Plek question for G&L "brass."

I read this at The Gear Page from a guy who says he worked at Gibson:

"After having worked in a big guitar factory ( Gibson) I can say without reservations that they simply don't have time to do the level of Work neccessary to get a truly great fret job. and even the plek machines they use are not set to any kind of "pro leveL" just a sort of "Standard Tolerence" and get it outta here."

I'm not sure I get this. Isn't the point of a Plek machine to achieve perfect frets quickly? Would it take that machine *that much* longer to do a "pro" job as opposed to a "standard tolerance" job? Sounds fishy to me.

I'm wondering if Dave McL. or someone wants to comment on the Plek tolerance levels on G&Ls. I'm assuming there's no compromise.

Thanks!!

I read this at The Gear Page from a guy who says he worked at Gibson:

"After having worked in a big guitar factory ( Gibson) I can say without reservations that they simply don't have time to do the level of Work neccessary to get a truly great fret job. and even the plek machines they use are not set to any kind of "pro leveL" just a sort of "Standard Tolerence" and get it outta here."

I'm not sure I get this. Isn't the point of a Plek machine to achieve perfect frets quickly? Would it take that machine *that much* longer to do a "pro" job as opposed to a "standard tolerance" job? Sounds fishy to me.

I'm wondering if Dave McL. or someone wants to comment on the Plek tolerance levels on G&Ls. I'm assuming there's no compromise.

Thanks!!

Hi Noah,

Dave recently posted this about the PLEK process they use on the main G&L website. I think this will answer your question.

Hope this helps.

I read this at The Gear Page from a guy who says he worked at Gibson:

"After having worked in a big guitar factory ( Gibson) I can say without reservations that they simply don't have time to do the level of Work neccessary to get a truly great fret job. and even the plek machines they use are not set to any kind of "pro leveL" just a sort of "Standard Tolerence" and get it outta here."

I'm not sure I get this. Isn't the point of a Plek machine to achieve perfect frets quickly? Would it take that machine *that much* longer to do a "pro" job as opposed to a "standard tolerance" job? Sounds fishy to me.

I'm wondering if Dave McL. or someone wants to comment on the Plek tolerance levels on G&Ls. I'm assuming there's no compromise.

Thanks!!

I have always been suspect of Plek due to Gibson, they just don't feel right, and other companies that do em the old fashioned way (like Carvin) can do a perfect job. I must say, any G&L I played, did not have this issue, even in store. They all played smoothly with no such fret issues. I was shocked when I heard they used Plek, as before that I was not really fond of it. But I guess it is a product of the time you put into it.

I've been buying G&L guitars since the early 80s and have at least one model from every era. The current PLEK and CNC models are, by far, the best ever.

The PLEK is even controversial among some well established guitar builders. I attended a store visit of Paul Reed Smith to the local GC. When he was asked by the wife of Mike Lull, a rather well renowned luthier himself, whether PRS was using a PLEK, Paul displayed indignation that seemed to be half mock, half serious. Mike Lull has his own PLEK he uses to set up guitars for his costumers (and for his own basses), Paul just doesn't want to have to do anything with the machine. And one only has to watch the PR campaign that PRS has put out recently, to understand why. And I have to admit, any PRS I have played and/or owned sounds fantastic and plays like butter straight out of the case. But then again, that has also been true for all of my G&L's. And the only PLEK'ed one I have, a CLF Centennial, does indeed play like butter, but so does my '97 ASAT Classic ...

It is a little in the eye of the beholder. And furthermore, ASATNoah's point is well taken in this sense: if you are in the business of building high-quality guitars, a PLEK may save some time but since you have your heart in the right place, your instruments will sound great no matter what. If on the other hand however, you are just into mass-producing instruments and moving them as fast as you can, you will produce an inferior product no matter what too. The whole trend of creating a 'Custom Shop department' where you do the 'right thing' on only a select number of instruments, instead each and every instrument you build, seems somewhat weird and disingenuous. Why not every instrument? I just cannot understand why people are still buying the big brands whereas for the same money you would buy a lesser know brand, but a much better instrument. Apparently, for many the name on the headstock is more important than the quality of the instrument they are playing.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still curious about what the former Gibson employee is getting at. Can you set a PLEK machine to do just a good job and not a great job? To me that's like running a Ferrari at 45 mph all day. The video on the G&L site (and your testimonials) suggest what we all assume: that if there is a mediocre PLEK setting, G&L's not using it. I was wondering if Dave could weigh in on whether there are in fact lesser PLEK settings. I was just curious.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still curious about what the former Gibson employee is getting at. Can you set a PLEK machine to do just a good job and not a great job? To me that's like running a Ferrari at 45 mph all day. The video on the G&L site (and your testimonials) suggest what we all assume: that if there is a mediocre PLEK setting, G&L's not using it. I was wondering if Dave could weigh in on whether there are in fact lesser PLEK settings. I was just curious.

Could be Gibson doesn't put in the time to setup the neck and bridge proper for the plek to do it's ideal job.

[Craig]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still curious about what the former Gibson employee is getting at. Can you set a PLEK machine to do just a good job and not a great job? To me that's like running a Ferrari at 45 mph all day. The video on the G&L site (and your testimonials) suggest what we all assume: that if there is a mediocre PLEK setting, G&L's not using it. I was wondering if Dave could weigh in on whether there are in fact lesser PLEK settings. I was just curious.

Here's a YouTube video G&L put together a while ago:

phpBB [video]

Hope this helps.

Last edited by Craig on Thu May 04, 2017 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Fixed video link

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still curious about what the former Gibson employee is getting at. Can you set a PLEK machine to do just a good job and not a great job?

As the old saying goes..."Garbage in, Garbage out". If the tech operator or the person responsible for setting up the job or equipment is careless or unconcerned or not properly trained the end result will be sub-par. It still comes down to taking pride in your work or in this case taking pride in making sure your tool (Plek) is functioning properly and performing up to the highest standard. Proper training, pride in one's work and paying attention to the equipment will allow the "Plek" to produce a neck with a higher level of quality & near perfection than any human. And, consistantly.