rian4224 Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 Quick simple question I can't seem to find an answer for: What years did Heritage start and using the PLEK system? I am looking at buying a 2005-2006 (I don't have the serial number to get exact year) H-535. Just curious if it's bee PLEK'd or not. Thanks for any responses.
Telenic Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 I can't answer your question but I hope you don't make your buying decision on the guitar being plecked or not. I had a Plecked Les Paul and it wasn't any better or worse than any other guitar I have.
Kuz Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 I believe they started late '04 and ended in mid '07. This is pretty accurate to the dates I recall. I have a few Heritages in this time period and I recall knowing they were factory Plek'd.
Guest HRB853370 Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 Sorry, but what is PLEK ? There is another whole thread on this that I had started, and Mars_Hall does an excellent job of explaining the whole thing.
drfie Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 I have a pleked 150 special I bought from Jay Wolfe in the summer of '06 and it's my favorite Heritage. But I would echo the sentiment above in that plekking doesn't always deliver stellar results. It's just one part of the total package. My unpleked Eagle has excellent fret prep too. dan
LuthierLady Posted May 12, 2011 Posted May 12, 2011 I have a pleked 150 special I bought from Jay Wolfe in the summer of '06 and it's my favorite Heritage. But I would echo the sentiment above in that plekking doesn't always deliver stellar results. It's just one part of the total package. My unpleked Eagle has excellent fret prep too. dan FYI, Wolfe Guitars in Jupiter, FL now has a Plek machine equipped repair department
High Flying Bird Posted May 12, 2011 Posted May 12, 2011 FYI, Wolfe Guitars in Jupiter, FL now has a Plek machine equipped repair department A buddy just moved to Jupiter. Jay and Graham will learn to hate seeing him coming after a few weeks. "Plays all the guitars but never buys." I could care less about the whole PLEK process. When I get a new guitar I turn the truss rod about 1/2 turn and jack up the action - so, it doesn't make a bit of difference to me. Most of you would never dream of raising your action like I do but I probably do a lot of things most of you would never do.... to your credit of course. Sorry Kuz, I didn't mean to make you puke in your Cap'n Crunch with these rash words.
Kuz Posted May 12, 2011 Posted May 12, 2011 A buddy just moved to Jupiter. Jay and Graham will learn to hate seeing him coming after a few weeks. "Plays all the guitars but never buys." I could care less about the whole PLEK process. When I get a new guitar I turn the truss rod about 1/2 turn and jack up the action - so, it doesn't make a bit of difference to me. Most of you would never dream of raising your action like I do but I probably do a lot of things most of you would never do.... to your credit of course. Sorry Kuz, I didn't mean to make you puke in your Cap'n Crunch with these rash words. No problem, it tastes the same.
GuitArtMan Posted May 12, 2011 Posted May 12, 2011 I believe they started late '04 and ended in mid '07. This is pretty accurate to the dates I recall. I have a few Heritages in this time period and I recall knowing they were factory Plek'd. Sounds about right. I bought my H-137 and one H-535 around Christmas 2005, and another H-535 about a year or so later and all were factory PLEK'd. All had fret/set up issues as well...
DetroitBlues Posted May 12, 2011 Posted May 12, 2011 I had a Gibson LP Studio faded that was Plek'd. It was no better than my Epi Les Paul Standarded. I use 11's on my LP style guitars and keep the action low. Its nice to know the guitar was plek'd, but in the end, guitars will still need to be set up again regardless of being Plek'd as wood shifts and swells during the different seasons.
JeffB Posted May 12, 2011 Posted May 12, 2011 A friend of mine just bought a plek machine. It arrives shortly. His thoughts on it are it will only be as good as the operator but will hopefully cut down on time taken. I think his view point is correct. My H150 is plek'd, honestly I dont care. The guy who bought the plek machine does wonderful fret work and guitar repairs, also brass and wood wind, talented guy who has a passion for hightech gadgetry and a lot of enthusiasm for mastering them. He has a few different cnc machines to do various jobs and is doing one for me right now.
GuitArtMan Posted May 12, 2011 Posted May 12, 2011 ...His thoughts on it are it will only be as good as the operator ... Bingo.
Trouble Posted May 13, 2011 Posted May 13, 2011 My 150 is a 2005, I guess it was plek'd. I had assumed that it had been dressed by hand. When I bought it (used) the frets were very well dressed but I had my local tech re-work the nut as the b string slot was cut too deep. I bought an SG standard new in 09 and had to have a new nut made for it to make it payable. I'm not sure if the SG 's are plek'd or not but the heritage was definitely more immediately payable. I must say I,m a fan of the technology in theory, but not necessarily the application. I think a person who is already capable of doing quality fretwork by hand could probably utilize a plek machine to make his/her job easier, but I think the experience and know how is still the most important thing. To give a little reference, I work with a guy who worked in Gibsons custom shop a few years ago. You would think that being in the custom shop would mean he had some kind of experience with guitar, not so. After talking to him for awhile I was able to figure out that he cut the truss rod channel, but he didn't even have the vocabulary to tell me that without a lot of " I cut the thing to put the thing in that made the thing..." . I took from that that gibby employees are just employees in an assembley line environment. That said, I have to hand it to Fender, all around good nut/fretwork on every one I've bought
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