2014 Guild M85 II - Should I get it Plek'd?

[theFPVgeek]

Has anyone had their Guild M85 II Plek'd? I'm thinking about getting it done.

Thoughts?

 

[SFIV1967]

I'm sure it can't hurt! Costs a bit and depends if you have a Plek location in your area.
Ralf

 

[fronobulax]

Are you a good enough player to notice the difference if you do or rich enough to not care about the price?

 

[theFPVgeek]

Are you a good enough player to notice the difference if you do or rich enough to not care about the price?

More the later, but definitely not “rich”.

 

[krysh]

get it to a luthier and let him do a setup and level the frets if necessary. mine plays great without plekking. It's cheaper and gives almost the same result, plus a good possibility to check out the luthiers qualities for later repairs.....

 

[fronobulax]

More the later, but definitely not “rich”.

OK. I ask because there are a lot of things people do to their instruments that, on paper, may make them a better or more playable instrument, but the person commissioning the work isn't really in a position to notice the benefit. Buying a sports car to commute, perhaps? The classic example is people who are highly concerned about intonation that is within a cent yet never go past the fifth fret.

As a bass player if there is a problem with your playing and frets that could be addressed by Pleking, perhaps a fretless bass would also address that? As noted there are cheaper ways to deal with frets.

Have I Pleked? No.
Would I consider having a bass Pleked? Not until I can identify a specific problem that I expect Pleking to solve and establish that Pleking is my preferred solution for that problem.

Should you Plek? - Your money, your bass, your decision. Tell us about before and after if you do.

 

[bassman10096]

The Pleked instruments I've played have all been Lakland Skylines. All exhibited great fret level and playability - among the best I've played. Not sure how much of that's attributable to great necks and millwork vs Pleking. As I understand it, Pleking is a CNC fret leveling process (apologies for my ignorance if I've undersold Plek). If true, a great craftsperson should be able to get to the same or close fret dressing. I see Pleking as a somewhat more expensive way to take the guesswork out of finding a really good luthier (or am I missing something?).

 

[fronobulax]

Website https://plek.com/

I never heard of Plek before a tour of Collings where they have the machines and used it on instruments in production. Don't recall whether it was every instrument or just selected models and price ranges. The tour guide used the usual claims for CNC and similar processes - faster, better and cheaper than doing it by hand and repeatable - little to no variation between instruments. I also think the hand done equivalent would be a fret dressing.

Plek at SportHiTech

Plek Guitar Setups, Fret Dressing, Troubleshooting and repair | SportHiTech

sporthitech.com

They have a machine in Exton PA. They say

What does a Plek setup cost?
A regular setup costs $199, and includes new strings, truss rod adjustment, nut slot lowering if needed and a fret level and dress using the Plek. Frets are then hand polished and the intonation and action adjusted as needed.

 

[Happy Face]

Wow, that's cheap. But then the only time I pondered a plex was for a Steinberger. Closer to $900 at Peekamoose. But Steinies are expensive to repair, like a Porsche.

I did not do it.

 

[Guildedagain]

Bela Pleck and the Plecktones

 

[fronobulax]

Bela Pleck and the Plecktones

Shall I move this to the Band Name thread even though the originality could be debated?

 

[Guildedagain]

You just can't forget a name like Bela Fleck, I can't.

 

[wileypickett]

Note: I’m 65; have been playing guitar since I was 14, and look askance at pretty much every trendy new way of doing things that comes along.

I’ve had many fret jobs over the years, so I know what fret leveling / dressing / crowning — and fret replacement — is all about.

What makes sense to me about Plekking is that it’s a way of leveling the frets that removes ONLY the parts of frets that need to be removed and nothing else.

With a fret level, your luthier sands away the fret metal until all the frets are of uniform height. In so doing a fair amount of fret metal is inevitably removed that didn’t need to be removed.

With Plekking, if the third, fourth, seventh and ninth frets are the problem frets and only in the area of D and G strings, the Plek machine will address only those frets — without touching any of the adjacent frets — and will level only those portions of the frets that need it, not the whole fret.

This means a longer life for your frets, forestalling the need for fret replacement, which is also pretty expensive, especially if you have a guitar with a bound neck.

