Considering how much money we, as guitar players, invest in pedals, amps, gadgets, and other fancy stuff, spending 'just' $280 to address issues at the root of our sound and make our instruments perform at their best seems like a wise investment to me.
Man vs machine sorta thing. If I had the option, I would probably Plek once to start then rely on feel, sound, and playability to tweak after that. I feel like out of the box would be the best time to plek because after a few years or so of playing that guitar is going to uniquely settle into itself. Just a thought
Yes, I think it's always worth getting a Plek - it's REALLY hard finding someone who can actually do a great job by hand in my area (then when you find someone, you might also have a long waiting period for it to get done).
Yea I was thinking the same thing. I was very apprehensive at first but I went for it just because I’ve never done it before. Do I think it’s totally necessary…. Not really. It does play great though.
Plek the guitar if you have very uneven frets but for setup, no machine can tell you what to set neck relief, saddle height and intonation, as those things are all player preference and feel, you may press harder on the strings than John Smith and will have to set the intonation to your pressure, so learn how to set your guitars up first before finally saying "maybe I'll plek" because a Plek machine only goes so far before the human element comes in for the final tweaks of the setup.
My only thing is that if I am going to spend 4 or 5 thousand dollars on a Gibson or Fender custom shop guitar, I shouldn't have to do this. Plus I am wondering how much of a fad and hype this Plek thing is going to turn out to be in the long run.
I'd be curious as to how each fret sounds going up the neck? Does it get sharp, flat or stay the same once the intonation and setup was done. All notes should be correctly intonated. That's how it would be worth it on my side. So, fret placement accuracy would also throw the intonation off. I've seen it often when measuring the whole scale of a fretboard. It's only as good as the person that cut the slots and pressed the frets in to the right depth. No level or crown would be needed in that case.
I had my ibanez prestige plek and I found it totally worth it. That being said if you have a great tech that can do great freat work maybe it's apple's and apple's. 280 was cheaper than mine. That's a great deal. I will plek again. My ibanez plays so buttery compared to all my other ones. It does make a difference.
If you can actually feel a difference and it makes the sustain last longer, I feel like $280 is not bad for the life an instrument. That said, if you don't have an actual issue with your gear then i wouldn't go trying to solve things that you don't even notice. Great vid. Thanks!
If I had a guitar with stainless steel frets and had it Plekd from new , it would probably outlast me; regular nickel frets will still need attention later on ....Not sure what $280 is in British Pounds but it does sound a little steep for a machine process which is relatively quick .
If u r not sure of the result, try another Plek shop. I have Pleked all my guitars at Guitarlabs in Stockholm, the difference is huge. Very even, no dead spots, fantastic sustain and you can make any average guitar great.
I purchased a 2022 Gibson LP Standard 50s version - these supposedly are Plek'd at no additional cost. The action and intonation was perfect literally out of the box. I am spoiled now - I saw that Fender was selling $799 Telecasters and charging $299 to have them Plek'd. That's too much. The difference in a Plek'd instrument that I have noticed is that the frets are perfect, they pass the "Phil Mcknight silk stocking test". You run a silk sticking down the edge if the fingerboard over the fret ends - you should see no snags whatsoever in the stocking. Intonation is perfect out of the box. I got a new LP from Guitar Center - it was brand new - still in the box. The guitar was in perfect tuning, the intonation needed absolutely no adjustment.
Don't recommend having it done to a cheap new guitar. Even if you spend $5-15 hundred, your better off waiting a year to let the guitar play in, and settle down. Then you'll already know if your gonna keep it. Otherwise don't bother.
I'm a career guitar player and have had my two main performing guitars Pleked 10 years ago by MIKE Lulls Custom Guitars in Bellevue WA. No regrets!
Considering how much money we, as guitar players, invest in pedals, amps, gadgets, and other fancy stuff, spending 'just' $280 to address issues at the root of our sound and make our instruments perform at their best seems like a wise investment to me.
