Gettin' my guitar Pleked

I have heard that phrase thrown around a lot and still have no clue what it is. How does it differ from a set-up?

 

Had my R9 pleked by Phil Jacoby, www.philtone.com, in
Baltimore, MD. a few weeks ago. Great guy who knows his stuff.
Plek = The perfect fret level for every string up & down the neck.
Checkout his site for info.

 

I did a google after posting (DUH!) and was reading about it.

My first reaction was snake oils BS, but I know a lot of guys dig it, and I have never played a plek'ed guitar so I can't say.

I am not too fussy about set up and action, my R7 is fine and IMO Les Pauls are the easiest guitars to set up.

 

I also got lucky with my R8 & R4, the fret job was decent. But with my R9 it was buzzy from the 12th fret up. I know how to set up guitars but there is only so much you can do if the frets are not level. The guitar is to nice to have that flaw. After a lot of frustration, I set it to Phil & now I'm Very happy with the results.
YMMV

 

They strap your baby into a jig and after a Machine measures down the guitar neck with a laser it slowly removes material from the frets making it more level then any guitar repairman can ever do by eye. I've heard only Raves ..............never 1 complaint. I only wish a local guy would get one.........even somebody in the state .

 

Suhr guitars use a plek system on all their guitars, so I wouldn't call snake oil.

I had a PRS plek'd years ago, when the system first came out, I can't say it made a huge difference as the guitar played pretty well anyway. The tech told me it was almost perfect before they plek'd it so no surprise there.

The advantage of the plek is it guarantees a great fret level, takes the guesswork out of having work done by an unknown tech.

 

I have two Heritage guitars that have been plekked and they play beautifully. The thing about the Plek is that it levels the frets while under tnesion from the strings. I don't believe it is snake oil. My Suhr Tele has also been plekked, I guess. Another beautiful neck to play on.

 

And yet another occupation is replaced by technology.

 

I do have to say that after having my guitar Plekked, I wii have to err on the Technology side on this one. M.E.

 

Is this statement true? I've heard conflicting reports. Anyone know for sure if the frets are dressed with the strings on the guitar?

Bryan

 

From watching a Plek machine in action , it looks like it measures the fret heights under string tension. The actual machining is done with the strinds removed but with reference to the under tension measurements.

As for occupations being replaced by technology. Doesn`t look that way to me. The machine still needs an operator with considerable set up experience. Indeed I would be surprised if anyone could find a single example of a job being lost in favour of a Plek machine.

,Damian.

 

Ok, I'll play devils advocate cause I'm good at it.


How much friggin accuracy do you really need?
Maybe John Suhr will chime in here and shed some light BUT...

Every new Suhr (pre plek) I have played and every Anderosn I have owned (5) has played so good that it could make you weep.

 

http://thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=79585 - review of a Phil plek job

http://thegearpage.net/board/showth...23&perpage=15&highlight=philtone&pagenumber=7 --- this is a big ol post by the man himself.

 

No Snake Oil about it. It's, without any doubt to me, the best setups my guitars have seen. This doesn't mean that a good luthier can't set up a guitar well anymore, but of my 15 guitars 2 are plek'd and the difference is drastic to me.

It is expensive, but I feel it was worth it.

Rick

 

one thing I've heard about the PLEK is that once it's done, you're not supposed to touch the truss rod. I guess you can/have to if the neck moves due to humidity, but changing your relief, like maybe because you change string gauges, ruins the PLEK. True?

/rick

 

I've not found this to be true. I've made quite a few adjustments, due to heat, humidity, etc., and I've not seen any issues with it.

Rick