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New Masterbuilts Plek'd


cliffmac

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Never played one pleked but read up on it and seemed like the new in thing . Design and machine creation was from Germany. I believe but don't hold me to that lol

 

What I wonder is how it compensates for a wavey fret boards or is QC so high that only qualified units make the cut ?

 

I would like to give one a go sometime :) nice to read the following comments .

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A one-figure number of these machines per year are built in a small factory in Berlin. The company recently extended their Berlin facilities.

 

Some of my younger guitars came PLEK'd from the factory, all Gibsons by the way, some not like MIM Fenders and a PRC made Epiphone. It makes a notable difference even if one prefers a relatively stiff action like I do. Fret heights and surfaces are of breathtaking consistency. However, neck and fretboard should be stable before processing the guitar. Otherwise, waviness occurring later will foul up the result. On an SG of mine, the 19th fret just above the neck-body seam has "grown" with time, some hundredth millimeters, but notable when scrutinizing thoroughly. I guess I will have it re-PLEK'd on warranty.

 

PLEKing is a vast improvement in particular for fret dressing on compound radiused boards. This system has definitely no problem with cutting each fret wire to its unique radius. I believe that the advent of compound radius had a lot to do with PLEK. For any fretboard with a string spacing widening from nut to bridge, creating the fretboard as a truncated cone is the only reasonable thing to do. Fretting out of bendings is a thing of the past with them.

 

Making a cylindrical fretboard would only apply to guitars with same string spacings on nut and bridge. For everything else it has always been and still is compromised.

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Never played one pleked but read up on it and seemed like the new in thing . Design and machine creation was from Germany. I believe but don't hold me to that lol

 

What I wonder is how it compensates for a wavey fret boards or is QC so high that only qualified units make the cut ?

 

I would like to give one a go sometime :) nice to read the following comments .

 

I am looking forward to the replies and opinions.

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Good read folks . In my ventures I believe I asked the question of having thecEpi Dr500 guitar pleked but it seems if is not part of the pre screened models they won't do it .

 

It seems they have to have programmed all the manufactures exacting specs if any of these vary it can make big mess of things .

 

having one individually programmed might cost ya gates money if they would consider individual pleking but since mechines are still few in numbers I doubt that will happen :( in time though .....

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Good read folks . In my ventures I believe I asked the question of having thecEpi Dr500 guitar pleked but it seems if is not part of the pre screened models they won't do it .

 

It seems they have to have programmed all the manufactures exacting specs if any of these vary it can make big mess of things .

 

having one individually programmed might cost ya gates money if they would consider individual pleking but since mechines are still few in numbers I doubt that will happen :( in time though .....

 

Go to the Epiphone website both the ef and dr masterbuilts come plek'd. Does this mean the price goes up or do they just want to offer a more unique product from the factory?

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I don't think it matters. Fretwork is either good or bad, only the end result matters.

 

Frets are also kinda like tires. If you play the guitar, they will wear and need work. So if the guitar has the "PLEK" badge when new, it doesn't mean much to me.

 

Last I was on the market, shopping, Gibson had just come out with "plek'd" guitars, some were and some weren't. I didn't scrutinize between which were or weren't at the time. They all seemed fine to me at the time, although I have seen some examples of rough fretwork on new guitars, some gibson) in the past.

 

The rest of my knowledge comes from the internet, reading about the plek machine and reading various postings or sales stuff about it.

 

My unqualified opinion: I don't like it. There are plenty of qualified poeple who can do fretwork. I have watched some who were good at it, and it doesn't take all that long to do, especially if they are practiced. I've done it, and it takes me a lot longer, but I can tell it wouldn't be the case with more practice.

 

Then there is the work one would do before starting to dress the frets, making sure the frets are down, checking for loose, etc. As alluded to above, there may be some work or issues to address of the fretboard or guitar as this is done.

 

All a machine can do in this case is replace the worker. And the machine can't think, check something, or see problems.

 

On the machine side, it makes it a little faster, but then also it comes down to the operater of the machine, the durability of the machine, and of corse, the cost of the machine.

 

If I have a choice on one of my guitars, I'll choose the guy who does it himself, confident he knows more and expecting a better result.

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We lived a very long time with some very great guitars without ever hearing of a Plek machine. The sounds everyone wants came from guitars that never saw a Plek machine.

 

It's like slicing bread with a laser instead of a bread machine. It's still bread, and you can still make a crappy sandwich with it no matter how nicely it is cut.

 

rct

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We lived a very long time with some very great guitars without ever hearing of a Plek machine. The sounds everyone wants came from guitars that never saw a Plek machine.

 

It's like slicing bread with a laser instead of a bread machine. It's still bread, and you can still make a crappy sandwich with it no matter how nicely it is cut.

 

rct

The bread I have been getting lately has had some serious QC issues- holes in the slices where mayo squirts out, crust uneven and coming off, slices being different sizes along the loaf. It's hard to make a good sandwich that way.

 

It's not like I don't know how. I carefully bookmatch the slices before I do anything.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My 2 Masterbilts have a little oval "plecked" sticker on the head-stock. Man, are these nice instrumentsmsp_thumbup.gifmsp_wub.gif. My personal opinion of "plek" set up guitars is...well, they are all going to be exactly the same, day after day, until the cutting tools wear out. So, quality and quality control-wise, consistency and lack of variation is a very good thingmsp_thumbup.gif and when the machine is set to produce a "perfect" set up...proper bridge and nut work, all the same...well, you will know what to expect and how the "feel" is on any particular "plecked" guitar. They should all be exactly the same...really msp_biggrin.gif

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My 2 Masterbilts have a little oval "plecked" sticker on the head-stock. Man, are these nice instrumentsmsp_thumbup.gifmsp_wub.gif. My personal opinion of "plek" set up guitars is...well, they are all going to be exactly the same, day after day, until the cutting tools wear out. So, quality and quality control-wise, consistency and lack of variation is a very good thingmsp_thumbup.gif and when the machine is set to produce a "perfect" set up...proper bridge and nut work, all the same...well, you will know what to expect and how the "feel" is on any particular "plecked" guitar. They should all be exactly the same...really msp_biggrin.gif

 

So you are all for it? Pretty sure I am to like you said the QC should improve greatly.

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A Plec machine removes the "human error" factor when it is set up and running properly...dig it ? Perfect, each and every time. My 2 Masterbilts are "easy" on my old fingers, and I greatly appreciate that. What is the word...good "articulation" well, yes, it has that, and more...lol, great, great instrument (for the price) . Masterbilts are not inexpensive, keep them humidified, particularly in the "dryness" of Winter. Get a "case humidifier". You did get an Epiphone case for it...right ? msp_smile.gif

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A Plec machine removes the "human error" factor when it is set up and running properly...dig it ? Perfect, each and every time. My 2 Masterbilts are "easy" on my old fingers, and I greatly appreciate that. What is the word...good "articulation" well, yes, it has that, and more...lol, great, great instrument (for the price) . Masterbilts are not inexpensive, keep them humidified, particularly in the "dryness" of Winter. Get a "case humidifier". You did get an Epiphone case for it...right ? msp_smile.gif

 

but of course mine has been steady at 46% for the past year and sound amazing.

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