Ultimate Setup - I had my new X10 PLEK'd

JimCA · #1 02-18-2019, 01:15 PM

I went to master luthier Frank Ford (frets.com) at Gryphon Strings in Palo Alto California for fret buzz. He recommended having it PLEK'd at San Francisco Guitar Works, so I did. It's completely computer controlled fret leveling, crowning and balancing. Strap the guitar into the PLEK and let her rip. Super low action at the nut. So easy to play. Balanced sound. No buzz with custom light strings.

I felt the PLEK somewhat of a luxury beyond what was needed to correct the fret issues it had, so I asked Alistair to share the cost with me and he graciously agreed. Very happy with my acoustic-only X10!

Melt in the Sun · #2 02-18-2019, 01:27 PM

How much did it run you, and what gauge strings are you using? What's the action at now?

Just curious...I've always been intrigued by the idea.

raysachs · #3 02-18-2019, 01:35 PM

One of my electrics was pleked and it’s the sweetest player I’ve ever had. My strat is going in to be checked out by Philtone later this week and if he thinks it needs to be pleked, it will be - otherwise it’ll just get a great setup. My Emeralds have felt pretty perfect out of the box, but maybe after 10 years of use, they’ll need it too. Done by someone who really knows his or her stuff, it’s a wonderful gift to get a guitar back from the plek machine...

kramster · #4 02-18-2019, 05:30 PM

#5 02-18-2019, 07:34 PM

Wow! That looks like something Woody Allen would sit in. Will the machine also play the guitar?

JimCA · #6 02-18-2019, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melt in the Sun

How much did it run you, and what gauge strings are you using? What's the action at now?

Just curious...I've always been intrigued by the idea.

11 - 52 custom light Martin Retro strings.

Action at 12th fret holding down 1st fret -
E: .07"
e: .06"

Action at 1st fret -
E: .02"
e: .02"

Relief: .01"

PLEK cost: $275, plus stainless steel frets extra $25.

ac · #7 02-19-2019, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimCA

11 - 52 custom light Martin Retro strings.

Action at 12th fret holding down 1st fret -
E: .07"
e: .06"

Action at 1st fret -
E: .02"
e: .02"

Relief: .01"

PLEK cost: $275, plus stainless steel frets extra $25.

I thought a total refret replacement by a qualified tech cost about the same. I don't claim to be too knowledgeable here, just what I "thought" I recalled reading elsewhere in AGF once.

But if it's roughly the same cost, then $25 more for stainless would seem to be a bargain.

Maybe I'm way off base with my figures. Can someone better fill me in?

Rodger Knox · #8 02-19-2019, 03:15 PM

The $25 extra is for pleking stainless frets, not a refret with stainless.

ac · #9 02-19-2019, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodger Knox

The $25 extra is for pleking stainless frets, not a refret with stainless.

Gotcha. I just did a bit of background reading on PLEK and understand better now. It deals with fretboard as is or after fret replacement and optimizes everything after it's scans are done.

So a stainless steel fret replacement plus a PLEKing, would hit the pocket pretty hard--but the results would be nice.

Strumalot · #10 02-22-2019, 06:55 AM

The CAs are Pleked at the factory.

http://www.compositeacoustics.com/advantage/

My friend's new GX plays perfect.

Seems to me ~ at the CF price points ~ they should not need aftermarket tweaking.

GuitarLuva · #11 02-23-2019, 01:30 PM

That's a pretty cool machine. I never heard of that before (man I need to get out of the cave and get with the times!).

AZLiberty · #12 02-23-2019, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuitarLuva

That's a pretty cool machine. I never heard of that before (man I need to get out of the cave and get with the times!).

Big companies like Martin PLEK everthing. Saves them huge amounts of money in labor costs.

GuitarLuva · #13 02-23-2019, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZLiberty

Big companies like Martin PLEK everthing. Saves them huge amounts of money in labor costs.

Yeah I just started reading about it apparently Gibson uses them also. Apparently the machine doesn't crown the frets just levels them and leaves them flat. Either way I still think it's a cool machine.

tommyld · #14 02-23-2019, 03:48 PM

I've found that my Emeralds (at least 2014 and newer) played as nicely as any Plek'd guitar I've played...

JimCA · #15 02-23-2019, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuitarLuva

... Apparently the machine doesn't crown the frets just levels them and leaves them flat. Either way I still think it's a cool machine.

That isn't what San Francisco Guitar Works described to me. They said the initial machine scan of the frets discovers the average fret width, then the machine uses that to select one of 3 different crowning profiles to do the crowning and only the final fret polishing is done by hand.