Man vs machine sorta thing. If I had the option, I would probably Plek once to start then rely on feel, sound, and playability to tweak after that. I feel like out of the box would be the best time to plek because after a few years or so of playing that guitar is going to uniquely settle into itself. Just a thought
Yes, I think it's always worth getting a Plek - it's REALLY hard finding someone who can actually do a great job by hand in my area (then when you find someone, you might also have a long waiting period for it to get done).
Same as you i had one guitar plekked and another one frets leveled and crowned by a competent luthier and I honestly cant tell the difference.
I would have thought a Custom Shop would come out with perfectly level frets.
Yea I was thinking the same thing. I was very apprehensive at first but I went for it just because I’ve never done it before. Do I think it’s totally necessary…. Not really. It does play great though.
Plek the guitar if you have very uneven frets but for setup, no machine can tell you what to set neck relief, saddle height and intonation, as those things are all player preference and feel, you may press harder on the strings than John Smith and will have to set the intonation to your pressure, so learn how to set your guitars up first before finally saying "maybe I'll plek" because a Plek machine only goes so far before the human element comes in for the final tweaks of the setup.
My only thing is that if I am going to spend 4 or 5 thousand dollars on a Gibson or Fender custom shop guitar, I shouldn't have to do this. Plus I am wondering how much of a fad and hype this Plek thing is going to turn out to be in the long run.
This is why I figured out how to do most of this stuff myself. Good video explaining the Plek process.
I'd be curious as to how each fret sounds going up the neck? Does it get sharp, flat or stay the same once the intonation and setup was done. All notes should be correctly intonated. That's how it would be worth it on my side. So, fret placement accuracy would also throw the intonation off. I've seen it often when measuring the whole scale of a fretboard. It's only as good as the person that cut the slots and pressed the frets in to the right depth. No level or crown would be needed in that case.
I had my ibanez prestige plek and I found it totally worth it. That being said if you have a great tech that can do great freat work maybe it's apple's and apple's. 280 was cheaper than mine. That's a great deal. I will plek again. My ibanez plays so buttery compared to all my other ones. It does make a difference.
If you can actually feel a difference and it makes the sustain last longer, I feel like $280 is not bad for the life an instrument. That said, if you don't have an actual issue with your gear then i wouldn't go trying to solve things that you don't even notice. Great vid. Thanks!
it's not measured by a laser though. just a mechanical arm with high precision.
To PLEK, or not to PLEK? That is the perPLEKsing question.
If I had a guitar with stainless steel frets and had it Plekd from new , it would probably outlast me; regular nickel frets will still need attention later on ....Not sure what $280 is in British Pounds but it does sound a little steep for a machine process which is relatively quick .
If u r not sure of the result, try another Plek shop. I have Pleked all my guitars at Guitarlabs in Stockholm, the difference is huge. Very even, no dead spots, fantastic sustain and you can make any average guitar great.
I purchased a 2022 Gibson LP Standard 50s version - these supposedly are Plek'd at no additional cost. The action and intonation was perfect literally out of the box. I am spoiled now - I saw that Fender was selling $799 Telecasters and charging $299 to have them Plek'd. That's too much. The difference in a Plek'd instrument that I have noticed is that the frets are perfect, they pass the "Phil Mcknight silk stocking test". You run a silk sticking down the edge if the fingerboard over the fret ends - you should see no snags whatsoever in the stocking. Intonation is perfect out of the box. I got a new LP from Guitar Center - it was brand new - still in the box. The guitar was in perfect tuning, the intonation needed absolutely no adjustment.
Don't recommend having it done to a cheap new guitar. Even if you spend $5-15 hundred, your better off waiting a year to let the guitar play in, and settle down. Then you'll already know if your gonna keep it. Otherwise don't bother.
I just got mine plek’d and there is still a little bit of fret buzz. Is that normal? The action is 3\64 on the treble side and 4/64 on the bass side.