Plek Setups

[William2]

I was watching a recent Alamo review, and the comment was made that Martin, Gibson, and Taylor plek their instruments. And while not naming the company (I assume Sweetwater) they said so you don't have to pay extras for this service from these makers. I've seen a couple of other music dealers trying to pull this stunt also. Are you more likely to get a better playing instrument out of the box with a plek setup and maybe not need a pro setup?

[B0WIE]

They both do the same thing. It's a matter of whether you trust the skill of the person operating the PLEK machine or the luthier. I have instruments built with PLEK'd frets and some without and I can't say one is better. I will say I found a big flaw in one PLEK'd instrument. But, that's because woods can and do move.

 As far as new instruments go, yes, that's a scam of an up-sell. I won't name any sellers as some are Larrivee dealers but I feel it's shameful to sell a PLEK setup on a guitar that was PLEK'd at the factory. But, they get away with it because people are under the impression it's somehow more accurate or goes beyond what humans are capable of doing. You cannot make frets "accurate" unless you're making the wiggly frets. The guitar fret board is VERY flawed and fret leveling and set-ups are largely a matter of interpretation and compromise. A good luthier or PLEK tech will know where to compromise and where to seek accuracy. If you can talk to the player and see how they play, the results are likely to be even better because you then know what areas of the board matter most to them, how hard they fret , if they fret straight down or push a bit, etc.