Does Plek Pro do Fret End dressing?

[Pedalnetics]

I've searched around but haven't been able to find an exact answer, so hoping someone has experience. Read through the Plek site, TGP, TB, googled a bunch, etc.

I see Plek talk about dressing the frets, but I've always been under the impression that a fret dressing normally does not include the fret ends, and a fret end dressing is a separate process.

So, does Plek actually do fret-end dressing? My Sweetwater rep says so and linked me to the SW Plek page, but no where on there does it talk about the fret ends, so I'm a bit cautious still.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I believe the answer is that the PLEK machine itself doesn't do fret end dressing. But the Luthier/Tech at the shop that has the PLEK machine will dress the fret ends if necessary, the old fashioned way. It may or may not be necessary, depending on how much metal they have to take off the frets to get them trued up.

 

[walterw]

I see Plek talk about dressing the frets, but I've always been under the impression that a fret dressing normally does not include the fret ends, and a fret end dressing is a separate process.

anybody who pays for a "fret dressing" of any kind (by machine or man) and gets it back without the ends being taken care of too has been ripped off

 

[Arie X]

sw's own video shows fret ends being dealt with manualmente post plek.

 

[Pedalnetics]

sw's own video shows fret ends being dealt with manualmente post plek.

Thanks for that, I somehow missed the 4seconds of video showing that

 

[Arie X]

don't have direct experience with a Plek, but i have a lot with cnc and cmm machines. i'd imagine that the Plek machine would have do a section scan or a surface patch either optically or with a touch probe, of the fingerboard edge and the fret end itself. it's a bit more complicated and time consuming with higher risk vs. just skimming slight amounts of material off the top of a fret and detailing the ends with suitable files.

one thing that i find amusing is that gibson plek's les pauls at the factory. people buy les pauls at the shop and go and have the thing immediately plek'd -again.
historic guitar gods with les pauls often bought them second hand or traded something, beat them to death, had roadies re-fret them backstage on tour, and put them back in service.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

ManualMente Post Plek. That sounds like an album name. Or at least a song title.

 

[Turnaround]

I suppose a plek machine could dress fret ends but I've never seen a cutter on one that would do that.

 

[walterw]

one thing that i find amusing is that gibson plek's les pauls at the factory. people buy les pauls at the shop and go and have the thing immediately plek'd -again.

To be fair, Gibson’s not doing a real plek job where the guitar is scanned with strings on; they have a sort of quickie process where they ballpark simulate string tension on an uncompleted guitar and hit that with the machine.

 

[msaint]

I've searched around but haven't been able to find an exact answer, so hoping someone has experience. Read through the Plek site, TGP, TB, googled a bunch, etc.

I see Plek talk about dressing the frets, but I've always been under the impression that a fret dressing normally does not include the fret ends, and a fret end dressing is a separate process.

So, does Plek actually do fret-end dressing? My Sweetwater rep says so and linked me to the SW Plek page, but no where on there does it talk about the fret ends, so I'm a bit cautious still.

Your Sweetwater rep took you for a ride trying to make a sale. Pleking is solely for the leveling of frets, and not for the trimming of fret ends. You can purchase plek'd guitars all day and night that will still have fret sprout or rough edges.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Your Sweetwater rep took you for a ride trying to make a sale. Pleking is solely for the leveling of frets, and not for the trimming of fret ends. You can purchase plek'd guitars all day and night that will still have fret sprout or rough edges.

Or high spots, regardless of if they're stamped "plekd" or not...like my kiloton

 

[fhm555]

Or high spots, regardless of if they're stamped "plekd" or not...like my kiloton

One of the first truths about CNC i learned when i started programing machine tools was the GIGO principle. You can be a trig whiz and a 10th Dan computer geek but if you don’t know machine tool basics like feeds and speeds, climb or conventional milling, kerf, etc, etc, you will be a reliable producer of scrap as a machine tool programer/operator.

 

[msaint]

One of the first truths about CNC i learned when i started programing machine tools was the GIGO principle. You can be a trig whiz and a 10th Dan computer geek but if you don’t know machine tool basics like feeds and speeds, climb or conventional milling, kerf, etc, etc, you will be a reliable producer of scrap as a machine tool programer/operator.

Truth told.

 

[realmarshall]

I've searched around but haven't been able to find an exact answer, so hoping someone has experience. Read through the Plek site, TGP, TB, googled a bunch, etc.

I see Plek talk about dressing the frets, but I've always been under the impression that a fret dressing normally does not include the fret ends, and a fret end dressing is a separate process.

So, does Plek actually do fret-end dressing? My Sweetwater rep says so and linked me to the SW Plek page, but no where on there does it talk about the fret ends, so I'm a bit cautious still.

The Plek itself will not do fret ends. After the Plek process, there's a few things your Plek shop will do - firstly polish the frets to remove any residual tooling marks from the fret level & crown from the Plek, and secondly inspect the fret ends. In our shop, if it's just a question of touching up a couple of sharp fret ends, we'll do it as part of the Plek price. If it turns into a major production, then we may have to bill some additional time for it, every instrument is different...