To plek or not to plek

[holyroller]

Hi Kicking around the thought of having this done , who would be the closest to me ? Racine wi . Between Chicago and Milwaukee. Is it worth it ?

 

 

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[Spectrum13]

I had my 2006 150 pleked in October at Joe Glazers in Nashville. The neck had long since settled into it's natural state and I was getting some buzz / dead notes at the 18th and up. Never played better, its perfect. The plek smoothed the nut and radiused the bridge. I would not do it unless there were issues like needing a fret level and crowning.

[barrymclark]

I had my 2006 150 pleked in October at Joe Glazers in Nashville. The neck had long since settled into it's natural state and I was getting some buzz / dead notes at the 18th and up. Never played better, its perfect. The plek smoothed the nut and radiused the bridge. I would not do it unless there were issues like needing a fret level and crowning.

I was looking to do this with Joe before I moved from Atlanta but couldn't seem to find contact info on him. Now I live on the other side of the country. I am hoping to find someone in the SW US. Las Vegas/Los Angeles/etc that offers this service with a good rep.

[RickFinsta]

holyroller Denny Rauen in Milwaukee is one of the finest luthiers in the country. Talk to him about fret work.

[Gitfiddler]

When I bought my 157 off of EBay, I had no idea it was a custom order by a guy that wanted a 'ferret less wonder'. The frets were so small the guitar was barely playable. Solution? A full re-fret. San Francisco's Gary Brawer recommended I also replace the nut and Plek the newly installed medium-jumbo frets.

 

That was an expensive but absolutely spot on upgrade to a fine guitar. I highly recommend Pleking IF your guitar truly needs it.

[jaywolfe]

We have had really superb results with our PLEK machine, both with new & older Guitars. The feedback from customers has been really good. We have 4 small shop builders that ship us their Guitars and/or necks for PLEK service before they complete the instruments. We love our Plekie, and it makes great cappuccino too.

Jay Wolfe

World's largest Heritage Dealer for 3 decades....Eh?

[gpuma]

I had my 357 pleked at Music Gallery in Highland Park, IL.

I would definitely recommend it. It came back as a much better instrument. Very much easier to play.

 

YMMV, of course.

[Millennium Maestro]

The best neck I have every played was leveled and polished by a HIGHLY skilled tech, I however think the PLEK is a powerful tool in the hands of a qualified operator.

I have a slightly different opinion when it comes to time to level/plek. As Jay will most likely confirm Heritage has being doing excellent fretwork lately, As such when the guitars change demographics all that wood can/may adjust and settle. I think after the guitar has stabilized in its new home I would say let a qualified techie in your area perform the level whichever method you chose. Don't think old school techs... new school flat fingerboard, level frets, no relief level and then have it set up to perform for your style.

[PaGator]

Here is a link to a list of US shops with PLEK machines:

 

http://www.plek.com/en_US/kontakt/get-pleked/usa/

[barrymclark]

Here is a link to a list of US shops with PLEK machines:

 

http://www.plek.com/en_US/kontakt/get-pleked/usa/

sweet. There's a few 4 hours away from Vegas around LA.

[Spectrum13]

Not all that many options nationwide.

[holyroller]

Highland park is only 1 hour away . No big trAvel time

 

 

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[pressure]

Holyroller if you go to The Music Gallery in Highland Park talk to George. He has Pleked guitars for Gpuma, Otto and myself. I have had 7 Heritages Pelked there as well as Fender Custom Shop and Hamer guitars.

Say Hi to George for me. Don't go on Friday, Its George"s day off.

[holyroller]

Holyroller if you go to The Music Gallery in Highland Park talk to George. He has Pleked guitars for Gpuma, Otto and myself. I have had 7 Heritages Pelked there as well as Fender Custom Shop and Hamer guitars.

Say Hi to George for me. Don't go on Friday, Its George"s day off.

thanks for the help , I will if I go.

[Kuz]

Definitely PLEK!!!!

