see and resolve.
It hasn't needed any further work since 2011.

[tomiv9]

Martin's are already plekked, so no need to replek a brand new one. If it needs a setup, just have a setup done (adjust relief, nut slots and saddle height). don't need a plek for that. Brand new guitars often sound tight, and can take a while for bass response to develop. Play it hard, experiment with diff strings and guages (Maybe try bluegrass set with thicker bass strings). You could also try a tonerite...

Originally Posted by jwellsy

Does Zager use a Plek machine?

Seriously though, would a brand new Martin D35 Seth Avett be helped at all (ie more bass)? Am I correct that this only affects playability but doesn't affect tone/balance? Are there any other treatments that would help coax out the bass more on a Avett D35?

[musicman1951]

When I was having trouble with the neck on my D-28 Authentic I asked about the PLEK machine and was told they don't use that with Authentic guitars. The implication was that the luthiers in the custom department didn't require that machine.

[EZK123]

Originally Posted by jwellsy

Does Zager use a Plek machine?

Seriously though, would a brand new Martin D35 Seth Avett be helped at all (ie more bass)? Am I correct that this only affects playability but doesn't affect tone/balance? Are there any other treatments that would help coax out the bass more on a Avett D35?

If I'm not mistaken, that guitar is Pleked from the factory. Any guitar listed as "playability enhanced" on their website is Pleked I think.

[tadol]

Whether a guitar is plekked or not doesn't matter - its all about how well set-up it is. You can find some luthiers or guitar techs out there that can do an incredibly good set-up by hand - you can also find quite a few that can do a marginal job, at best. The same is true with a Plek machine - its just a tool, and no matter how smart and precise and programmable it is, it still boils down to the person using the tool. Luckily, Plek machines are rather expensive, and most shops that own one take the time to learn to use it well, but its very easy to use it badly too.

Owning a tool does not make one a master at its use - not owning a tool does not make one incapable of doing the job equally well. Think about guitars - if just owning a very expensive guitar made one a really great musician, there would be a lot more really great musicians on this forum - And yet, there are an awful lot of great musicians here playing some pretty basic guitars.

Whats magic is when you have a really great musician, together with a really great guitar - and for set-ups, thats basically what you have with SCGC and their Plek -

[Purfle Haze]

Originally Posted by tadol

Luckily, Plek machines are rather expensive, and most shops that own one take the time to learn to use it well, but its very easy to use it badly too.

I hear that a PLEK is a six-figure investment. An owner would be well-motivated to learn how to use it well so as to sell the service, recoup the investment and make a profit.

Of course, any tool can be misused. Have you heard a bad PLEK story?

[Chickee]

Epiphone is using the factory Plek'd neck as a sales tool on select Masterbuilt acoustic guitars. They get a special little blue sticker on the headstock truss rod cover that proclaims they are in fact a Plek'd neck guitar. But having read this thread with great interest and owning a factory Plek'd guitar I am starting to think that quite possibly the manufacturers are doing this because it is easier to throw guitars together and not have to invest in skilled laborers to do final build assembly and set up to get the guitars out the door to market. This is the second Plek'd guitar I've owned(one electric, one acoustic) and I'm not impressed. Save your money, it's not worth the extra expense.

[tadol]

Originally Posted by Purfle Haze

Of course, any tool can be misused. Have you heard a bad PLEK story?

Yes - more than a few - The machine does not think, so if the guitar is not set into it perfectly, it can actually grind down thru the frets and into the board. Also, if the frets are not well set, they can lift slightly and the machine won't notice, while a person might. While none of that happens very often - it can happen, and you need to be confident in the person actually running the machine -

So as I said earlier - you want to get a really good set-up, not tell the craftsman what tool they should use -