Fret Leveling in Northern Colorado / Denver

[DavePlaysBass]

I am ready to get frets on the Sadowsky RV5 leveled and crowned. 4.5 years of primarily steel strings on it, and I can no longer get the setups where I want them. Any recommendations for a luthier / technician in Front Range area that you have first hand fret leveling experience with?

I have worked with Dan at Spotlight music for simplier stuff, and he is good and quick.

Thanks.

[Pilgrim]

Not much luck so far.......

If you want the neck plekked, you could search posts here - I recall a number giving info and a contact. I saw a video of the process and was very impressed.

[RMay]

PM sent.

[Benjamin Strange]

You could always ship it to my shop if you like. We can level and dress your frets, give it a full set up, and ship it back to you in about 2-3 weeks.

I'd also take the Plek recommendation with a grain of salt. The Plek machine is a tool just like any other - it can be used well, and it can be used poorly. I do a fret level on a Plek'd guitar about once a week in my shop...

[ByF]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Strange

I do a fret level on a Plek'd guitar about once a week in my shop...

That's interesting. What kind of problems do you see with Plek'd guitars?

Ed

[Benjamin Strange]

Originally Posted by ByF

That's interesting. What kind of problems do you see with Plek'd guitars?

Ed

Mostly, uneven frets. Just in the past two weeks I've had two brand new Gibson guitars (one was a Pete Townshend LP - about $4600) come in needing fret work. I also had a worse case scenario come in the shop last week, which was a Epi Jack Casady, which, in addition to having massively uneven frets, had a fretboard that had broken off the neck near the headstock. Our guess was that the Plek machine did it, but we can't say for certain.

[Pilgrim]

Ben, that sounds very odd - and this is the first complaint I've read on any forum about the plek process.

The video I've seen of the plek process shows the neck mounted in such way that I find it extremely difficult to visualize how the machine could cause that kind of damage. I'm not claiming that the plek process is the be-all and end-all, but breaking a fretboard seems unlikely. There's always the fact that any machine is only as good as its operator, and that could cause variance in accuracy.

It would be really interesting to hear what happened, if the owner would tell you.

Here's a video from the plek site that shows the process...
http://www.plek.com/en_US/technik/

[barebones]

You might check with these guys:

http://www.northsidemuse.com/virtuoso.html

They're in the Fort Collins area.

In the Denver metro area, I know the guy who builds Surine basses used to live in Arvada. Not sure if he's still around, but I may be able to track down a phone number for him if that's more convenient location-wise.

[Benjamin Strange]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

Ben, that sounds very odd - and this is the first complaint I've read on any forum about the plek process.

http://sfguitarworks.blogspot.com/20...on-custom.html

Here's a bit of detail on a fret level we did on a brand new Gibson Custom Shop Pete Townshend Les Paul. If you look closely at the fret dust in the second picture (click on it for a LARGE image), you can see that it accumulates in different places all along the neck. This was supposedly a Plekked guitar - one that cost $4600.

I'm not sure if the Plek broke the fingerboard on the Jack Cassady - but the customer said that it was fine before he took it into a different shop to have it Pleked. One this is certain, is that his frets were pretty far from being level.

I'm not bashing the Plek machine - used correctly, I'm sure it can do some great things. But I bet that most people who use it don't check the work afterwards - it's probably just assumed that it's going to be perfect. Which, obviously, it is not 100% of the time.

[Pilgrim]

Dang! From the debris, looks like you took a LOT off those frets. But the 'after" picture isn't as scary.

Like I said, any machine is only as good as its operator, and that could cause variance in accuracy.

Also makes me wonder if Gibson has hired the reject workers from Jiffy Lube to run their Plek machine.

Originally Posted by stringbass69

You might check with these guys:

http://www.northsidemuse.com/virtuoso.html

They're in the Fort Collins area.

Some mighty nice looking work linked there!

[DavePlaysBass]

Originally Posted by stringbass69

You might check with these guys:

http://www.northsidemuse.com/virtuoso.html

They're in the Fort Collins area.

That's my buddy Dan. He's a great guy. I recommended he put TI Jazz Flats on one of his Hofners and he and I have gotten along pretty well ever since. I just talked to him today and I am going to have him work on the frets next week.

Thanks for the responses. If I do not get the frets were I want them, I will look to Denver.

[DavePlaysBass]

Just got my bass back from Dan. Dropped it off on Sunday and got it back today. $80 for 2 hours of work. He measured things out and realized the higher frets were about 0.010" higher than the lower frets. Probably came from the Sadowsky factory that way. I never have been able to get it ultra low. He evened it all out and cleaned up the lower frets which were pretty chewed from steel strings. I've only played it a few minutes but the action is medium low to low with no buzzing. It feels great. And I have not even started to tweak it to my liking yet. I highly recommend Dan. He knows what to do and does it well and for very reasonable prices.

[Pilgrim]

Dave, that's great to know. I might have him work on my treasured 70's Univox hollow-body.

[DavePlaysBass]

The thing that I really appreciate about Dan is his willingness to talk to you and he really is a good guy. No heirs at all. Ask him about the time he presented Paul McCartney with a Hofner.

[Benjamin Strange]

$80 for a fret level is SUPER cheap, especially if it's good work. Nice.