[RickFinsta]

The best part of using a qualified luthier is sitting down and showing him your playing style, talking about what you like, and then having him execute it. Don't get me wrong, the PLEK is a fantastic machine to get things really good every time, but it simply cannot match a custom fret job by a real luthier. I go through frets like some people go through pants so I know a thing or two about this - rough count I think I've had seven total refrets in fifteen years on several guitars. Three on my '72 D-28 alone.

 

Expect to pay around $400 for a refret from a guy who knows what he's doing with Nickel wire (not Stainless). $200 for a recrown on nickel wire.

[ironmike]

All is opinion,subjective or not, but here is my experience, I am a Luther too, and have done all the dressing on all of my personal guitars,17 of them,except one that is a g&l legacy that was factory pleked.so, my four heritages ,150, 575 maple,575 Spruce and sweet 16 were all levened crowned and dressed by me,they couldn' be better,as I shape my frets as I see fit,now out of the box the pleked g&l is great,perfect, however,perfect mathimatically,not to my feel,until I ware these frets down, it stays as is, I like a neck dressed out by hand,and I contour my frets according to how I play, higher crowning up the neck, softer crowning on the round wound midneck, but that is my subjective thing, I would love to feal a Heritage that has been plecked,proudly to bright for me, but still, would like to know

[jaywolfe]

We charge just $129 to PLEK a "new" Heritage, and we will honor this price for 1 year from purchase. Of course this really helps the final setup go smoothly and easy. We like easy, and I still have nightmares of sweating at my workbench 'til 3 in the morning leveling & crowning frets, re-cutting the nut, etc. on brand new Heritages. I used to say, with a great deal of sincerity, that Mr Magoo did Heritage's final setup. it has gotten better in recent years, but we still PLEK a few each month before offering them for sale. I anticipate improvements in this area going forward.

You can have a varying crown with our recent PLEK machine, assign the fall away and other parameters as well. It's all up to the operator and the input from the player. We have seen brilliant results and most customers will have us PLEK more of their Guitars following the 1'st (test?) one. I was somewhat nervous with the expense, but it's been a win win for us. Not for everyone, but we like our little Plekie, and it makes terrific cappuccino too.

Jay Wolfe

Heritage's largest dealer for 3 decades.

[tbonesullivan]

It's up to you. I would take it to someone first to see their opinion. PLEK is a great system, but it is a TOOL. It's only as good as the person operating it, which is a lot different than doing it the "old fashioned way".

 

PLEK seems to work magic the most on guitars made the "old way", as often they can have issues with the fretboard not being entirely uniform, etc. If you were getting a guitar from a company like Carvin, which uses CNC for everything as well as diamond ground fretboards at high tolerances, you most likely won't see as much of a benefit.

[ironmike]

Sounds like you have the grip on it jay!

[TalismanRich]

I didn't realize that Sweetwater has a plek. That would work for me, as I'm up that way fairly often.

[mtpatty]

We have had really superb results with our PLEK machine, both with new & older Guitars. The feedback from customers has been really good. We have 4 small shop builders that ship us their Guitars and/or necks for PLEK service before they complete the instruments. We love our Plekie, and it makes great cappuccino too.

Jay Wolfe

World's largest Heritage Dealer for 3 decades....Eh?

I can personally attest that this is absolutely true! I had two les paul customs re-fretted and plek'd in August 2014 at Wolfe's! Outstanding job!

[DavesNotHere]

I called Wolfe's about a year ago to have my new 150 PLECKed, I spoke with Graham at length about a number of things, but the short version is that their PLECK operator had fallen, while riding a bike if I remember correctly, and broken both of her arms Graham recommended that I try Joe Glaser in Nashville as he's only a short hour and 1/2 drive north of me. Joe did a fantastic job and it made and tremendous improvement in the way the 150 played.

[Mikenov]

I had my 357 pleked at Music Gallery in Highland Park, IL.

I would definitely recommend it. It came back as a much better instrument. Very much easier to play.

 

YMMV, of course.

http://www.musicgalleryinc.com/This is a really nice shop and they are guitar geeks. I recommend them as well. My buddy mark from Austin had his guitar plek'd here and said it played way better once done.

[holyroller]

This is were I am I am thinking. There about a hour away . I wanna have my stat pleked .

 

 

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