The luthier near me with a Plek machine had done 684 Pleks since he got his machine (last I talked to him) and said the machine does a much better job than he ever could. (This is a seasoned pro BTW who’s been doing guitar repair for decades.)

It is expensive and I’m not about to take my 60 other guitars in to be Plekked! But the one guitar I did have Plekked, a Goodall, now plays outstandingly well. Before I took it in, it buzzed or noted out on several frets.

So yeah, it’s another newfangled contraption and is expensive to use.

But I recommend not dismissing it out of hand. The idea has merit and what it does, it does very well.

 

[Guildedagain]

I visited the Santa Cruz factory, can't find the pic of the plecking machine in the very last finishing room but it looks like a very busy Tardis with lots of strange gizmos, Gizmodo I would call it, sort of like the Orgasmatron for guitars... The guitar comes out better than what any luthier can do, which is why a Santa Cruz plays amazing.

Here's a couple other pics of the Santa Cruz factory, R. Hoover with a Brazilian Dread form, old wood hush hush special order stuff, and Tony Rice's guitar in for some tlc.

 

[hieronymous]

Note: I’m 65; have been playing guitar since I was 14, and look askance at pretty much every trendy new way of doing things that comes along.

I’ve had many fret jobs over the years, so I know what fret leveling / dressing / crowning — and fret replacement — is all about.

What makes sense to me about Plekking is that it’s a way of leveling the frets that removes ONLY the parts of frets that need to be removed and nothing else.

With a fret level, your luthier sands away the fret metal until all the frets are of uniform height. In so doing a fair amount of fret metal is inevitably removed that didn’t need to be removed.

With Plekking, if the third, fourth, seventh and ninth frets are the problem frets and only in the area of D and G strings, the Plek machine will address only those frets — without touching any of the adjacent frets — and will level only those portions of the frets that need it, not the whole fret.

This means a longer life for your frets, forestalling the need for fret replacement, which is also pretty expensive, especially if you have a guitar with a bound neck.

The luthier near me with a Plek machine had done 684 Pleks since he got his machine (last I talked to him) and said the machine does a much better job than he ever could. (This is a seasoned pro BTW who’s been doing guitar repair for decades.)

It is expensive and I’m not about to take my 60 other guitars in to be Plekked! But the one guitar I did have Plekked, a Goodall, now plays outstandingly well. Before I took it in, it buzzed or noted out on several frets.

So yeah, it’s another newfangled contraption and is expensive to use.

But I recommend not dismissing it out of hand. The idea has merit and what it does, it does very well.

I had no desire to Plek any of my instruments, but your description of how it works makes me think it might be perfect for my Les Paul Triumph - only the 5th fret on the A string buzzes. Might have to take it over to SF Guitarworks, they have one...

I visited the Santa Cruz factory, can't find the pic of the plecking machine in the very last finishing room but it looks like a very busy Tardis with lots of strange gizmos, Gizmodo I would call it, sort of like the Orgasmatron for guitars... The guitar comes out better than what any luthier can do, which is why a Santa Cruz plays amazing.

Here's a couple other pics of the Santa Cruz factory, R. Hoover with a Brazilian Dread form, old wood hush hush special order stuff, and Tony Rice's guitar in for some tlc.

Great description! Motörhead fan?

 

[SFIV1967]

Here's a description for a bass, you see the whole process:




Ralf

 

[lungimsam]

I seen a Gibson plant tour where they said they plek every instrument they make, as of that date, whatever it was (it was recent). So my 700$ 2019 Gibson bass was allegedly factory pleked. So why does it cost so much for after market pleking?

 

[wileypickett]

So why does it cost so much for after market pleking?

The Plek machines are quite expensive I understand. If the guy near me (in Acton, MA) has done nearly 700 at $250.00 per job, I imagine (I hope!) he's put a serious dent in his cost.

But the machines will also have to be maintained, and whatever part is leveling the frets must surely need to be replaced every so often, or sharpened.

And whie the machines do the actual work, they don't operate themselves. They have to be programmed, loaded, etc.

Here's another clip of one being set up and operated, on an electric. Looks almost as labor intensive as doing a fret level and crown!

 

[jp]

If I had the money, I'd love to try this after a refret of my M-75 Bluesbird.